On Tuesday, June 11, friends, family and colleagues from various departments of the School of Medicine joined Selwyn Vickers, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine and Senior Vice President for Medicine, to celebrate the 2019 Dean’s Excellence Awards.
Left to right: Drs. Yabing Chen, George Netto, Vishnu Reddy and X. Long Zheng attend the Dean's Excellence Awards
The Department of Pathology had two faculty members recognized for their achievements at the awards ceremony: Yabing Chen, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Education, for mentoring, and Vishnu Reddy, M.D., Professor, Anatomic Pathology, for service, both in the senior faculty category.
Yabing Chen, Ph.D.
Dr. Yabing Chen is an outstanding educator and effective mentor whose work has had a positive impact on many young scientists and made a significant contribution to the missions of the School of Medicine in research, teaching and service.
Since joining the Department of Pathology faculty in 2004, Dr. Chen has excelled in mentoring at the graduate and postgraduate levels. She directs the UAB Graduate School Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine theme and the graduate course, “Molecular Basis of Disease.” She serves as a faculty mentor on six NIH-funded training programs. Her teaching and mentoring effectiveness has been documented by outstanding student evaluations, numerous awards, fellowship grants, and the career advancement of her trainees at UAB. In 2016 the Graduate School recognized Chen with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship.
As a scientist, Dr. Chen has garnered international recognition in studying vascular calcification and stiffness. She is a recipient of the Veteran’s Administration Research Career Scientist Award. Recently, Chen received the prestigious “Vascular Biology Special Recognition Award” from the American Heart Association for her outstanding contributions in vascular biology and to the AHA council on Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
For the past two years, Dr. Chen has served as Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Education in the Department of Pathology. She has initiated annual faculty development forums; standardized faculty evaluation and promotion processes; and organized group discussion sessions to promote effective training and faculty development. Chen spearheaded the faculty mentoring program at the Birmingham VA Research Department to enrich a collaborative environment between the VA and UAB.
Dr. Chen’s outstanding mentorship is reflected at the national level, from serving on the AHA Early Career Committee to provide a platform for the transition of junior scientists, to becoming an effective mentor for young investigators for the AHA/ATVB council. In the past three years, Chen has supported career development, promotion and tenure of over 15 investigators at UAB as well as other premier universities nationwide.
Vishnu Reddy, M.D.
For the last 25 years, Dr. Vishnu Reddy has served as Hematopathology Chief Consultant for UAB, and his expertise is recognized internationally. Reddy covers a wide array of clinical services in Laboratory Medicine, Anatomic Pathology, and Hematopathology, and in his role as Section Head of the Laboratory Hematology and Bone Marrow Lab.
Dr. Reddy served in the US Army (Colonel, USA Retired) as an active-duty hematopathologist for 15 years, from 1978 to 1993, before joining UAB, and served an additional decade, from 1997 to 2008, in the US Army Reserves as a pathologist for the clinical laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Dr. Reddy has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and delivered invited lectures around the world. He is an expert in myelodysplastic syndromes and hem-related malignancies.
Clinical programs under Dr. Reddy’s supervision have seen ongoing improvements in quality and efficiency. Under his guidance, bone marrow service was consolidated under pathology, and daily QA/QC review of hematology lab test results were established through pathology trainee participation. Reddy supervises daily hematopathology rounds and sign-out sessions for pathology residents, and has expanded resident training curriculum.
An excellent educator, Reddy was instrumental in starting the ACGME-accredited, nationally-recognized Hematopathology Fellowship Program at UAB in 1994. He has served as director of the medical school’s Hem-Onc module since 2000. Reddy is the recipient of 16 Argus Excellence Teaching and Pathology fellow/resident awards.
Reddy has a vast portfolio of collaborative research with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Division of Hematology-Oncology on projects ranging from bone marrow immuno-architecture to tissue micro-arrays, myeloma, and mouse models of leukemia.
Having served as Interim Division Director of Laboratory Medicine, Anatomic Pathology, and Neuropathology, there isn’t a program Dr. Reddy can’t lead. Over the course of his tenure as director, Reddy assumed the role of divisional liaison to hospital laboratory leadership, supervised junior faculty, and provided faculty counseling, all while maintaining responsibilities in Hematopathology.
This spring, the Department honored Dr. Reddy with the dedication of a surgical pathology conference room in his name. Colleagues and trainees dating back decades and across disciplines attended to celebrate, speaking to Dr. Reddy’s far-reaching impact on the Department and the School of Medicine.
David Rogers, M.D., Chief Wellness Officer, emceed the event, which was attended by many UAB Pathology faculty and staff. Congratulations to our two distinguished awardees.
Dr. Yabing Chen is joined by her daughters and husband to celebrate. 
David Rogers, M.D., with Dr. Chen and Dean Selwyn Vickers 
Dr. Reddy receives the service award from Dr. David Rogers. 
Dr. Yabing Chen with colleague Dr. Ralph Sanderson, Division Director, Molecular & Cellular Pathology