Dr. Steven Hrycaj discusses his role as the Technical Director of Immunohistochemistry Laboratory

An Interview with Rodney Barber in honor of Histotechnology Day

Giving Blueday, March 15, 2023

The Department of Pathology offers the Molecular and Cellular Pathology Graduate Program (MCP) for students who are interested in translational research – the step between basic science research and clinical care, the “bench-to-bedside” transition. Sahiti Marella is a graduate student in the MCP who was recently awarded her first F31 grant. This is an NIH-funded predoctoral grant that provides awardees with a monthly stipend to support tuition and fees, and funds for training-related costs while they conduct their PhD research project, for up to five-years of funding.

Drs. Corey Post and Nathan McCammon, 2023-2024 Chief Residents in the Department of Pathology, are pleased to announce that Dr. Ashley Brent will be joining the chief resident team as the Assistant Chief for the 2023-2024 academic year. Please join us in welcoming her into the new role!

Researchers from the Department of Pathology recently published a fascinating study into clinician’s perspectives on integrating pathologists into the patient’s care team in the form of pathology explanation clinics (PECs) [1]. Clinicians were asked, “How interested would you be in having your patient meet with a pathologist to discuss their pathology report and see their tissue under the microscope?”

It is with great pleasure that we announce Dr. Lakshmi (Priya) Kunju as our new Director of the Division of Anatomic Pathology (AP) effective Wednesday, March 1, 2023. We are grateful for all that Dr. Kunju brings to the table including her considerable experience with operations across the division and her willingness to jump in on short notice to ensure stability during this transition. She will work with department leaders and others to identify and recruit to her role as Section Head for Surgical Pathology and Medical Director of our gross room and histology laboratory. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Priya Kunju on her appointment as AP Director. Please also join us in thanking Dr. Liron Pantanowitz for his nearly 3 years as AP Director. He has been remarkably productive in his role and can be proud of a division that is among the VERY BEST team of AP faculty, staff, and learners in the world!

Hsiang-Yu (David) Hu, a Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate student in the lab of Dr. Andrew Muntean recently published his first first-authored article in Leukemia.

Kidney Donor Cheryl Wonch shares her story

New space at University Hospital as we celebrate Phlebotomy week.

At Michigan Medicine, many of our faculty serve across multiple departments, which opens up opportunities for students to also experience not just Pathology, but also other disciplines. The Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics is one of the departments with which several of our Pathology faculty and students collaborate. In honor of the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the DCMB featured one of our joint students as shared below.

Brief overview and photographic highlights from 2022

Congratulations are due to Dr. Asma Nusrat, F. Peyton Rous Professor of Experimental Pathology and Director of Experimental Pathology, and Dr. Charles Parkos, Carl V. Weller Professor and Chair of Pathology, on being named 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. The 2022 class was comprised of 505 scientists, engineers and innovators from around the world and across all disciplines.  Being selected as an AAAS Fellow is one of the most distinguished honors within the scientific community. The newly elected Fellows are being recognized for their scientific and socially notable achievements spanning their careers.

The laboratory of Dr. Chang Kim, recently published a high-impact study that elucidates the bone marrow niche and mechanisms by which innate lymphoid cells differentiate between those which remain in the bone marrow and those which emigrate to the rest of the body.  Read more[...]

Lizbeth Harcourt, MSW and LaTresa Wiley, MSW share their experiences supporting Michigan Medicine families

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate over time and new booster vaccines become available, the question arises, are the multivalent boosters more effective at improving immune response than the monovalent vaccines with which we began? This question was addressed by a multi-site group from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York) and from the University of Michigan Medical School Department of Pathology. Drs. Riccardo Valdez, Carmen Gherasim, and Aubree Gordon represented the Immunity Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (IASO) research team at U-M[...]

The American Board of Pathology (ABPath) is pleased to announce the appointment of May Chan, MD to the ABPath’s Test Development and Advisory Committee (TDAC) for Dermatopathology beginning in 2023. The TDACs are responsible for developing and reviewing the ABPath certification exam questions that assess and certify a physician’s education, knowledge, experience, and skills in order to provide high-quality care in the pathology profession. "As an established subject matter expert in dermatopathology, the contributions of Dr. Chan will be highly valued," commented Bonnie Woodworth, ABP Communications Director.

The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers received one of the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s four inaugural Class of 2022 TACTICAL (Therapy ACceleration To Intercept Cancer Lethality) Award. This $30 million program will support cross-disciplinary pioneering research toward the goal of developing 21st Century therapies for the most life-threatening form of prostate cancer [...]

One of the most fascinating aspects of a career in cancer research is that one never knows when or where the next great discovery will occur. This was true of a recent breakthrough discovery made by the Dr. Russell Ryan laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical School. They were shocked to find that active regulatory elements in B-ALL contained not only typical protein binding sequences but also simple repeats of the sequence “GGAA”, usually considered a form of “junk DNA” with no regulatory function [...]

Members of the University of Michigan Department of Pathology and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, in collaboration with the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium, recently published a large study on clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCCs), which represent about 75% of the RCC cases and account for the most RCC-associated deaths. This study set out to create a comprehensive profile of ccRCC, combining histologic and molecular profiles. By analyzing both the microscopic cell structures and the genetic makeup of the cells, these researchers discovered significant intratumoral heterogeneity in 90% of ccRCCs. This indicates that ccRCCs originate from multiple tumor cell lines, called tumor subclones, that may become metastatic and could independently influence response to therapies. Through this study, the team was able to molecularly stratify aggressive histopathic subtypes, which may lead to more effective treatment strategies for patients and improved survival.

