This year's sixth annual Robert M. Brissie Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Pathology and the Alabama Eye Bank, featured Laura D. Knight, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner and Coroner of the Washoe County, Nevada Regional Medical Examiner's Office. This lecture took place on Thursday, December 12 in the West Pavilion Conference Center.

From left to right: Dr. Bob Phillips, ophthamologist and corneal transplant surgeon on the Board of Trustees for Advancing Sight, Dr. Laura Knight, chief forensic pathologist and Brissie Lecturer, and Alan Blake, President and CEO of Advancing Sight.

We recognize the contributions of William Grizzle, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Anatomic Pathology, to our department and to UAB for more than 30 years. Grizzle plans to retire effective January 1, 2020.

The UAB Department of Pathology is was represented internationally by our chair, George J. Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair, as he delivered lectures and coursework at several international conferences this fall.

By Matt Windsor, UAB Reporter

In some ways Elizabeth Worthey, Ph.D., is a typical nerd. She likes having lots of computer screens and solving puzzles and nothing so much as coming up with novel ways to use software to solve complex problems.

Elizabeth "Liz" Worthey joined UAB this summer to help open up genetic insights as a routine part of clinical care. "You have to actually have a health care system to put [genomic diagnostics] into health care," Worthey said. "That's why I'm at UAB."

As Veteran's Day approaches this year, on Monday, November 11, we look to our colleagues for some impressive tales of bravery by those who served our country. The following are just a few examples.

Matthew Leonard

The first week of November marked the recognition of several of our outstanding female faculty by the UAB School of Medicine.

The 2019 Tri-State Pathology Conference took place Saturday, October 5, at the Hyatt Regency - Wynfrey Hotel at the Riverchase Galleria, bringing together the Alabama Association of Pathologists, the Louisiana Association of Pathologists, and the Mississippi Association of Pathologists for a stellar lineup of presentations. The event was co-sponsored by UAB Pathology and featured lectures from our faculty throughout the day, on a variety of topics representing their myriad areas of expertise.

Travis Kidd, Jr., M.D., President of the Alabama Association of Pathologists, delivered the conference's opening and closing remarks and acted as emcee for the daylong event. Kidd is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He completed his post-graduate education at Vanderbilt University Medical School. He practices full-time surgical pathology at CytoPath in Alabaster, Alabama.

The O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted its 21st annual Research Retreat on Friday, October 18, and the Department of Pathology had a strong presence at the event. Soory Varambally, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology, served as event co-chair this year.
Dr. Soory Varambally speaking at the O'Neal CCC Research Retreat

The retreat, held at The Club, saw more than 500 UAB faculty members, trainees and students attend and showcase their cancer-related research, including a poster competition. Click to access the full abstract book.

Kasey Skinner, Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Dr. C. Ryan Miller, Division Director, Neuropathology, won the Seng-jaw Soong Award for Excellence in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Research at the retreat. Skinner was the awardee of the Betty Pritchett Spencer Award for Cancer Research at the 2019 Pathology Research Retreat this summer.

Kasey Skinner receives her award from Dr. Ravi Bhatia, interim director, O'Neil CCC.

For a full list of winners and photos from the event, visit: https://www.uab.edu/onealcancercenter/research/research-retreat.

This yearly event is designed to support individuals living with rare acquired and congenital TTP diagnoses and their families, promote awareness to empower patients, families, clinicians, and scientists, build a collaborative and dedicated clinical care network, and help advance scientific understanding and research. It allows for the exchange of up-to-date information regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and management of TTP through educational presentations, and offer a support network between persons with TTP through roundtable discussions.

The American Medical Association celebrated women leaders in medicine throughout the month of September, and in that spirit, a group of UAB Pathology faculty, staff and trainees gathered in the UAB Hospital North Pavilion for a group photo representing our own women leaders.

The UAB Department of Pathology is excited to welcome Mythreye Karthikeyan, Ph.D., as Associate Professor in the Division of Molecular & Cellular Pathology, effective October 1, 2019.

Dr. Karthikeyan completed her undergraduate education at the prestigious Biochemistry Honors program at Delhi University in India, followed by a master's degree, a brief research internship, and subsequently a Ph.D. from the Department of Biology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. This rigorous graduate training in the fundamentals of chromosome segregation mechanisms using cellular and genetic tools was the gateway to a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University, where she started her career in cancer signaling.

We recognize the contributions of Dr. Stephanie Reilly, Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology and Autopsy Section Head, as she announces her retirement, effective September 30, 2019.

Dr. Reilly has served on faculty with the UAB Department of Pathology for 28 years, having started as a visiting assistant professor in 1991. She worked her way up to associate professor a decade ago, in 2009, and since 2015 has served as Autopsy Section Head.

Dr. Reilly was valedictorian of her college class at the University of New Orleans before pursuing a medical degree at Louisiana State University Medical School. She completed a pathology residency at the University of Texas Southwestern in addition to a year of pediatrics training at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Reilly has twice been recognized by the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP)'s Stowell-Orbison Award, in 2009 and 2013, for poster presentations at the organization's annual conference.

She has been nominated for and won the Argus Teaching Award at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 2008. She became a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in her fourth year of medical school and served as AOA Councilor at UAB from 2009 to 2015. Reilly has acted as an ad hoc reviewer for Human Pathology and BMJ Case Reports.

