Thomas Coates, MD

Dr. Thomas is currently working as section head of hematology, as attending physician in hematology oncology and bone marrow transplantation section and one of investigator in hematology-oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is also associated with Keck School of Medicine of USC as professor of pediatrics. He is a clinical specialist in hematology and red blood cell disorders while his area of research broadly covers cancer and blood diseases. He primarily works in two areas of basic and translational research: 1) the role of inflammation in the genesis of vascular disease in sickle cell disease; 2) the detection and management of transfusion related iron overload. His research employs various engineering-intensive methodologies (MRI, laser Doppler flow, digital image analysis, signal processing) to explore the basic mechanisms of sickle cell disease and to measure the effect of various treatment modalities.  

Representative Publications:

Diminished cerebral oxygen extraction and metabolic rate in sickle cell disease using T2 relaxation under spin tagging MRI

Contrasting resting-state fMRI abnormalities from sickle and non-sickle anemia

The effect of hypnosis on pain and peripheral blood flow in sickle-cell disease: a pilot study

Biophysical markers of the peripheral vasoconstriction response to pain in sickle cell disease

Hemoglobin and mean platelet volume predicts diffuse T1-MRI white matter volume decrease in sickle cell disease patients

Determinants of resting cerebral blood flow in sickle cell disease