Vaia Florou, MD

Languages spoken: English, Modern Greek (1453-)

Academic Information

Departments: Internal Medicine - Assistant Professor (Clinical)

Divisions: Oncology

Academic Office Information

Vaia.Florou@hci.utah.edu

(801) 585-0255

Huntsman Cancer Institute Research South

2000 Circle of Hope, Room: Suite 2100
Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Board Certification

  • American Board of Internal Medicine
  • American Board of Internal Medicine (Sub: Medical Oncology)

Vaia Florou is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncology at Huntsman Cancer Institute of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her clinical and research interests are focused on sarcomas and gastrointestinal malignancies, with an emphasis on immunotherapy and targeted therapies. Dr. Florou received her medical degree from the University of Patras in Patras, Greece. Prior to her clinical training, she was a research fellow at the University of Cologne in Germany, where she studied the B-cell receptor signaling in CLL. She then completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson/Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey with an additional year as Chief Medical Resident. She pursued a Hematology and Oncology fellowship at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida where she graduated from in 2019.

She is involved in clinical trials aiming to improve immunotherapy efficacy in sarcomas and gastrointestinal malignancies. Her research has been presented at various national and international conferences including ASCO, AACR, SITC, ISTH and CTOS. She is also a member of several professional organizations like the American Society of Clinical Oncology, European Society for Medical Oncology, Connective Tissue Oncology Society and Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

Education History

Graduate Training University of Utah
Biomedical Informatics 		M.S.
Fellowship Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami
Hematology/Oncology 		Clinical Fellow
Chief Resident Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Saint Peter’s University Hospital
Internal Medicine 		Chief Resident
Graduate Training Rutgers University/Saint Peter’s University Hospital
Strategic Healthcare Management Program 		Mini-M.B.A.
Residency Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Saint Peter’s University Hospital
Internal Medicine 		Resident
Research Fellow University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine
Hematology/Oncology 		Research Fellow
Professional Medical University of Patras, Faculty of Medicine
Medicine 		M.D.

