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April 14 is the 11^th annual Pathologists’ Assistant (PA) Day, a day of appreciation led by the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants. PAs are often responsible for the efficient and effective operation of the anatomic pathology service and play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare services in both surgical pathology and autopsy by determining patients’ pathologic diagnoses.

Zdenek Hel, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, traveled 1,000 miles to capture photos of the 2024 solar eclipse at totality on April 8, 2024.

In March, several of our colleagues were recognized for their years of service working at UAB and the Department of Pathology.

The UAB Service Awards honors employees at each five-year milestone who have completed five or more years of service to UAB. Employees with 5, 10 and 15 years of service in 2023 total 889. In total, 320 employees with 20 or more years of service will be honored by the university during a come-and-go reception 2 p.m. April 10 in the Hill Student Center. 

The Department's 2024 Service Award Recipients with 20 or more years of service are:

30 years of service
Dr. Gregory Davis (Forensic Pathology)
Dr. Thomas S. Winokur (Anatomic Pathology)

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."

The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) hosted its 113th annual meeting March 23-28, 2024 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland, where members of UAB Pathology represented the department in full force to present various topics of research. 

The UAB Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the appointment of three Vice Chairs effective April 1.

Selvarangan Ponnazhagan, Ph.D., Endowed Professor in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics, is our permanent Vice Chair for Research, the department’s key research leader. The VCR will assist the Chair in fostering an environment that values and supports research programs and maximizes research funding and productivity that aligns with department goals.

Aishwarya Ravindran, M.D, Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine, is the recent co-author of a textbook on neoplastic hematopathology.

‘Ace the Boards: Neoplastic Hematopathology’ is a comprehensive review of the recent updates to the Classifications of Hematopoietic Tumors, primarily focusing on World Health Organization Classification (WHO, 5th edition: beta version, 2022), with discussion on relevant differences/similarities as it pertains to WHO-4th edition as well as the relevant updates/differences in the International Consensus Classification of Hematopoietic Tumors (2022). This is the book's second edition.

On Monday, March 25, at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D., was named Vice President of the organization for 2024-2025, President Elect for 2025-2026, and will serve as President for 2026-2027. This role is selected by the Nominating Committee of USCAP.

March is Women’s History Month, and we are proud to highlight the careers of some of the illustrious, innovative women who helped make the Department of Pathology what it is today. These early pioneers went above and beyond, setting the stage for future females in science and medicine.

Following is a timeline with some known dates and names, compiled in large part from the book, “History of Pathology at UAB: 1945-2008,” co-authored by C. Bruce Alexander, M.D., Professor Emeritus, and Margaret Dotzler, former department employee. While not comprehensive, this list represents some of the amazing female faculty making up UAB Pathology.

We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of this year's residency match program where we filled all seven of our open positions for 2024. Please join us in welcoming the following individuals to our team:

Four UAB Pathology faculty and one fellow were elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AΩA) at University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine for 2024. Brandi McCleskey, M.D., Frida Rosenblum, M.D., Vishnu Reddy, M.D., and Paul Benson, M.D., were selected as Alpha Omega Alpha Faculty members for the year, and Sarah Anderson, D.O., Surgical Pathology Fellow, was selected as a fellow. 
2024 (AΩA) Awardees (clockwise from top left): Drs. Brandi McCleskey, Frida Rosenblum, Sarah Anderson, Paul Benson and Vishnu Reddy

The research enterprise for academic medical centers nationwide took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. With temporary lab closures, hiring freezes and layoffs, social distancing and other precautions limiting many investigators’ ability to conduct their work, it was a challenging time. The upside to this for some may have been the chance to write, submit, revise and resubmit grant funding proposals. 

The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) hosts its annual meeting in person and virtually this year, March 23-28, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA) has announced funding for three pre-R01 grants through the fall cycle of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s O’Neal Invests program.

Erin Eun-Young Ahn, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Pathology's Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology is a pre-R01 recipient for her project titled, “Phenotypic and Metabolic Reprogramming of Breast Cancer by MascRNA.”

By Christina Crowe

The UAB Department of Pathology is pleased to announce Shi Wei, M.D., Ph.D., returning to UAB as Director of the Division of Women’s Health effective February 1, 2024. Wei is the Barbara F. Atkinson Endowed Professor and Director of Translational Research, at the University of Kansas Medical Center Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Photo credit: KUMC

Dr. Wei obtained his medical degree in China and received his Ph.D. in Japan. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, followed by residency in anatomic and clinical pathology and a surgical pathology fellowship at UAB. He obtained additional clinical subspecialty training at Emory, Mt. Sinai and Harvard Universities.

By Christina Crowe

Carlene Zindl, Ph.D., joins the Department of Pathology as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology after having worked for years as a researcher and scientist in the Division of Anatomic Pathology. Her position is effective January 1.

The UAB Department of Pathology is excited to announce our Chief Residents for the 2024-25 year and thank our 2023-24 Chiefs.

We want to acknowledge the superb example that our 2023-24 Chiefs Drs. Brooke Bartow, Michael Robinson and Jacob Havens have set over the past year. They excelled in their leadership positions, and we thank them all for a job well done.

by Hannah Buckelew

Elizabeth E. Brown, M.P.H., Ph.D., Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology, Associate Director for Population Science, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, and Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Associate Director for Education and Training, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, are co-leading a new research education program entitled UAB Enhancing Research in Cancer-related Health Professions (ENRICH)  with support from the National Cancer Institute.

By Christina Crowe 

The UAB Department of Pathology has named Associate Professor Sixto Leal, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., as Director of the Division of Laboratory Medicine, effective January 1, 2024.

Leal, who was named associate division director in 2022, was selected after an extensive national search to take over from Professor Baleed Vishnu Reddy, M.D., who served as interim division director.

By Christina Crowe 

Cancer research on the road may not have been part of your holiday travel plans, but thanks to the innovation of Pathology Department faculty Sooryanarayana Varambally, Ph.D., MBA, Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology and Darshan Shimoga Chandrashekar, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics, it can be. Varambally and his team have created a mobile cancer transcriptome analysis (TCGA) app, “UALCAN Mobile,” based on their comprehensive cancer proteogenomic platform, UALCAN, for phones and tablets. The free research and educational app is available at the Google Play store and the Apple App Store.