Nikolina Dioufa, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory MedicinePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Contact InformationHospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
6 Founders Pavilion
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215-662-3746
Email: nikolina.dioufa@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Specialty Division
Anatomic Pathology
Clinical Expertise
Anatomic Pathology, Head and Neck Pathology, Endocrine Pathology, Cytopathology
Education
MD University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, 2007
MSc University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, 2010
PhD University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, 2014
Specialty Certification
Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology (AP/CP), 2021
Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology (AP/CP) - Cytopathology, 2022
Postgraduate Training
Research Fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 2011-12
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 2012-15
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, 2016-17
Resident, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Temple University Hospital, 2017-21
Chief Resident, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Temple University Hospital, 2019
Fellow, Cytopathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2021-22
Fellow, Surgical Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2022-23
Chief Fellow, Surgical Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2022-23
Awards and Honors
Scholarship - Award “Antonios Papadakis” University of Athens, Greece, 2005 & 2006
“Empirikeion” Foundation Fellowship Award (PhD), University of Athens, Greece, 2012
Society for Pediatric Pathology-Young investigator Award Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 2014
NIH T32 Training Grant on Skin Biology and Cancer Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, 2016
Travel Award and Finalist in the Best Lab Practice Poster Award Competition, American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, 2018
Award for Scholarly Activity, Residency Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Temple University Hospital, 2018
Horatio T. Enterline Surgical Pathology Award for Excellence in Service and Teaching, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2023
Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, Penn Chapter, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 2023
Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award (quarterly), Temple University Hospital, 2024
Memberships and Professional Organizations
American Society of Investigative Pathology (ASIP), 2014 - present
American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), 2017 - present
College of American Pathologists (CAP), 2017 - present
American Society of Cytopathology (ASC), 2021 - present
Pennsylvania Association of Pathologists, 2024 - present
Web Links
Selected Publications
Navigating the diagnostic maze: the challenge of sclerosing pneumocytoma in frozen sections.
Zenezan D, Yin J, Dioufa N, Firde K, Mollaee M, Akhtar I, Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 17(6): 182-188, 2024, PMID:39005235
MYOD1 as a prognostic indicator in rhabdomyosarcoma.
Ahmed AA, Habeebu S, Farooqi MS, Gamis AS, Gonzalez E, Flatt T, Sherman A, Surrey L, Arnold MA, Conces M, Koo S, Dioufa N, Barr FG, Tsokos MG., Pediatr Blood Cancer. 68(9): e29085, 2021, PMID:33913590
A rare case of parosteal osteosarcoma of the maxilla in a 14-year old and a review of the current literature.
Dioufa N., Zhang P.J., Black R., Khurana J.S., Kuklani R., Oral Surg 13(2): 168-176, 2020
Bi-directional exosome-driven intercommunication between the hepatic niche and cancer cells
Dioufa N., Clark M. A., Ma B., Beckwitt C. H., Wells A., Mol Cancer 16(1): 172, 2017, PMID:29137633
Protein phosphatase 2a is requisite for the function of regulatory T cells.
Sokratis A Apostolidis, Noé Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Abel Suárez-Fueyo, Nikolina Dioufa, Esra Ozcan, José C Crispín, Maria G Tsokos, George C Tsokos, Nat Immunol 17(5): 556-64, 2016, PMID:26974206
Phosphatase PP2A is requisite for the function of regulatory T cells
Sokratis A Apostolidis, Noé Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Abel Suárez-Fueyo, Nikolina Dioufa, Esra Ozcan, José C Crispín, Maria G Tsokos, George C Tsokos, Nat Immunol 17(5): 556-64, 2016
p21/waf1 and smooth-muscle actin α expression in stromal fibroblasts of oral cancers
Ioulia Chatzistamou 1, Nikolina Dioufa, George Trimis, Alexandra Sklavounou, Christos Kittas, Hippokratis Kiaris, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Anal Cell Pathol (Amst) 33(1): 19-26, 2013, PMID:20966541
Growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor splice variant 1 is frequently expressed in oral squamous cell carcinomas
Nikolina Dioufa, Elena Farmaki, Andrew V Schally, Hippokratis Kiaris, Dimitris Vlahodimitropoulos, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Christos Kittas, Norman L Block, Ioulia Chatzistamou, Horm Cancer 3(4): 172-80, 2012
p53 antagonizes the unfolded protein response and inhibits ground glass hepatocyte development during endoplasmic reticulum stress
Nikolina Dioufa, Ioulia Chatzistamou, Elena Farmaki, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Hippokratis Kiaris, Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 237(10): 1173-80, 2012, PMID:23038705
Essential role for p53/p21-mediated signaling in the regulation of stromal fibroblast/cancer cell interaction and therapeutic efficacy
Hippokratis Kiaris, Lina Dioufa, Elena Farmaki, Daniel Lafkas, George Trimis, Ioulia Chatzistamou, Athanasios G. Papavassiliou, Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics 203(1): P74, 2010
