Sophia Yohe

Introduction

Sophia Yohe, MD, is a professor and vice chair of strategy in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is a hematopathologist and molecular genetic pathologist.

In her molecular pathology role, Yohe works with her colleagues in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory and the bioinformatics group at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute to implement genomic testing into clinical practice. In addition to offering next generation sequencing (NGS) testing for many inherited conditions, the team performs NGS for a number of genes commonly mutated in leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumors. 

Yohe’s research interests include understanding genetic changes and improving detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) in hematopoietic malignancies, like acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, using genomic and flow cytometric technologies. One of the challenges in the field is the heterogeneity of the immunophenotype and genetics of these diseases. She has collaborated with her clinical colleagues to show the importance of MRD detection pre-transplant and is pursuing novel methods to detect MRD in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.