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 succeeding a position as President for the ACS. Past presidents have done 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 broad range of academic pathologists and clinical scientists."

On Thursday, April 4, Harada gave a talk at the conference on, "Evaluation of Failure Rates of In-house and Send-out Solid Tumors NGS Testing." She was joined by UAB colleagues Alexander "Craig" Mackinnon, M.D,. Ph.D., Division Director, GDB, who spoke on, "Controversies in Surgical Pathology: Challenges Correlating Molecular and Histological Findings." Amy Theriault, D.O., PGY-2 and Chief Resident, Education and Outreach, presented, "Development of New Valproic Acid Estimating Equations for Patients with Hypoalbuminemia." Falone Amoa, M.D., M.S., PGY-3, presented, "Case Report: Unusual Manifestation of BAP1-tumor Predisposition Syndrome ." Liyun Cao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine, also attended the conference. 

As noted in the History of ACS, in September, 1957 the Executive Committee accepted an offer by then-President Sunderman, Sr. to provide an appropriate award each year to ..." a Fellow who has demonstrated outstanding zeal in the pursuit of clinical science." The Executive Committee insisted, with Dr. Sunderman abstaining, that the award be known as the Sunderman Award. This action was then supplemented by the creation of a Diploma of Honor which might "... be presented to scientists who have made meritorious contributions to the furtherance of clinical science..." Thus, the Awards Committee, at its discretion, selects a Fellow of the Association to receive the annual "Sunderman Award." This award, in the form of a silver goblet and an unframed certificate, is presented to a member who has made outstanding contributions to clinical science in research, teaching, and service and has demonstrated outstanding zeal in the pursuit of clinical science. The recipient is designated "Clinical Scientist of the Year."

"The Association has a long history with many traditions and legends. I first attended the ACS meeting in 2015 in Salt Lake City as recommended by Drs. Gene Siegal and Rob Hardy. As soon I as arrived to the conference area, Dr. Nina Tatevian and others approached me with warm welcome. It did not take me long to fall in love with the association," Harada says. "Since then, I get to know so many clinical scientists and pathologists from a variety of disciplines, whom I would not have had a chance to meet without the association. The annual meetings have also given us opportunities to learn many different aspects of pathology and broaden our knowledge. Therefore, the award from the association is very special and I am truly thrilled to receive it."

Dr. Harada received her Medical Degree and completed an Internal Medicine residency from University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine, Japan. After three years working as an internist, subspecializing in diabetes and endocrinology, she crossed the Pacific Ocean to the US to join Dr. Leonard Jarett’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania as a postdoctoral research fellow. She stayed there as Senior Research Investigator and Research Assistant Professor. Her research topic was insulin signaling and its gene regulation. She became interested in precision medicine/molecular diagnostics and then completed a residency and fellowship training in AP/CP (anatomic and clinical pathology), surgical pathology and molecular genetic pathology at Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University, respectively. She joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2011 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology, and was promoted to tenured Professor in nine years.

She has been leading the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at UAB Hospital, expanding the oncology and infectious disease molecular test menu, which built a fundamental ground for a cutting-edge joint venture, the “Genomic Diagnostic Laboratory.” She has been playing a major role in teaching at UAB as well as on national and international levels. She has given many invited lectures including IAP (International Academy of Pathology) in Thailand and Jordan, Japanese Society of Pathology, and CME in Pathology in India. She also serves as the Program Director for the UAB’s Molecular Genetic Pathology Fellowship and mentors fellows and junior faculty members. Dr. Harada is one of the most collaborative clinical faculty in the department. She has published over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts in high impact-factor journals, 41 of them as first or corresponding author, with 34 of them published since 2020. She is on the editorial boards for the Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science, the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (Associate Editor for Molecular Diagnostics), Lab Medicine, and Modern Pathology. Dr. Harada has been participating in leadership roles at the national level of several professional societies, including Association of Pathology Chairs (APC), National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), Association of Clinical Scientists, and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). Recently, as Vice Chair for DEI, she has taken a leadership role for the Faculty Association for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) as well as the departmental DEI committee.