The UAB Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the appointment of Shuko Harada, M.D., Professor, Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics and Head of the Molecular Diagnostics Section, as the inaugural Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Department of Pathology, effective October 1, 2021.

This is a role the department has been eager to create and fill, and Dr. Harada is a wonderful fit for its responsibilities. In it, she is committed to working with our existing DEI Task Force, made up of faculty, staff and trainees who have met for the past 18 months to enhance awareness and opportunities in the diversity space. She will serve as a liaison with that team, which will transform into a formal committee, as well as with the UAB Heersink School of Medicine’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Dr. Silvio Litovsky, co-director of the task force with Dr. Marisa Marques, has agreed to serve as director of that committee. We thank them and the team members for their time and dedication to this important effort.

Dr. Harada joined the department in 2011, following a Molecular Genetic Pathology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Hospital and surgical pathology fellowship at Hospital of University of Pennsylvania. She studied medicine and completed residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Harada conducted research in signal transduction and gene regulation at University of Pennsylvania, and then completed Pathology residency at Drexel University College of Medicine. She is a scientist with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, researching clinical implementation of next generation sequencing of cancer and correlation with clinical status, as well as molecular profiling and discovery of molecular markers in malignant neoplasms.

Dr. Harada is our department’s only Japanese faculty member, and has been generous in sharing her country’s traditions at the annual School of Medicine Diversity Fair. She is equally generous with her time and her open-minded contributions to our department, serving as a trusted advisor to trainees and fellow faculty.

We are excited to establish this new role for our Department during a time when it has become so evident that continued dialogue and understanding is needed. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Shuko Harada, Vice Chair, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.