The UAB Department of Pathology hosted its second annual Staff Retreat on Administrative Professionals Day 2024. The retreat featured wonderful speakers, food and camaraderie.

UAB Pathology Resident Mishi Bhushan, M.D., M.P.H., PGY3, learned recently that she scored among the highest in the nation of the Resident In-Service Examination, or RISE. Bhushan scored in the greater than 99th percentile on the Clinical Pathology component of the exam as compared to other PGY3s nationally taking the test. 

Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Robert M. Mowry Endowed Professor, Executive Vice-Chair, was honored by the Medical Association of the State of Alabama for his 50 years in medical practice with public recognition and awarding of a commemorative pin.

Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D., M.P.H., Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Associate Director for Population Science, O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recipient of this year's 2024 Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentorship.

Two UAB Pathology faculty members' proposals were selected for faculty development grants by the Provost and Faculty Senate in the 2024-25 cycle. Andrea Comba, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Neuropathology, and Liyun Cao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine.

Comba's project, "Unraveling mesenchymal transformation in glioma through spatial transcriptomics,” has been funded for $10,000, with funding split between the Office of the Provost and the Heersink School of Medicine. 

Cao's project, “Development of a machine learning algorithm to predict free valproic acid concentration in adult epileptic patients,” has been funded for $10,000.

A case submitted to the journal Gastro Hep Advances by Goo Lee, M.D. Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology, was published in the April issue as an, "Image of the Month." The case, titled, "Tuberculous Colitis Accompanied By a Large Colonic Mass," is featured online.

"Tuberculous colitis belongs to a form of inflammatory/infectious intestinal disorder caused by Mycobacterium species," Lee explains.

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, an opportunity to learn about alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the adverse impact of alcohol misuse on health and society. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), researchers estimate that each year there are more than 178,000 alcohol-related deaths, making alcohol a leading preventable cause of death in the United States. 

On Wednesday, April 17, the Heersink School of Medicine hosted a reception for individuals who have received endowment awards in the past year. UAB Department of Pathology had three faculty members recognized at the event: Alexander “Craig Mackinnon Jr.” – Robert B. Adams Endowed Professorship in Pathology; Rakesh Patel – Victor Darley-Usmar Endowed Professorship in Molecular Pathology; Casey Weaver – Leonard H. Robinson Endowed Chair in Pathology.

This year April 14-20 is Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, an annual celebration of medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy led by the American Society for Clinical Pathology. This week’s theme is Barbie: The Lab is Everything.

April 14 is the 11^th annual Pathologists’ Assistant (PA) Day, a day of appreciation led by the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants. PAs are often responsible for the efficient and effective operation of the anatomic pathology service and play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare services in both surgical pathology and autopsy by determining patients’ pathologic diagnoses.

Zdenek Hel, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, traveled 1,000 miles to capture photos of the 2024 solar eclipse at totality on April 8, 2024.

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. Employees with 5, 10 and 15 years of service in 2023 total 889. In total, 320 employees with 20 or more years of service will be honored by the university during a come-and-go reception 2 p.m. April 10 in the Hill Student Center. 

The Department's 2024 Service Award Recipients with 20 or more years of service are:

30 years of service
Dr. Gregory Davis (Forensic Pathology)
Dr. Thomas S. Winokur (Anatomic Pathology)

Shuko Harada, M.D., FACSc, Professor, Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics, and Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), UAB Department of Pathology, was named Clinical Scientist of the Year by the Association of Clinical Scientists at their annual meeting--the Association’s 75th anniversary--April 1-4. Harada was also sworn in as president of the organization, which for 70 years has served to provide a collegial forum for clinical scientists from many disciplines to interact and share research and related topics in several ways.

Dr. Shuko Harada, left, receives the Clinical Scientist of the Year award from outgoing ACS president Dr. Yusheng Zhu

"It is such a great honor receiving the Clinical Scientist of the Year Award from the Association of Clinical Scientists (ACS), and succeeding a gavel to become President for the Association," Harada says. "I am also humbled and honored to succeed as president for the ACS. Past presidents have done a fantastic job to keep the association sound and attractive to clinical scientists and pathologists. I would like to keep the traditions, and at the same time, will make some changes to make our association more attractive to a broad range of academic pathologists and clinical scientists."

The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) hosted its 113th annual meeting March 23-28, 2024 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland, where members of UAB Pathology represented the department in full force to present various topics of research. 

The UAB Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the appointment of three Vice Chairs effective April 1.

Selvarangan Ponnazhagan, Ph.D., Endowed Professor in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics, is our permanent Vice Chair for Research, the department’s key research leader. The VCR will assist the Chair in fostering an environment that values and supports research programs and maximizes research funding and productivity that aligns with department goals.

Aishwarya Ravindran, M.D, Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine, is the recent co-author of a textbook on neoplastic hematopathology.

‘Ace the Boards: Neoplastic Hematopathology’ is a comprehensive review of the recent updates to the Classifications of Hematopoietic Tumors, primarily focusing on World Health Organization Classification (WHO, 5th edition: beta version, 2022), with discussion on relevant differences/similarities as it pertains to WHO-4th edition as well as the relevant updates/differences in the International Consensus Classification of Hematopoietic Tumors (2022). This is the book's second edition.

On Monday, March 25, at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D., was named Vice President of the organization for 2024-2025, President Elect for 2025-2026, and will serve as President for 2026-2027. This role is selected by the Nominating Committee of USCAP.

March is Women’s History Month, and we are proud to highlight the careers of some of the illustrious, innovative women who helped make the Department of Pathology what it is today. These early pioneers went above and beyond, setting the stage for future females in science and medicine.

Following is a timeline with some known dates and names, compiled in large part from the book, “History of Pathology at UAB: 1945-2008,” co-authored by C. Bruce Alexander, M.D., Professor Emeritus, and Margaret Dotzler, former department employee. While not comprehensive, this list represents some of the amazing female faculty making up UAB Pathology.

We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of this year's residency match program where we filled all seven of our open positions for 2024. Please join us in welcoming the following individuals to our team:

Four UAB Pathology faculty and one fellow were elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AΩA) at University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine for 2024. Brandi McCleskey, M.D., Frida Rosenblum, M.D., Vishnu Reddy, M.D., and Paul Benson, M.D., were selected as Alpha Omega Alpha Faculty members for the year, and Sarah Anderson, D.O., Surgical Pathology Fellow, was selected as a fellow. 
2024 (AΩA) Awardees (clockwise from top left): Drs. Brandi McCleskey, Frida Rosenblum, Sarah Anderson, Paul Benson and Vishnu Reddy