Dr. Karen Sfanos is an associate professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the cellular and molecular pathology of prostate disease.
Dr. Sfanos and her research team are particularly interested in agents that may lead to chronic prostatic inflammation, such as bacterial infections and prostatic concretions called corpora amylacea. The lab's ongoing studies are aimed at understanding the influence of prostate infections and inflammation on prostate disease including prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The laboratory also focuses on the influence of the microbiome on prostate cancer development, progression, and/or resistance to therapy.
Dr. Sfanos earned her M.S. at the Florida Institute of Technology. She completed her Ph.D. and a fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
She was awarded a fellowship from the Prevent Cancer Foundation in 2009 and was recognized by the Prostate Cancer Foundation as the Chris and Felicia Evensen Young Investigator in 2012 and by the V Foundation as a V Scholar in 2014.