Dr. Robertson Davenport was recently interviewed regarding the new Blood Bank at Michigan Medicine. You can view his interview here. Please consider donating blood today!  You can find a blood donation site near you and sign up to give blood at www.redcrossblood.org/.

Blood banks need a constant supply of deposits to meet the needs of patients with cancer, traumatic injuries, failing organs, blood diseases, and more.

Standing-Room-Only Crowd Honors Achievements

Featuring keynote speaker, Dr. James Olson, alumnus Dr. Aaron Burberry and the MCP faculty and students

Batoul Aoun, DO shares her journey from war refugee to Chief Resident

The Department of Pathology was well represented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) held on October 14-18, 2022. This year’s event was held at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas with hundreds of people in attendance. The meeting provided an international forum for discussion of a broad range of issues pertaining to forensic pathology and death investigation. The event featured hundreds of platform and poster presentations from forensic pathologists, pathology trainees, pathology assistants, forensic anthropologists, toxicologists, and medical students. Several of our faculty and trainees were featured at this year's conference.

Inpatient and outpatient phlebotomists from Michigan Medicine Department of Pathology are highlighted in career snapshots  videos produced by The Pathologist Magazine. Click through to watch these videos or to get a link to open positions in phlebotomy at Michigan Medicine.

For many of us, the idea of having blood drawn can be an unnerving thought. The use of needles and the sight of blood itself is not something we look forward to. However, Michigan Medicine has made several measures over the years to help the experience of our patients when needing to draw blood; especially young children [...]

Walk through a 30-year career with Dr. Gabriel Nunez--highlighting his key discoveries, perspectives on work/life balance, and those he mentored.

Nebraska native, David Golden, shucks Scarlet and Cream for Maize and Blue as he moves up the ranks in Pathology.

On September 25^th, Pathology faculty, staff, trainees and their families gathered at Wiard’s Orchard in Milan, Michigan for the annual Pathology Appreciation Fall Picnic. While the weather was overcast, it was a pleasant fall day in the lower 60’s – just right for a day of fun activities!

A research team from the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology undertook a study to illustrate how careful assessment of cytologic and biomarker features may provide physicians with information on Metastatic Prostatic Cancer (MCP) patients’ prognosis and the best therapies to consider [...]

The Department of Pathology's Specimen Processing Team

We are pleased to share that the Board of Regents today (Oct. 20) approved the appointment of Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska, M.S., Ph.D., as associate dean for graduate and postdoctoral studies in the Medical School, effective Oct. 1, 2022. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Nikolovska-Coleska on her associate dean role.

This year’s Blood Battle against Ohio State is October 27 – November 23.  Consider donating during Blood Battle to be a part of the fight to save lives across the state and country...and to beat OSU! To make a donation appointment, visit bloodbattle.org and click "Donate" on the homepage [...]

A successful New Frontiers in Pathology Conference was held in person and via Zoom on September 29-October 1, 2022 at The Graduate Hotel in Ann Arbor. Complex case studies, breakout sessions and plenary lectures were complimented by times of collegial interactions, food, laughter and fun.  Mark your calendars now for next year's New Frontiers in Pathology on October 26-28, 2023!

Learn more about our DEI efforts headed by Dr. Angela Wu.

A glimpse into Karen Barron's role as the Allied Health Education Program manager and helping to create opportunities for young laboratory professionals.

The field of Pathology is changing quickly as technology advances, with deep learning and artificial intelligence expanding into diagnostic arenas.

A Perspective by Dr. Noah Brown

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Pathology Ambassadors (PAs) is a grassroots program composed of pathologists and pathology trainees who help facilitate student pathology interest groups and mentor medical students at their home institutions. This ambassador program has two major goals: (1) to help recruit innovative, passionate, and diverse medical students to the field of Pathology and (2) to enhance other specialties’ understanding of pathology and our services, in turn positively impacting patient care.

Each Fall at the annual ASCP conference, two PAs are honored with the Pathology Ambassador Award for their outstanding, creative, and impactful events and mentorship. In October 2021, I was humbled to receive this award as a UM hematopathology fellow. This year, both winners are University of Michigan pathology trainees, too – Drs. Julianne Szczepanski and Justin Kelley!

A Perspective with Jessica McAnulty, MCP Student

The American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) recently announced that our very own Dr. Jeffrey Myers, Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs and Quality and Director of Michigan Medicine Laboratories was selected for the prestigious 2022 ASCP Mastership Award. This award recognizes distinguished members of the ASCP who have made significant contributions to the field of pathology and laboratory medicine and to the ASCP [...]

The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce a series of virtual open house events for our Residency Training Program.

The Department of Pathology is home to one of the nation's top Residency Training programs. While this is not a surprise to our residents, the quality of our program was once again reaffirmed by Doximity, which  ranked our program as #4 in the nation and #1 among public academic institutions. This is up from an overall ranking of #6 the prior year and maintains the top spot among publica academic institutions.  Doximity is the largest online professional network for physicians in the United States. 

The Celina Kleer lab at the University of Michigan Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center has found a new mechanism that fuels metastasis in triple negative breast cancers. In their new study they show that EZH2, a master regulator of cell type identity, known to function through methylation of histones, has a new, unexpected function in aggressive breast cancers [...]

This summer, Michigan Medicine officially welcomed 23 new Fellows and Clinical Instructors into the Department of Pathology.

Drs. Laura Lamps, Maria Westerhoff, and Angela Wu become the three newest Assistant Chairs in the Department of Pathology with a focus on Wellness, Staff Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion [...]

Where are they from and why did they choose the University of Michigan?

Patients with relapsed multiple myeloma are resistant to commonly used treatments. Researchers are one step closer to understanding the genetic reason why.