by Christina Crowe
The Department of Pathology is honored to announce the promotion and tenure of four of our esteemed faculty colleagues for 2023, effective October 1, 2023:
Ginger Duncan, M.D., Anatomic Pathology – Promotion to Associate Professor
Dr. Duncan is Section Head of Perinatal Pathology, Associate Scientist in the Center for Women’s Reproductive Health (CWRH), and Associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. A former chief resident at UAB, she completed her fellowship in Pediatric and Perinatal Pathology at Seattle Children’s through the University of Washington before returning to a faculty position at UAB. Her research interests focus on the clinicopathologic aspects of entities spanning the perinatal period from fetus to neonate.
Diana Lin, M.D., Anatomic Pathology – Promotion to Associate Professor
Dr. Lin completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a fellowship in cytopathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She joined the UAB Heersink School of Medicine Department of Pathology as a faculty member in 2018 and holds various roles in the education of graduate and medical students, as well as residents and fellows. In 2023, Lin received the 2023 Heersink School of Medicine Dean’s Excellence Award in Teaching.
As Medical Director of the Frozen Section at UAB Hospital and Medical Director of Anatomic Pathology at Highlands Hospital, Lin works to address significant gaps in trainee education. She assisted in validating a telepathology system to allow fellows and faculty pathologists to show difficult cases for second opinions.
In 2022, Dr. Lin was approved as Alabama State Commissioner and Division Commissioner for the Florida Panhandle for the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Accreditation Program. She serves as a member of the CAP Practice Management Committee, where she assists with clinical practice standards, guidelines, and developing the Online Laboratory Management course. She has authored two book chapters and critiques for the CAP Performance Improvement Program (PIP) and Dermatopathology Digital Slide Program (D-Path). These critiques assist pathologists in thoracic, soft tissue, and dermatopathology and are used for continuing medical education nationwide. Dr. Lin also has two invited talks at this year’s College of American Pathologists Annual Meeting.
Sameer Al Diffalha, M.D., Anatomic Pathology – Award of Tenure
Dr. Al Diffalha has been practicing as an academic breast and GI pathologist at UAB since 2017, providing accurate and timely diagnosis in breast/GI services, the largest subspecialty services in the department. He serves as Vice Chair for our Clinical Pathology Practice Program (CPPP) and participates in general surgical pathology and non-gynecologic cytology sign out at our CPPP locations. Dr. Al Diffalha serves as the Director of GI fellowship program, as well as the Medical Director of UAB Tissue Biorepository (TBR) and Tissue procurement shared resource (TPRO) for the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. As Medical Director of UAB-TBR/TPRO, he oversees operational, staffing, and administrative aspects of the UAB biorepository, assures adherence to institutional or national regulatory and compliance guidelines, and to provides technical and scientific expertise to investigators as it relates to tissue collection/utilization. Dr. Al Diffalha completed dual fellowship, including one-year of surgical oncology fellowship with breast focus and one year of GI/hepatic pathology fellowship. He has published many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and presented many posters and platforms at national and international meetings.
Dan Atherton, M.D., Forensic Pathology – Award of Tenure
Dr. Atherton is an associate professor in the Division of Forensic Pathology. He joined the department in 2014 as an assistant professor in the Division of Anatomic Pathology and moved to the Forensic Division in 2016. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. He was chief resident of his residency program at Baptist Health System and completed fellowships in surgical pathology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and in forensic pathology at UAB. He coordinates with several local and national groups like the Epilepsy Foundation and CDC to educate stakeholders on the importance of accurate death certification. He has published many peer-reviewed articles in forensic journals, and some of his original research has been the subject of articles that have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Science Magazine.
Congratulations to our colleagues on their hard work and dedication to the UAB Department of Pathology.