Dr. Reilly holds appointments at Birmingham Veteran's Administration Medical Center, Highlands Hospital, and University Hospital of Birmingham. She has published numerous articles in Laboratory Medicine and other academic journals, in addition to published abstracts, posters, and invited lectures at various national conferences.

Students from the UAB School of Medicine have named faculty, resident and clinical department winners of the 2019 Argus Awards.

Created in 1996, the Argus Awards give medical students the chance to honor their mentors, professors, courses and course directors for outstanding service to medical education. Faculty members are nominated by course evaluations, and students vote to select award winners in each category.

Two of our distinguished professors have been appointed to endowed professorships:

Yabing Chen, Ph.D, Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology and Vice Chair, Faculty Development and Education, is appointed to the Jay M. McDonald, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Laboratory Medicine.

C. Ryan Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director and Professor, Neuropathology, is appointed to the Translational Research Endowed Professorship in Pathology.

Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Anatomic Pathology and Executive Vice Chair, was sworn in as incoming president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), a national organization that brings together more than 100,000 anatomic and clinical pathologists, residents and fellows, medical laboratory professionals and students. It is the world's largest professional membership organization for pathologists and laboratory professionals, and has been in operation since 1922.

Siegal began his role as president at the ASCP 2019 Annual Meeting, held September 11-13 in Phoenix, Arizona. He takes over the position from James Wiscarver, M.D., Ph.D., FASCP, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE. He will serve as president for the 2019-2020 term.

Dr. Siegal is editor-in-chief of the journal Laboratory Investigation. 

Read his full bio in the ASCP press release here.

Dr. Yabing Chen, Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology and Vice Chair, Faculty Development and Education, was honored recently as a 2019 Outstanding Faculty Senate Committee Member. Chen celebrated with other School of Medicine award recipients at a reception attended by Dean Selwyn Vickers, M.D. and hosted by President Ray Watts, M.D. at the UAB Woodward House, on August 28, 2019. 

Dr. Ray Watts with Dr. Yabing Chen

UAB Pathology recently welcomed a world-renowned expert on heparanese Israel Vlodavsky, Ph.D., to present the sixth annual John Jay Listinsky Lecture in Glycobiology. On Friday, August 30, Vlodavsky traveled from Israel's Technion Integrated Cancer Center, where he heads the Tumor Biology Lab, to lecture on "Heparanese: From Basic Research to Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Inflammation." 

Vlodavsky is the world's leading expert on heparanese, an enzyme that cleaves heparan sulfate, who has authored more than 400 articles mosty related to this remarkable enzyme that plays a key role in cancer progression and inflammation. He has worked for decades on heparanese cancer research with UAB Pathology Division Director Ralph Sanderson, Ph.D., Molecular & Cellular Pathology.

From left: Dr. Ralph Sanderson, MCP Division Director with longtime collaborator Dr. Israel Vlodavsky and Dr. Gene Siegal, Executive Vice Chair, UAB Pathology

The UAB Department of Pathology is excited to welcome two new faculty starting September 3: Farzad Esfahani, M.D., as assistant professor, Anatomic Pathology, and Adam Wilberger, M.D., as assistant professor, Laboratory Medicine.

Dr. Esfahani, an Iranian native, joins UAB Pathology from private practice, moving from Sebastian, Florida, where he was a staff pathologist and independent contractor at Sebastian River Medical Center. He completed undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Oklahoma, in the state where he has lived since moving to the US. Esfahani became a US resident in 1987.

He completed a residency in general surgery at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Tulsa campus. Esfahani spent time at the University of South Alabama completing residencies in anatomic pathology and cytopathology. There, Esfahani he worked for a year as a clinical assistant professor in the USA College of Medicine, departments of Emergency Medicine and Pathology. Before working as a pathologist, Esfahani worked as an emergency room physician at hospitals in Alabama and Florida.

Congratulations to six of our Department faculty who learned recently that they will receive promotions effective October 1, 2019.

The following faculty were each promoted from assistant to associate professor, tenure-earning track:

Daniel Atherton, M.D., Forensic Pathology


Huma Fatima, M.D., Anatomic Pathology


Rajeskaran Namakkal Soorappan, Ph.D., Molecular & Cellular Pathology


Todd Stevens, M.D., Anatomic Pathology

On Tuesday evening, August 27, a group of UAB School of Medicine students making up the Pathology Interest Group gathered in the Surgical Pathology conference room in North Pavilion, Room 3554, named in honor of Dr. Vishnu Reddy, Professor, Anatomic Pathology. They came together as part of a co-enrollment course between Forensic Medicine and Public Health, "How the Dead Can Teach the Living," led by Brandi McCleskey, M.D., Assistant Professor, Forensic Pathology. The course invited students in the interest group to come view slides on the room's multi-head microscopes. The session covered cardiac, pulmonary, renal, and gastrointestinal pathology topics, and was taught by residents Danielle Fasciano, Chief Resident, Bo Chen, PGY-4, Taylor Pickens, PGY-3, and Oraine Snaith, PGY-2.

Images from the slides under the microscopes are projected on screens around the room for consultation, to discuss interesting cases and possible diagnoses. UAB medical students getting a closer look at some of the work pathologists do.

A panel led by pathology residents will be held next month, September 10th, 5-7 p.m. in Volker Hall to discuss pathology as a career.