Breast cancer surgeon Julia C. Tchou, MD, PhD, has joined the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, where she will also hold an appointment as Assistant Professor of Surgery at Penn’s School of Medicine. Prior to coming to Penn, she completed a breast surgery fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Based at the Cancer Center’s Rena Rowan Breast Center, Tchou’s practice focuses exclusively on the interdisciplinary management of patients with breast cancer: coordinating pre-operative evaluation, surgery and post-operative care of women with benign and malignant breast diseases. Her research focuses on the breast cancer tumor microenvironment, cancer stem cell biology, and development of new therapeutic targets for breast cancer. Tchou has published several studies on various aspects of cancer in leading, peer-reviewed journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Biochemistry, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the International Journal of Oncology, and the British Journal of Radiology.

Tchou completed her general surgery residency training from 1995 to 2001 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland before taking on a position as assistant chief of surgery service at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2001 to 2002. Prior to this, she completed her doctoral studies and medical training as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program, at the State University of New

York (SUNY) in Stony Brook, New York, from 1987 to 1995, where she also received numerous honors for academic excellence. Tchou earned her undergraduate science degree in biochemistry from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York, in 1987.

• 7/1/1989 American Associate of Cancer Research
• 7/1/2002 American Society of Clinical Oncology
• 10/1/2002 American College of Surgeons (Associate Fellow)
• 10/1/2002 Association of Women Surgeons
• 7/1/2003 Society of Surgical Oncology

• 2010 ECOG Breast Committee's Local-Regional Working Group
• April 2010 The Wistar Institute Cancer Center, affiliate member

1. Tchou J, Kasai H, Shibutani S, Chung MH, Laval J, Grollman AP, Nishimura S. 8-oxoguanine (8-hydroxyguanine) DNA glycosylase and its substrate specificity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 88(11):4690-4694, June 1, 1991.
2. Michaels ML, Tchou J, Grollman AP, Miller JH. A repair system for 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydrodeoxyguanine. Biochemistry 31(45):10964-10968, Nov. 17, 1992.
3. Tchou J, Michaels ML, Miller JH, Grollman AP. Function of the zinc finger in Escherichia coli Fpg protein. Journal of Biological Chemistry 268(35):26738-26744, Dec. 15, 1993.
4. Tchou J, Bodepudi V, Shibutani S, Antoshechkin I, Miller J, Grollman AP, Johnson F. Substrate specificity of Fpg protein: Recognition and cleavage of oxidatively damaged DNA. Journal of Biological Chemistry 269(21):15318-15324, May 27, 1994.
5. Tchou J, Grollman AP. The catalytic mechanism of Fpg protein: Evidence for a Schiff base intermediate and amino terminus localization of the catalytic site. Journal of Biological Chemistry 270(19):11671-11677, May 12, 1995.
6. Tchou JC, Lin X, Freije D, Isaacs WB, Brooks JD, Rashid A, De Marzo AM, Kanai Y, Hirohashi S, Nelson WG. GSTP1 CpG island DNA hypermethylation in hepatocellular carcinomas. International Journal of Oncology 16(4):663-676, Apr. 2000.
7. Yam M, Tchou J, English R, Highnam R, Highnam R, Roskell D, Greenall M, Brady M. A mammographic dilemma: Calcification or haemosiderin as a cause of opacities? Validation of a new digital diagnostic tool. British Journal of Radiology 74(887):1048-1051, Nov. 2001.
8. Tchou J, Morrow M. Available models for breast cancer risk assessment: how accurate are they? J Am Coll Surg 2003; 197:1029-35.
9. Tchou J, Hou N, Rademaker A, Jordan VC, Morrow M. Acceptance of tamoxifen chemo-prevention by physicians and women at risk. Cancer 100(9):1800-1806, May 1, 2004.
10. Durduran T, Choe R, Yu G, Zhou C, Tchou JC, Czerniecki BJ, Yodh AG. Diffuse optical measurement of blood flow in breast tumors. Optics Letter 30, 2915-2917, 2005.
11. Vapiwala N, Starzyk J, Harris EE, Tchou JC, Boraas MC, Czerniecki BJ, Rosato EF, Orel SG, SOlin LJ: Biopsy findings after breast conservation therapy for early-stage invasive breast cancer. International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics 2007, 69(2): 490-497.
12. Basu S, Chen W, Tchou J, Mavi A, Cermik T, Czerniecki B, Schnall M, Alavi A: Comparison of triple-negative and estrogen receptor-positive/progesterone receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast carcinoma using quantitative fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose/positron emission tomography imaging parameters : a potentially useful method for disease characterization. Cancer 2007.
13. Weinstein SP, Orel SG, Pinnamaneni N, Tchou J, Czerniecki B, Boraas M, Rosato E, Solin LJ: Mammographic appearance of recurrent breast cancer after breast conservation therapy. Acad Radiol 2008, 15(2):240-244.
14. Tchou J, Greshock J, Bergey MR, Sonnad SS, Sargen M, Weinstein S, Czerniecki BJ, Boraas M, Fraker DL, Rosato E et al: Method of primary tumor detection as a risk factor for local and distant recurrence after breast-conservation treatment for early-stage breast cancer. Clinical Breast Cancer 2008, 8(2):143-148.
15. Tchou J, Ward MR, Volpe P, Palma MD, Medina CA, Sargen M, Sonnad SS, Godwin AK, DalyM, Winchester DJ et al: Large genomic rearrangement in BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 and clinical characteristics of men with breast cancer in the United States. Clinical Breast Cancer 2009, 7(8): 627-633.
16. Tchou J, Sonnad S, Bergey MR, Basu S, Tomaszewski J, Alavi A, Schnall M: Degree of tumor FDG uptake correlates with proliferation index in triple negative breast cancer. Mol Imaging Biol. 2009 Dec 12.
17. Busch DR, Guo W, Choe R, Durduran T, Feldman MD, Mies C, Rosen MA, Schnall MD, Czerniecki BJ, Tchou J, DeMichele A, Putt ME, Yodh AG: Computer aided automatic detection of malignant lesions in diffuse optical mammography. Med Phys. 2010 Apr;37(4):1840-9.
18. Mislowsky A, Domchek S, Stroede C, Bergey M, Sonnad S, Wu L, Tchou J: Breast cancer surgery trend changes since the introduction of BRCA1/2 mutation screening - A retrospective cohort analysis of 158 mutation carriers treated at a single institution. Accepted for publication in Annals of Surgical Oncology. 2010.

