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Aaron Tward, MD, PhD

Otologist, neurotologist and skull base surgeon

Dr. Aaron Tward is a surgeon who specializes in diagnosing and treating ear and skull base disorders. In patient care, his interests include cochlear implantation (surgically placing devices that help deaf patients perceive sound), managing benign and malignant tumors of the skull base (such as acoustic neuroma), surgery for chronic otitis media, stapedectomy (a procedure to the middle ear that can improve hearing), repair of superior semicircular canal dehiscence (a rare disorder that may affect hearing and balance) and endoscopic surgeries of the ear and skull base.

In research, Tward's interests include tumor biology, the genetics and genomics of head and neck disorders, and outcomes for patients who have ear or skull base surgery.

Tward earned both a doctorate in biomedical sciences and his medical degree from UCSF. At Harvard Medical School, he completed a residency in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, followed by a fellowship in otology (ear disorders), neurotology (neurological ear disorders) and skull base surgery.

Clinics

Cochlear Implant Center at Mission Bay
1825 Fourth St., Fifth Floor, 5C
San Francisco, CA 94158-2351
Phone: (415) 353-2464
Fax: (415) 353-2603

Cochlear Implant Center at Mount Zion
2380 Sutter St., First Floor
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 353-2464
Fax: (415) 353-2603

More about Aaron Tward

Education

UCSF, PhD, Biomedical Sciences 2005
UCSF 2007

Residencies

Harvard Medical School, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery 2012

Fellowships

Harvard Medical School, Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery 2014

