Gail Tomlinson, MD, PhD

Gail Tomlinson, MD, PhD, is a professor of pediatrics and serves as the division chief of pediatric hematology-oncology in the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She is the co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Screening Committee, co-director of the Population Science and Prevention Program and a part of the Cancer Genetics and High-Risk Screening program at Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center. In addition, she is a Greehey Distinguished Chair in Genetics and Cancer.

She is board-certified and fellowship-trained in pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology. Her clinical interests are in guiding individuals and families who may be at risk for cancer because of genetic predisposition, and she leads a multi-site genetic risk assessment program counseling individuals and families throughout San Antonio and South Texas. She also participates as an investigator on our current Texas Minority Underserved Pediatric National Institutes of Health Cancer Oncology Research Program (NCORP) that focuses on the enrollment of Hispanic children in cancer treatment trials.

Her research background is in the genetics and biology of liver tumors in children. She has initiated an investigation of predisposing factors underlying the increased incidence of leukemia in children of Hispanic background in South Texas. She maintains a growing registry and biobank for children and adolescents with cancer. 

She has served on multiple national and state committees focusing on advancing research, education and advocacy in childhood cancer and has published over 180 scientific papers.

She received her medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Washington, D.C, and her doctorate in biochemistry from Duke University. She completed an internship and residency at the Children’s National Medical Center, in Washington D.C. She did a research fellowship in cancer genetics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas, followed by a formal fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, Texas. She was a faculty member at UT Southwestern Medical Center from 1992 to 2006, where she was a tenured associate professor and held the Children’s Cancer Fund Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Oncology Research.