1. Tchou J, Grollman AP. Repair of DNA containing the oxidatively-damaged base, 8-oxoguanine. Mutation Research 299(3-4):277-287, May 1993.
2. Grollman AP, Johnson F, Tchou J, Eisenberg M. Recognition and repair of 8-oxoguanine and formamidopyrimidine lesions in DNA. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 726:208-214, July 29, 1994.
3. Tchou J, Morrow M. Available models for breast cancer risk assessment: How accu-rate are they? Journal of American College of Surgeons 197(6):1029-1035, Dec. 2003.
4. Nelson JA, Tchou J, Domchek S, Serletti JM and Wu LC: Breast Reconstruction – A historical perspective on development of techniques relative to rising bilateral mastectomy trends, accepted for publication in Current Cancer Therapy Review 2010.

1. Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit Funding 2006 Application

1. Tchou J, Hou N, Rademaker A, Jordan VC, Morrow M. Acceptance of Tamoxifen (Tam) as Chemoprevention. Program/Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2003.
2. Morrow M, Tchou J, Nakhlis F, Hou N, Rademaker A, Khan S. Acceptance of Tamoxifen (Tam) Chemoprevention varies with the cause of breast cancer risk. Program/Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2003.
3. Tchou J, Greshock J, Rebbeck T, Weber L and Solin L. Predicting distant metastasis after local recurrence (failure) in women treated by breast conserving treatment. Abstract no. 1060, 28th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 94(1), 2005.
4. Tchou, J, Ward, R, Volpe, P, Medina, A, Weber, B, Domchek, S and Nathanson, K. Frequency of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genomic rearrangements and mutations in men with breast cancer: A clinic-based study in the United States, Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Meeting, March 2006.
5. Tchou J, Sonnad S, Sargen M, Weber K, Nathanson S, Domchek S. Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy in affected carriers of deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations: Does timing of genetic testing matter? Abstract no. 10512, ASCO Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2006.
6. Tchou J, Wang LP, Sargen M, Sonnad S, Tomaszewski J, and Schnall M. Do triple-negative breast cancers have a distinct imaging phenotype? Abstract no. 551108, 29th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, 2006.
7. Tchou J, Sargen M, Sonnad S, Weber BL, Nathanson K, Domchek S. Characteristics of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers who chose prophylactic mastectomy. Accepted as Poster Presentation, Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Meeting, March 2007.
8. Roses RE, Sargen M, Vapiwala N, Czerniecki B, Solin LJ, Tchou J. Clinical, histologic, and mammographic features of recurrent breast cancers following breast conserving therapy. Accepted as Oral Presentation, Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Meeting, March 2007.
9. Mislowsky A, Domchek S, Stroede C, Bergey MR, Sonnad S, Wu L, and Tchou J. Surgical trends in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers with breast cancer – a single institution experience. Poster presentation, American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, April 28, 2010.

1. Tchou J, Morrow M. Overview of clinical risk assessment. In Morrow M, Jordan VC (eds): Managing Breast Cancer Risk. Hamilton, Ontario: BC Decker, 2003, pp. 3-25.
2. Kruper L, Tchou J. The breast. In Atluri P, Karakousis GC, Porrett PM, Kaiser LR (eds): The Surgical Review. 2nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006, pp. 502-517.
3. Cheville A. and Tchou, J. Barriers to Rehabilitation of Breast Cancer Patients. Seminars in Surgical Oncology, accepted 2007.
4. Solin L, Harris E, Weinstein S, DeMichele A, and Tchou J. Local-Regional Recurrence after Breast-Conservation Treatment or Mastectomy. In Harris J, Morrow M, Lippman M, Osborne C (eds): Diseases of the Breast. Fourth Edition. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a Wolters Kluwer business, 2010, pp. 840-855.
5. Tchou J. Breast Cancer Diagnostic Algorithms for Primary Care Providers. In Counter Details, Pennsylvania Medical Society, 2010.

1. Project title: Genetic Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Liver Cancer) (JHU Ref. DM-3602); Inventors: William G. Nelson, Xiaohui Lin, Julia C. Tchou, Jila Bakker; U.S. Patent pending, 2003.