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Erin Eun-Young Ahn, Ph.D., associate professor in the division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology and scientist in the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, is the latest winner of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine's Featured Discovery for the study, "SON drives oncogenic RNA splicing in glioblastoma by regulating PTBP1/PTBP2 switching and RBFOX2 activity." This Heersink initiative celebrates important research from faculty members. 

The UAB Department of Pathology is excited to announce our Chief Residents for the 2022-23 year, and thank our 2021-22 Chiefs.

We would like to acknowledge the superb example that our 2021-22 Chiefs Drs. Raima Memon, Oraine Snaith and Denis Noubouossie Fondjie have set over the past year. They excelled in their leadership positions and we thank them all for a job well done.

Our 2023 Chief Residents, effective Tuesday, February 1, 2022, are:

Sarah Anderson, D.O. –Chief Resident of Anatomic Pathology

Dr. Anderson is currently completing her PGY3 AP/CP residency year, and is a graduate of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. 

She will stay on at UAB Pathology as a surgical pathology fellow in 2023-24.

"It is an honor to humbly serve as AP Chief Resident. I will strive to positively impact the wellness and education of my colleagues, with the utmost care for every patient, every day."

Sarah DePew, D.O. – Chief Resident of Clinical Pathology

Dr. DePew is currently completing her PGY3 AP/CP residency year, and is a graduate of Lincoln Memorial University Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee. She will stay on at UAB Pathology as a hematopathology fellow in 2023-24.

"I'm thrilled and honored to have been selected as chief. I could not ask for a better group of residents to represent. Assuming this responsibility means using my voice and skills to uphold our department's dedication to collegiality, high educational standards and excellent patient care."

Geoffrey Herndon, D.O. – Chief Resident, Education and Outreach

Dr. Herndon is currently completing his PGY3 AP/CP residency year, and is a graduate of A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri. He will complete a hematopathology fellowship at UAB Pathology with co-chief Sarah DePew. Following residency, Hernson plans to return to his hometown to join a private pathology group as general surgical pathologist/hematopathologist.

"I took this role as a way to expand myself as a professional and leader, and for the opportunity to assist my co-residents in becoming the best pathologists they can."

We are excited to present the 2022-23 chief residents to you, and grateful to our outgoing chief residents. As usual, February will serve as a transition month between outgoing and incoming Chief Residents. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to our program—we look forward to a fantastic year.

In addition, we would like to announce our new Resident Leadership Group, made up of the following:

Resident Leader in Engagement: Falone Amoa, M.D., PGY1. Dr. Amoa will be responsible for social and wellness efforts for trainees.

Resident Leader in Advocacy: Brooke Bartow, M.D., PGY1. Dr. Bartow will be responsible for medical student relations and outreach efforts.

Resident Leader in Communications: Caroline Stanek, M.D., PGY1. Dr. Stanek will be responsible for amplification of our program via social media and working with the Pathology Communications Team.

We are excited to begin the new year with this team in place, building upon the work of those before them. Congratulations to our resident leaders, we look forward to good things to come this year.

At the end of 2021, UAB Pathology will send off Sandy Cummings, Administrative Supervisor, Division of Anatomic Pathology, as she celebrates her retirement. Sandy has worked in the department since 2008, but her history with UAB starts as far back as her birth.

Sandy was born at UAB Hospital. She started her professional career at UAB as an Office Support Specialist in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology in 1995. In 2002 she transitioned to an Administrative Support Specialist role in the Department of Medicine Chair's office, where she worked until taking on an Office Administrator position in the Division of Anatomic Pathology, in 2008. She was promoted to Administrative Associate, then Administrative Supervisor for the division. In her 13 years in the department she has given tirelessly to the job and always been a friendly face to greet at the office.