Selected Publications

  1. Nevala-Plagemann C, Sama S, Ying J, Shen J, Haaland B, Florou V, Garrido-Laguna I (2022). A Real-World Comparison of Regorafenib and Trifluridine/Tipiracil in Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in the United States. J Natl Compr Canc Netw, 21(3), 257-264.
  2. Miotke L, Nevala-Plagemann C, Ying J, Florou V, Haaland B, Garrido-Laguna I (2022). Treatment outcomes in recurrent versus de novo metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a real world study. BMC Cancer, 22(1), 1054.
  3. Florou V, Garrido-Laguna I (2022). Clinical Development of Anti-TIGIT Antibodies for Immunotherapy of Cancer. [Review]. Curr Oncol Rep, 24(9), 1107-1112.
  4. Pauley K, Koptiuch C, Greenberg S, Kohlmann W, Jeter J, Colonna S, Werner T, Kinsey C, Gilcrease G, Weis J, Whisenant J, Florou V, Garrido-Laguna I (2022). Discrepancies between tumor genomic profiling and germline genetic testing. ESMO Open, 7(4), 100526.
  5. Florou V, Wilky BA (2022). Emerging mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance in sarcomas. [Review]. Cancer Drug Resist, 5(1), 199-213.
  6. Mittra A, Takebe N, Florou V, Chen AP, Naqash AR (2020). The emerging landscape of immune checkpoint inhibitor based clinical trials in adults with advanced rare tumors. [Review]. Hum Vaccin Immunother, 17(7), 1935-1939.
  7. Florou V, Wilky BA (2021). Current Management of Angiosarcoma: Recent Advances and Lessons From the Past. [Review]. Curr Treat Options Oncol, 22(7), 61.
  8. Florou V, Puri S, Garrido-Laguna I, Wilky BA (2020). Considerations for immunotherapy in patients with cancer and comorbid immune dysfunction. [Review]. Ann Transl Med, 9(12), 1035.
  9. Bindal P, Gray JE, Boyle TA, Florou V, Puri S (2020). Biomarkers of therapeutic response with immune checkpoint inhibitors. [Review]. Ann Transl Med, 9(12), 1040.
  10. Kourouni I, Aesif SW, Tamarkin SW, Bolen M, Sivak E, Shaman Z, Tamaskar I, Florou V (2021). A 51-year-old man with chronic cough and left hilar prominence. Breathe (Sheff), 17(2), 210018.
  11. Florou V, Nevala-Plagemann C, Whisenant J, Maeda P, Gilcrease GW, Garrido-Laguna I (2021). Clinical Activity of Selitrectinib in a Patient With Mammary Analogue Secretory Carcinoma of the Parotid Gland With Secondary Resistance to Entrectinib. J Natl Compr Canc Netw, 19(5), 478-482.
  12. Azeem Khan M, Florou V, Swami U (2021). Immunotherapy and fatigue: what we know and what we don't know. Oncotarget, 12(8), 719-720.
  13. Florou V, Jarboe E, Deftereos G (2020). Intravenous Leiomyomatosis: A Rare Diagnosis With Aggressive Potential. JCO Oncol Pract, 17(4), 206-208.
  14. Marron TU, Ryan AE, Reddy SM, Kaczanowska S, Younis RH, Thakkar D, Zhang J, Bartkowiak T, Howard R, Anderson KG, Olson D, Naqash AR, Patel RB, Sachdev E, Rodriguez-Ruiz ME, Sheffer M, Church S, Fuhrman C, Overacre-Delgoffe A, Nguyen R, Florou V, Thaxton JE, Aggen DH, Guerriero JL (2021). Considerations for treatment duration in responders to immune checkpoint inhibitors. [Review]. J Immunother Cancer, 9(3).
  15. Naqash AR, Ricciuti B, Owen DH, Florou V et al (2020). Outcomes associated with immune-related adverse events in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab: a pooled exploratory analysis from a global cohort. Cancer Immunol Immunother, s00262-020-02536-5(10.1007), 1177-1187.
  16. Naqash AR, Ricciuti B, Owen DH, Florou V, Toi Y, Cherry C, Hafiz M, De Giglio A, Muzaffar M, Patel SH, Sugawara S, Burkart J, Park W, Chiari R, Sugisaka J, Otterson GA, de Lima Lopes G, Walker PR (2020). Outcomes associated with immune-related adverse events in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab: a pooled exploratory analysis from a global cohort. Cancer Immunol Immunother, 69(7), 1177-1187.
  17. Florou V, Nevala-Plagemann C, Barber KE, Mastroianni JN, Cavalieri CC, Garrido-Laguna I (2020). Treatment Rechallenge With Checkpoint Inhibition in Patients With Mismatch Repair-Deficient Pancreatic Cancer After Planned Treatment Interruption. JCO Precis Oncol, 4.
  18. Florou V, Trent JC, Wilky BA (2020). Precision medicine in gastrointestinal stromal tumors. [Review]. Discov Med, 28(155), 267-276.
  19. Florou V, Garrido-Laguna I (2019). Cancer immunotherapy in the immunosuppressed patients and its relevance to clinical practice. J Immunother Precis Oncol 2:127. J Immunother Precis Oncol.
  20. Florou V, Rosenberg AE, Wieder E, Komanduri K V, Kolonias D, Uduman M, Castle JC, Buell JS, Trent JC, Wilky BA (2019). Angiosarcoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a case series of seven patients from a single institution. J Immunother Cancer.
  21. Chae YK, Viveiros P, Lopes G, Sukhadia B, Sheikh MM, Saravia D, Florou V, Sokol ES, Frampton GM, Chalmers ZR, Ali SM, Ross JS, Chang S, Wang S, Chiec L, Rahbari A, Mohindra N, Villaflor V, Shin SH, Oh M, Anker J, Park LC, Wang V, Chuang J, Park W (2019). Clinical and immunological implications of frameshift mutations in lung cancer. J Thorac Oncol, (10.1016).
  22. Wilky BA, Trucco MM, Subhawong TK, Florou V, Park W, Kwon D, Wieder ED, Kolonias D, Rosenberg AE, Kerr DA, Sfakianaki E, Foley M, Merchan JR, Komanduri KV, Trent JC (2019). Axitinib plus pembrolizumab in patients with advanced sarcomas including alveolar soft-part sarcoma: a single-centre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol, (10.1016), 30153-6.
  23. Florou V, Ramdial JL, Trent JC (2018). Use of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Patients With GI Stromal Tumor Who Are Pregnant or Considering Pregnancy: Driver Mutations and Circulating Tumor DNA. J Clin Oncol, 36(25), 2659-60.
  24. Florou V, Wilky BA (2018 Mar 8). Current and Future Directions for Angiosarcoma Therapy. [Review]. Curr Treat Options Oncol, 19(3), 14.
  25. Alavi SN, Florou V, Tinoco G, Trent JC, Wilky BA (2018). A precision medicine approach in sarcoma: identification of patients who may benefit from early use of pazopanib. [Review]. Discov Med, 25(137), 131-44.
  26. Florou V, Nascimento AG, Gulia A, de Lima Lopes Jr G (2018). Global Health Perspective in Sarcomas and Other Rare Cancers. In American Society of Clinical Oncology, Educational Book (38, pp. 916-24).
  27. Florou V, Ramdial J, Trent JC (2017). GIST in Pregnancy: The Role of Circulating Tumor DNA to Define the Assessment of Risk of Rapid Progression and Response to Imatinib. Am J Hematol Oncol, 13(11), 37-40.
  28. Cioffi JH, Estes DJ, Florou V, Ardalan B (2017). Treatment of advanced colorectal cancer in a patient with cardiotoxic reactions to 5-fluorouracil and capecitabine using suboptimal doses.LID - bcr-2017-220952 [pii]LID - 10.1136/bcr-2017-220952 [doi]. BMJ Case Rep, 2017.
  29. Florou V, Wilky BA, Trent JC (2017). Latest advances in adult gastrointestinal stromal tumors. [Review]. Future Oncol, 13(24), 2183-93.
  30. Warner K, Crispatzu G, Al-Ghaili N, Weit N, Florou V, You MJ, Newrzela S, Herling M (2013). Models for mature T-cell lymphomas--a critical appraisal of experimental systems and their contribution to current T-cell tumorigenic concepts. [Review]. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol, 88(3), 680-95.

Global Impact

Education History

Type School Degree
Professional Medical University of Patras, Faculty of Medicine
Medicine		 M.D.
Research Fellow University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine
Hematology/Oncology		 Research Fellow