Overview
Gastrointestinal pathology at UAB is a section of Anatomic Pathology, providing comprehensive gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and hepatobiliary diagnostic pathologic service to UAB tertiary care Medical Center, including its Pancreatobiliary Disease Center, liver transplantation program, and O'Neill comprehensive cancer Center. It renders consultations on challenging cases from UAB pathology outreach services (CPPP), Children's of Alabama, Birmingham VA Medical Center and other local and regional institutions. Approximately 10,000 gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary specimens (biopsies and resections) are processed each year, including approximately 1,000 liver biopsies/resections/transplants.
The GI pathology service covers multiple interdisciplinary tumor boards and conferences including weekly pancreatobiliary tumor board and hepatobiliary tumor board, and bimonthly GI clinical luminal conference and medical liver conference. Besides providing clinical service, GI team is involved in teaching housestaff and medical students, in daily sign outs, didactic lectures, and slide sessions. GI faculty also participate in interdisciplinary institutional research programs, apart from their own research activities.
Our Faculty
Sameer Al Diffalha, MD, Director, GI Pathology Fellowship Program, Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology
Leona Council, MD, Assistant Professor, Anatomic Pathology
Valeria Dal Zotto, M.D., Assistant Professor, Anatomic Pathology
Isam-Eldin Eltoum, MD, MBA, Professor and Vice Chair, Quality & Patient Safety, Anatomic Pathology
Goo Lee, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology
Residency & Fellowship Training
Pathology Resident Education
Residents spend typically 4 months in the GI pathology rotation in which they rotate weekly between GI biopsy and GI resection service. During GI biopsy week service, the residents preview most of GI, liver, and pancreatic biopsies in the morning and sign-out with the GI faculty typically from daily. They order special stains and immunostains and write up the reports for at least selected cases before grossing a few GI cases in the afternoon. During the GI resection service, the residents preview and prepare cases in the morning for sign outs at 10.00 am, and the afternoons are spent in grossing GI cases. An electronic version of the detailed GI grossing manual with instructions is provided to the residents for guidance. In addition, GI fellows and the GI faculty are always available for gross supervision. Residents follow up on their stains/additional sections/slides by reviewing them, discussing the results with the attending, and incorporating them in the reports. Residents are encouraged to participate in the GI conferences and they present a journal club before the end of the one month GI rotation. Residents are given graduated responsibility as they become familiar with the GI service, including communicating with the clinicians regarding preliminary diagnosis and case based discussions.
GI Fellowship Program
There is typically one GI pathology fellow each year; the fellow learns major diagnostic aspects of GI pathology including utilization of appropriate immunohistochemical and molecular tests. GI Pathology Fellowship program is a hydrid fellowship/instructorship position, in which the fellow assumes the role of instructor as soon as they are ready to sign out their cases, initially with the help of the faculty who reviews the entire case and finally independently before the end of the fellowship, with continued strong support and mentorship from faculty. GI fellow has teaching responsibilities; they supervise residents in grossing, preview cases with the residents whenever possible, give unknown conferences, and finally sign-out with the residents. GI fellow presents pathology at some of the tumor boards and are highly encouraged to attend other GI conferences. The fellow is also required to participate in at least one research project and present at the national meetings.GI fellow also present Journals clubs on a quarterly basis.
Gastrointestinal Pathology Consultation and Tests
The Gastrointestinal pathology team provides comprehensive expert consultative service for gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and hepatobiliary diseases. Histopathology expertise is complemented by comprehensive immunohistochemistry service as well as the Genomic service, which offers FISH testing and multigene NGS panels.
Gastrointestinal Pathology Consult Submission Instructions
Please complete the consultation request form, print, and send with the slides or blocks.
Send slides or blocks to: Department of Pathology North Pavilion 3rd Floor, Room 3518 1802 6th Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35233 Phone: 205-934-4977 Fax: 205-934-7834
Contact Us
Sameer Al Diffalha, M.D.
Vice Chair for Outreach
Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
NP 3545
619 19th St S
Birmingham, AL 35249-6823
Email: saldiffalha@uabmc.edu
Fellowship Information:
Telephone: (205) 975-3450 Fax: (205) 975-PATH
E-mail: path-fellowships@uabmc.edu
https://www.uab.edu/medicine/pathology/education/fellowship-program