She has worked very closely with several senior faculty in the division, including Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Robert M. Mowry Endowed Professor and Executive Vice Chair, who shared the following sentiments on her retirement:

"If you separated from your 'significant other' after decades together, do you really think you could summarize your journey together in a sentence or two? Of course not! I’ve enjoyed great academic success but its not ‘me' but ‘us’ - who do you think typed those hundreds of manuscripts and book chapters, who helped edit those abstracts down to the 150-word maximum, who sat with me for hours upon hours putting together lectures starting with Kodachromes and ending with Powerpoint and Zoom? Who fed me? Who bolstered my ego when I received another rejection? Who made the plane and hotel reservations and on and on--exactly!! Sandy did and she did it with kindness and dare I say love. She calls herself 'my wife at work' and indeed she was, in the best sense of the word. I mourn her loss and she’s not yet quite left - this is not something one [I] will not get over in a few days or weeks - yet at the end she earned a glorious retirement and is young enough to truly enjoy it - so on that note I wish her the very best always."
Sandy (fourth from right) surrounded by her supportive coworkers

By Christina Crowe

On December 15, 2021, the Department welcomes a new faculty member to the Division of Neuropathology directed by C. Ryan Miller, M.D., Ph.D.

Shu G. Chen, Ph.D., joins the UAB Department of Pathology as Professor, Neuropathology, from Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Pathology, where he served as professor.

Chen earned his Ph.D. in Biochemical Pharmacology from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) in 1993. Chen went on to become a Senior Research Associate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, for his post-graduate training in 1992 before accepting a position as an instructor and later as assistant professor in Case Western’s Department of Pathology, in 1996.

Dr. Chen is a well-established neurobiologist in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Among his achievements, he is among the first to elucidate the structural differences in prion protein that causes distinct human prion diseases, the basis for today’s prion strain typing as a diagnostic tool in the prion field. He is also an expert on the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease associated with LRRK2 mutations. Chen’s current research focuses on biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, supported by two R01s and a U01 award on the topics, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). He is also supported by the NIA for an R01 on computational prediction, network analysis and genetic screening in C. elegans to uncover neurodegenerative causes in Alzheimer’s disease. Chen has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers in high-quality scientific journals, with a citation h-index of 52 by Google Scholar.

By Christina Crowe

After nearly 20 years in the UAB Department of Pathology, Shi Wei, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Anatomic Pathology and section head, breast pathology, will take on a new role as the Barbara F. Atkinson Endowed Professor and Director of Translational Research in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. His last day at UAB Pathology is December 10, when he will assume an adjunct faculty role in the department.

Faculty, trainees and staff gathered to celebrate colleague Dr. Shi WeiWei started his tenure at UAB as a resident in Pathology in 2004, mentored by Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice Chair and Robert M. Mowry Endowed Professor, UAB Pathology. He stayed on at UAB as a fellow, then as an instructor in 2009. He was promoted from assistant to associate professor in 2013, and then again in 2016 to full professor. In 2015, Wei was named section head for Surgical Pathology, and until recently has served as associate division director, Anatomic Pathology.

“It is with mixed feelings that I am leaving UAB Pathology,” Wei says. “I’ve enjoyed being here at UAB, which is a very collegial working place; that’s why I stayed here for more than 12 years on faculty. It’s not an easy decision to make to leave UAB.”

Dezhi Wang, M.D., MBA, HTL, QIHC, Lab Manager, loading slides to the new automated IHC system-BOND Rx from LeicaAfter years of planning and discussion, and months of packing and moving, the Pathology Core Research Lab (PCRL), located in the basement of the Lyons Harrison Research Building since the 1960s and under the purview of the Department of Pathology since 2014, made its permanent move to the fourth floor of the Ziegler Building, next door. This research lab, managed by Dezhi Wang, M.D., MBA, HTL, QIHC, and directed by Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., UAB Distinguished Professor, now enjoys spreading out across the fourth floor of the Zeigler Research Building in a space that includes wet and dry labs and office space.

“We’ve moved to a much more modern lab space that will allow us to better serve our users from all over the world,” Wang says.

In 'The Checkup' podcast, Selwyn Vickers, M.D., FACS, dean of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, brings you into the heart of UAB's thriving academic medical center by exploring unique campus programs, innovative concepts, and ground-breaking research. Dr. Vickers interviews guests with diverse backgrounds, and has candid conversations with the people who are powering science and medicine at UAB, in Birmingham, and around the globe.