Dr. Markku Martti Miettinen is a globally recognized surgical pathologist and leading authority in the field of soft tissue tumor pathology and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. He currently serves as Senior Clinician and Head of the General Surgical Pathology Section in the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research. After earning his M.D. in 1977 and Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Helsinki Medical School, he completed his residency in anatomic pathology at the same institution in 1982. His distinguished career includes fifteen years as Chairman and Registrar and Distinguished Scientist of the Department of Soft Tissue and Orthopedic Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, alongside professorships at Jefferson Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Dr. Miettinen's research has fundamentally transformed the clinical understanding and management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors through his group's development of the definitive prognostication system for GIST that is now implemented worldwide in clinical practice. His seminal work delineating the comprehensive clinicopathologic profile of GISTs across different anatomical sites has established critical diagnostic and therapeutic parameters that guide treatment decisions for thousands of patients annually. His team's rigorous analyses of prognostic, molecular, and biomarker characteristics in both sporadic and syndromic GISTs have significantly advanced precision medicine approaches in sarcoma pathology. Furthermore, Dr. Miettinen has pioneered the evaluation of novel diagnostic markers for soft tissue sarcomas and related tumors, substantially improving diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic decision-making in these complex malignancies.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Miettinen leads a team of surgical pathologists providing expert pathology consultations that support numerous clinical trials across the National Institutes of Health. He serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals including the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, Human Pathology, and The Journal of Pathology, significantly influencing the direction of pathology research globally. Actively engaged in resident education through the NCI's anatomic pathology residency program, he continues to mentor the next generation of pathologists. His current research focuses on genomic studies of GIST and related tumors, with particular emphasis on fusion tumors such as colonic adenocarcinomas with NTRK gene fusions, positioning him at the forefront of molecular diagnostics in oncology.
