Sibo Zhao, MD

Medical Director, Neuro-Oncology

Sibo Zhao, MD

Medical Director, Neuro-Oncology

Cook Children's Neuro-Oncology

1500 Cooper St., Fifth floor
Fort Worth, TX 76104

Main Phone Number Icon 682-885-4007

Fax Number Icon 682-885-4004

Languages Icon Language(s): English

Accepting New Patients Icon Accepting new patients

Meet Dr. Sibo Zhao

Dr. Zhao knew early on that she wanted to be a doctor. She was inspired by her aunt, who is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist. As a young girl, she didn't really understand what her aunt did for work, but could tell that being a doctor was a very important job. As Dr. Zhao got older and became more and more interested in science, biology and anatomy, she knew that she would follow in her aunt's footsteps.

During medical school, Dr. Zhao was drawn to pediatrics. She found kids to be fun, and she recognized that unlike many adult conditions that are related to lifestyle choices (like smoking) kids don't do things that cause their illnesses. Whether as a general pediatrician or a pediatric subspecialist, Dr. Zhao felt there is nothing more rewarding than knowing that she could make a difference in a child's life.

Early in her medical training, Dr. Zhao thought she wanted to pursue a career in neonatology or pediatric intensive care. But during her first-year pediatric residency she cared for a young boy with high-risk neuroblastoma. That experience changed everything and consolidated her decision in oncology. Later on, during fellowship, following her desire to help those most in need, neuro-oncology became her specialty of choice, and she's never looked back.

As a neuro-oncologist, Dr. Zhao specializes in brain and spinal cord tumors and retinoblastoma. In addition, she's interested in clinical pharmacology and developmental therapeutics. And, in a constantly changing field, is always learning so she can not only keep current on the newest treatments and research, but also to look ahead toward future advancements to help the kids she cares for.

And care she does. Being a doctor is more than treatment to Dr. Zhao. She also enjoys building relationships. She takes time to really get to know her patients and families and build a strong foundation of trust.

"I get to know them well. Take time to listen. Walk each journey with them. I will laugh and cry with my families and be by their sides during good times and hard times."

Dr. Zhao is driven by a philosophy of three principles:

Every child deserves to receive the best care
Empowering the families with knowledge and shared-decision making process is important
Research is at the forefront of everything we do in pediatric neuro-oncology

In fact, it is her philosophy that led her to join the Cook Children's family.

"I was literally blown away when I came here for the interview. Coming from the largest pediatric hospital in the U.S. and an academic institution, I found the Cook Children's culture and its philosophy very refreshing and fit my personal beliefs and needs."

Dr. Zhao moved to the U.S. when she was 15 and finished "growing up" in Texas. She lived in all of the major cities in Texas before calling Fort Worth her home. She lives with her husband, two children, dogs, a bird and fish. They used to have turtles as well. She's also been known to stop and rescue stray dogs, and says, "My family can be a zoo sometimes." She also enjoys gardening and tending to her indoor plants. According to her, "you can never have too many plants."

She loves her work, kids, people, plants and animals … about the only thing she doesn't like, is popcorn.

Services

Treatment planning for all varieties of brain and spinal cord tumors

Publications

Publications:

Zhang H, Qi L, Du Y, Huang LF, Braun FK, Kogiso M, Zhao Y, Li C, Lindsay H, Zhao S, Injac SG, Baxter PA, Su JM, Stephan C, Keller C, Heck KA, Harmanci A, Harmanci AO, Yang J, Klisch TJ, Li XN, Patel AJ. Patient-Derived Orthotopic Xenograft (PDOX) Mouse Models of Primary and Recurrent Meningioma. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jun 5;12(6). doi: 10.3390/cancers12061478. PubMed PMID: 32517016; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7352400.
Rokita JL, Rathi KS, Cardenas MF, Upton KA, Jayaseelan J, Cross KL, Pfeil J, Egolf LE, Way GP, Farrel A, Kendsersky NM, Patel K, Gaonkar KS, Modi A, Berko ER, Lopez G, Vaksman Z, Mayoh C, Nance J, McCoy K, Haber M, Evans K, McCalmont H, Bendak K, Böhm JW, Marshall GM, Tyrrell V, Kalletla K, Braun FK, Qi L, Du Y, Zhang H, Lindsay HB, Zhao S, Shu J, Baxter P, Morton C, Kurmashev D, Zheng S, Chen Y, Bowen J, Bryan AC, Leraas KM, Coppens SE, Doddapaneni H, Momin Z, Zhang W, Sacks GI, Hart LS, Krytska K, Mosse YP, Gatto GJ, Sanchez Y, Greene CS, Diskin SJ, Vaske OM, Haussler D, Gastier-Foster JM, Kolb EA, Gorlick R, Li XN, Reynolds CP, Kurmasheva RT, Houghton PJ, Smith MA, Lock RB, Raman P, Wheeler DA, Maris JM. Genomic Profiling of Childhood Tumor Patient-Derived Xenograft Models to Enable Rational Clinical Trial Design. Cell Rep. 2019 Nov 5;29(6):1675-1689.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.09.071. PubMed PMID: 31693904; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6880934.
Huang L, Garrett Injac S, Cui K, Braun F, Lin Q, Du Y, Zhang H, Kogiso M, Lindsay H, Zhao S, Baxter P, Adekunle A, Man TK, Zhao H, Li XN, Lau CC, Wong STC. Systems biology-based drug repositioning identifies digoxin as a potential therapy for groups 3 and 4 medulloblastoma. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Oct 24;10(464). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aat0150. PubMed PMID: 30355798; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6644046.
Bavle A, Grimes A, Zhao S, Zinn D, Jackson A, Patel B, Porea T, Dutta A, Russell H, Heczey A. Cost-effectiveness and Improved Parent and Provider Satisfaction With Outpatient Management of Pediatric Oncology Patients, With Low-risk Fever and Neutropenia. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2018 Oct;40(7):e415-e420. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0000000000001084. PubMed PMID: 29334532.
Kogiso M, Qi L, Braun FK, Injac SG, Zhang L, Du Y, Zhang H, Lin FY, Zhao S, Lindsay H, Su JM, Baxter PA, Adesina AM, Liao D, Qian MG, Berg S, Muscal JA, Li XN. Concurrent Inhibition of Neurosphere and Monolayer Cells of Pediatric Glioblastoma by Aurora A Inhibitor MLN8237 Predicted Survival Extension in PDOX Models. Clin Cancer Res. 2018 May 1;24(9):2159-2170. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-2256. Epub 2018 Feb 20. PubMed PMID: 29463553; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6052861.
Kogiso M, Qi L, Lindsay H, Huang Y, Zhao X, Liu Z, Braun FK, Du Y, Zhang H, Bae G, Zhao S, Injac SG, Sobieski M, Brunell D, Mehta V, Tran D, Murray J, Baxter PA, Yuan XJ, Su JM, Adesina A, Perlaky L, Chintagumpala M, Parsons DW, Lau CC, Stephan CC, Lu X, Li XN. Xenotransplantation of pediatric low grade gliomas confirms the enrichment of BRAF V600E mutation and preservation of CDKN2A deletion in a novel orthotopic xenograft mouse model of progressive pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma. Oncotarget. 2017 Oct 20;8(50):87455-87471. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.20713. eCollection 2017 Oct 20. PubMed PMID: 29152094; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5675646.
Sun XY, Qu Y, Ni AR, Wang GX, Huang WB, Chen ZP, Lv ZF, Zhang S, Lindsay H, Zhao S, Li XN, Feng BH. Novel histone deacetylase inhibitor N25 exerts anti-tumor effects and induces autophagy in human glioma cells by inhibiting HDAC3. Oncotarget. 2017 Sep 26;8(43):75232-75242. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.20744. eCollection 2017 Sep 26. PubMed PMID: 29088860; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5650415.
Whittle SB, Smith V, Doherty E, Zhao S, McCarty S, Zage PE. Overview and recent advances in the treatment of neuroblastoma. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2017 Apr;17(4):369-386. doi: 10.1080/14737140.2017.1285230. Epub 2017 Mar 15. Review. PubMed PMID: 28142287.
Lindsay H, Huang Y, Du Y, Braun FK, Teo WY, Kogiso M, Qi L, Zhang H, Zhao S, Mao H, Lin F, Baxter P, Su JM, Terashima K, Perlaky L, Chintagumpala M, Adesina A, Lau CC, Williams Parsons D, Li XN. Preservation of KIT genotype in a novel pair of patient-derived orthotopic xenograft mouse models of metastatic pediatric CNS germinoma. J Neurooncol. 2016 May;128(1):47-56. doi: 10.1007/s11060-016-2098-9. Epub 2016 Mar 8. PubMed PMID: 26956263.

Education

Medical School:
University of Texas Health Science Center School of Medicine in San Antonio, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Residency:
University of Texas Health Science Center School of Medicine in San Antonio
Board Certifications:
American Board of Pediatrics
American Board of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Affiliations

Cook Children's Physician Network

Sibo Zhao, MD

Medical Director, Neuro-Oncology

Sibo Zhao, MD

Medical Director, Neuro-Oncology

About

Meet Dr. Sibo Zhao

Services

Services

Publications

Publications

Education

Education

Affiliations

Affiliations

Social

Find us on social