Selected Research and Publications

  1. Sanchez-Vega F, Mina M, Armenia J, Chatila WK, Luna A, La KC, Dimitriadoy S, Liu DL, Kantheti HS, Saghafinia S, Chakravarty D, Daian F, Gao Q, Bailey MH, Liang WW, Foltz SM, Shmulevich I, Ding L, Heins Z, Ochoa A, Gross B, Gao J, Zhang H, Kundra R, Kandoth C, Bahceci I, Dervishi L, Dogrusoz U, Zhou W, Shen H, Laird PW, Way GP, Greene CS, Liang H, Xiao Y, Wang C, Iavarone A, Berger AH, Bivona TG, Lazar AJ, Hammer GD, Giordano T, Kwong LN, McArthur G, Huang C, Tward AD, Frederick MJ, McCormick F, Meyerson M, Van Allen EM, Cherniack AD, Ciriello G, Sander C, Schultz N. Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Cell. 2018 Apr 05; 173(2):321-337.e10.
  2. Breshears JD, Chang J, Molinaro AM, Sneed PK, McDermott MW, Tward A, Theodosopoulos PV. Temporal Dynamics of Pseudoprogression After Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas-A Retrospective Volumetric Study. Neurosurgery. 2018 Mar 05.
  3. Emmerson E, May AJ, Berthoin L, Cruz-Pacheco N, Nathan S, Mattingly AJ, Chang JL, Ryan WR, Tward AD, Knox SM. Salivary glands regenerate after radiation injury through SOX2-mediated secretory cell replacement. EMBO Mol Med. 2018 Jan 15.
  4. Farmer DT, Nathan S, Finley JK, Shengyang Yu K, Emmerson E, Byrnes LE, Sneddon JB, McManus MT, Tward AD, Knox SM. Defining epithelial cell dynamics and lineage relationships in the developing lacrimal gland. Development. 2017 07 01; 144(13):2517-2528.
  5. Camarda R, Zhou AY, Kohnz RA, Balakrishnan S, Mahieu C, Anderton B, Eyob H, Kajimura S, Tward A, Krings G, Nomura DK, Goga A. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation as a therapy for MYC-overexpressing triple-negative breast cancer. Nat Med. 2016 04; 22(4):427-32.
  6. Puram SV, Tward AD, Jung DH, Dilger AE, Herrmann BS, Duhaime AC, Barker FG, Lee DJ. Auditory brainstem implantation in a 16-month-old boy with cochlear hypoplasia. Otol Neurotol. 2015 Apr; 36(4):618-24.
  7. Li J, Chanrion M, Sawey E, Wang T, Chow E, Tward A, Su Y, Xue W, Lucito R, Zender L, Lowe SW, Bishop JM, Powers S. Reciprocal interaction of Wnt and RXR-a pathways in hepatocyte development and hepatocellular carcinoma. PLoS One. 2015; 10(3):e0118480.
  8. Mroz EA, Tward AD, Tward AM, Hammon RJ, Ren Y, Rocco JW. Intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity and mortality in head and neck cancer: analysis of data from the Cancer Genome Atlas. PLoS Med. 2015 Feb; 12(2):e1001786.
  9. Comprehensive genomic characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Nature. 2015 Jan 29; 517(7536):576-82.
  10. Parfenov M, Pedamallu CS, Gehlenborg N, Freeman SS, Danilova L, Bristow CA, Lee S, Hadjipanayis AG, Ivanova EV, Wilkerson MD, Protopopov A, Yang L, Seth S, Song X, Tang J, Ren X, Zhang J, Pantazi A, Santoso N, Xu AW, Mahadeshwar H, Wheeler DA, Haddad RI, Jung J, Ojesina AI, Issaeva N, Yarbrough WG, Hayes DN, Grandis JR, El-Naggar AK, Meyerson M, Park PJ, Chin L, Seidman JG, Hammerman PS, Kucherlapati R. Characterization of HPV and host genome interactions in primary head and neck cancers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Oct 28; 111(43):15544-9.
  11. Mroz EA, Tward AD, Pickering CR, Myers JN, Ferris RL, Rocco JW. High intratumor genetic heterogeneity is related to worse outcome in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer. 2013 Aug 15; 119(16):3034-42.
  12. Stransky N, Egloff AM, Tward AD, Kostic AD, Cibulskis K, Sivachenko A, Kryukov GV, Lawrence MS, Sougnez C, McKenna A, Shefler E, Ramos AH, Stojanov P, Carter SL, Voet D, Cortés ML, Auclair D, Berger MF, Saksena G, Guiducci C, Onofrio RC, Parkin M, Romkes M, Weissfeld JL, Seethala RR, Wang L, Rangel-Escareño C, Fernandez-Lopez JC, Hidalgo-Miranda A, Melendez-Zajgla J, Winckler W, Ardlie K, Gabriel SB, Meyerson M, Lander ES, Getz G, Golub TR, Garraway LA, Grandis JR. The mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Science. 2011 Aug 26; 333(6046):1157-60.
  13. Lee SA, Ho C, Roy R, Kosinski C, Patil MA, Tward AD, Fridlyand J, Chen X. Integration of genomic analysis and in vivo transfection to identify sprouty 2 as a candidate tumor suppressor in liver cancer. Hepatology. 2008 Apr; 47(4):1200-10.
  14. Tward AD, Jones KD, Yant S, Cheung ST, Fan ST, Chen X, Kay MA, Wang R, Bishop JM. Distinct pathways of genomic progression to benign and malignant tumors of the liver. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Sep 11; 104(37):14771-6.
  15. Goga A, Yang D, Tward AD, Morgan DO, Bishop JM. Inhibition of CDK1 as a potential therapy for tumors over-expressing MYC. Nat Med. 2007 Jul; 13(7):820-7.
  16. Sneddon JB, Zhen HH, Montgomery K, van de Rijn M, Tward AD, West R, Gladstone H, Chang HY, Morganroth GS, Oro AE, Brown PO. Bone morphogenetic protein antagonist gremlin 1 is widely expressed by cancer-associated stromal cells and can promote tumor cell proliferation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Oct 03; 103(40):14842-7.
  17. Bhasin KK, Yu JM, Tward A, Shih D, Campbell DA, Lusis AJ. Trypanosoma congolense: paraoxonase 1 prolongs survival of infected mice. Exp Parasitol. 2006 Nov; 114(3):240-5.
  18. Furlong CE, Cole TB, Jarvik GP, Pettan-Brewer C, Geiss GK, Richter RJ, Shih DM, Tward AD, Lusis AJ, Costa LG. Role of paraoxonase (PON1) status in pesticide sensitivity: genetic and temporal determinants. Neurotoxicology. 2005 Aug; 26(4):651-9.
  19. Cole TB, Walter BJ, Shih DM, Tward AD, Lusis AJ, Timchalk C, Richter RJ, Costa LG, Furlong CE. Toxicity of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos oxon in a transgenic mouse model of the human paraoxonase (PON1) Q192R polymorphism. Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2005 Aug; 15(8):589-98.
  20. Furlong CE, Cole TB, Walter BJ, Shih DM, Tward A, Lusis AJ, Timchalk C, Richter RJ, Costa LG. Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) status and risk of insecticide exposure. J Biochem Mol Toxicol. 2005; 19(3):182-3.

Publications are derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and provided by UCSF Profiles, a service of the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UCSF. Researchers can make corrections and additions to their publications by logging on to UCSF Profiles.