Written by Christina Crowe
The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce Vishnu B. Reddy, M.D., as this year’s recipient of the 2022 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Heersink School of Medicine – Joint Health Science.
Begun in 1990 by former UAB President Charles McCallum, the award recognizes full-time regular faculty members at UAB who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in teaching, with a recipient from each of the schools and the Joint Health Sciences.
“Teaching for me always a self-learning process, and the most challenging aspect is conveying that passion to attendees,” Reddy says, “but in practice, it is more like ‘Nishkam Karma’ in Sanskrit, meaning action without motive or expectation.”
Dr. Reddy is Professor and Division Director, Laboratory Medicine, and a hematopathologist with four decades of clinical and diagnostic experience. He directs the UAB Health System’s Hematopathology and Bone Marrow labs. Reddy has developed teaching guidelines and curriculum for UAB trainees and fellows, and collaborated with other national experts in publishing training guidelines for Hematopathology programs. He similarly developed curriculum and teaching material for Heersink School of Medicine students. Reddy is a senior scientist with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“Vishnu Reddy is the personification of excellence in teaching—not just for trainees but for individuals at every level of education and experience, including his colleagues,” Gene P. Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Robert M. Mowry Endowed Professor and Executive Vice Chair. “No one is more deserving of this recognition. I am honored to have known this fine gentleman for decades, and thankful for all he has taught me.”
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.
“Dr. Reddy was the first Pathologist I learned from when I started residency at UAB in 1994,” says Marisa Marques, M.D., Professor, Laboratory Medicine. “To this day, nobody else has inspired and taught me like he has at every stage of my career. I feel lucky and honored to have counted on his wisdom and his presence for all these years. He is most deserving of this recognition.”
In 2019, Reddy received the School of Medicine Dean’s Excellence Award for service in the senior faculty category. That same year, the department dedicated a surgical pathology conference room in his name. In 2021, the department announced the establishment of the Vishnu B. Reddy Translational Research in Pathology Endowed Professorship in his name, and in 2022 it was awarded to C. Ryan Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director, Neuropathology.
“The Department of Pathology is thrilled with this well-deserved recognition for our dear colleague and friend, Dr. Reddy,” says George Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair, UAB Pathology. “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. He is a dedicated pathologist, educator, and researcher who enhances the lives of those he touches.”
In addition to his work at UAB over the past 30 years Reddy is also a veteran, having served as an active-duty hematopathologist in the US Army (Colonel, USA Retired) for 15 years, from 1978 to 1993, before joining UAB. He served an additional decade, from 1997 to 2008, in the US Army Reserves as a pathologist for the clinical laboratories at USAMRID Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Reddy and the university’s other award recipients will be recognized at a ceremony in the fall.