The UAB Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the successful completion of this year's residency match program where we filled all seven of our open positions for 2025. Please join us in welcoming the following individuals to our team: 

Paul Benson, M.D., Professor, Anatomic Pathology, Autopsy Section Head, has been named director of the UAB Tissue Biorepository (TBR), effective April 1. Benson assumes the position from Sameer Al Diffalha, M.D., Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology, who has served in the role since 2017.

The UAB Department of Pathology is thrilled to welcome a new faculty member to the Community Practice Pathology Program, directed by Walter Bell, M.D. MennatAllah Ewais, M.D., joins the department as assistant professor. Ewais joins UAB from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she was a surgical pathology fellow.

In March, several of our colleagues were recognized for their years of service working at UAB and the Department of Pathology. The UAB Service Awards honors employees at each five-year milestone who have completed five or more years of service to UAB.

One faculty member and two residents were elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society (AΩA) in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine. Megan Amerson-Brown, Ph.D., CIC, MLS (middle), an assistant professor in the Divison of Laboratory Medicine, Kyle Joseph, D.O., M.S. (left), PGY3, Chief Resident, Anatomic Pathology, and Caroline Stanek, M.D. (right), PGY4, Chief Resident, Clinical Pathology, were selected to join the honor society in March.

Proteotoxic stress over time can cause irreversible cardiac abnormalities. Proteotoxicity, the damage caused by faulty proteins, contributes to a severe form of heart disease.

Rajasekaran Namakkal-Soorappan, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, is leading a team of researchers who have identified a group of microRNAs, ProteotoxomiRs, that play a crucial role in proteotoxic cardiac disease in mouse models. The study “ProteotoxomiRs: Diagnostic and Pathologic miRNA Signatures for Reductive Stress Induced Proteotoxic Heart Disease” was published in Redox Biology.

Megan Amerson-Brown, Ph.D., CIC, MLS, an assistant professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine, is a recipient of the 2024 Extraordinary Service Award from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). Amerson-Brown was recognized for her remarkable service to ASM's journal, Microbiology Spectrum. 

The UAB Department of Pathology is thrilled to announce Amie Stephens, MBA, is joining our team as executive administrator, effective February 24, 2025.

Stephens joins the department from Emory University’s Department of Medicine where she served as administrator in the Division of Infectious Diseases since 2022. In this role, Stephens directed research activities, gifts, and endowments, participated in clinical management and managed clinical budgets, prepared all financial reports and annual operating budgets, supervised staff and managed space.

Written by: Peter Anderson, D.V.M., Ph.D.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Sanford P. Bishop, D.V.M., Ph.D. Bishop was a professor emeritus in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology.

Sixto M. Leal Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Jay M. McDonald Endowed Professor in Experimental Pathology and Division Director, Laboratory Medicine, has been appointed to the American Board of Pathology's (ABPath) Test Development and Advisory Committee (TDAC) for Medical Microbiology beginning in 2025. The TDACs are responsible for developing and reviewing the ABPath certification exam questions that assess and certify a physician's education, knowledge, experience and skills in order to provide high-quality care in the profession of pathology.

Faculty members from the UAB Department of Pathology gathered for an all-day retreat at the UAB Hilton on Friday, February 7, for community-building exercises and special topic discussions.

The UAB Department of Pathology is excited to announce our chief residents for the 2025-26 year and thank our 2024-25 chiefs.

We want to acknowledge the incredible example that our 2024-25 chiefs Drs. Kyle Joseph, Caroline Stanek and Amy Theriault have set over the past year. They excelled in their leadership positions, and we thank them all for a job well done.

What are the lasting effects of COVID-19 on the body? Paul Benson, M.D., Professor and Autopsy Section Head in the Department of Pathology's Division of Anatomic Pathology, was awarded a Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) grant from the National Institutes of Health for his project, titled, "A Multi-site Pathology Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection." The RECOVER initiative is a first-of-its-kind, patient-centered research effort to understand, diagnose, prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2. The grant will fund $158,000 per year and will run through April 2026.

Chiamaka Umah, M.D., PGY2, has been selected by the UAB Heersink School of Medicine Physician Scientist Development Office (PSDO) for a position in the NIH NIAID UAB R38 StARR (Stimulating Access to Research and Residency) Training Program, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.

Natalie R. Gassman, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, has been appointed Associate Director of Access, Belonging and Culture in the UAB O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, effective February 1, 2025. 

C. Ryan Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Vishnu B. Reddy Translational Research Endowed Professor, Division Director, Neuropathology, has been appointed inaugural assistant program leader of the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Neuro-Oncology Program, effective February 1, 2025.

Alexander “Craig” Mackinnon, M.D., Ph.D., Robert B. Adams Endowed Professor in Pathology and Division Director, Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics, has been named Executive Vice Chair in the UAB Department of Pathology, effective January 6, 2025.

Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., the inaugural Robert W. Mowry Endowed Professor and Executive Vice Chair, retired on December 31, 2024, after 34 years of service in the UAB Department of Pathology.

Patients with multiple myeloma often develop bone lesions resulting in skeletal-related events (SREs), such as spinal cord compression, vertebral collapse, pathologic fractures and bone pain. Bone lesions are caused by increases in osteoclast formation and are treated using antiresorptive drugs such as denosumab. This drug is an antibody that combats RANKL, a critical regulator of osteoclast formation, however, its use suppresses the immune system and increases the risk of serious infections.

Xu Feng, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, is working to develop a better targeting strategy.

Sixto Leal Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Division Director, Laboratory Medicine, has been named the Jay M. McDonald Endowed Professor in Experimental Pathology, effective January 1, 2025.