The Department of Pathology’s Clinical Pathology Symposium, held on April 22^nd, offered participants opportunities to learn about sustainability, heavy metal toxicities, and a legal victory. Participants also engaged with booths offering trivia, games, prizes, and a chance to learn what others in the laboratory do. In honor of Earth Day, this symposium offered sustainable food options and zero-waste products.

Michigan Medicine First in State to Join the Alloantibody Exchange

They are the Gift that Keeps on Giving

All pathology faculty and staff are invited to attend this year’s 13th Clinical Pathology Symposium at the start of Laboratory Professionals Week.

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In 1985, the field of toxicology, the study of various drugs, metals, and poisons in the body, was reporting research on how to measure cannabinoids in the blood, calculate blood alcohol levels, and the dangers of using propylene glycol as part of intravenous injections. It was also the year that the Department of Pathology welcomed a new member to their toxicology laboratory, medical laboratory professional Brian Wright. Wright had just graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and Microbiology. His interest in pathology was sparked by performing scientific testing on biological specimens during his undergraduate training.

30 Years of Service Coming to an End

With great sadness, we share the passing of Denise Flannery, a Medical Technologist Specialist in our Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. She began her career as a microbiology technologist in 1991 and worked at Providence and Botsford hospitals before joining us at Michigan Medicine in 2016. She was a leader in the bacteriology area of the lab, lending her expertise to complicated cases and improving laboratory procedures. A celebration of life will be held in honor of Denise on Saturday, October 12th from 12:00 - 4:00 pm at the Suburban Collection Showplace [...]

Congratulations to Carol Young, MLS(ASCP), clinical research project manager in microbiology, on her selection as the 2025 American Society of Microbiology’s Scherago-Rubin Award for Clinical Microbiology recipient.

This award recognizes an outstanding bench-level clinical microbiologist involved in routine diagnostic work who has distinguished themself by excellent performance. The award was established by the late Sally Jo Rubin, an active member of ASM's Clinical Microbiology Division, in honor of her grandfather, Professor Morris Scherago.

Third-year resident Dr. Lauren J. Miller received the 2024 Dr. Phillip and Sandra Barney Resident Volunteer Service Award from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) at this year’s annual meeting. If you follow our #UMichPath social accounts, you recognize her as @LJMiller_MD. You may have seen her providing Case of the Week (#COTW) posts or featured in our residency program video, conducting grand rounds, teaching medical students, and other department content. These are just a few ways that her volunteer service has directly and positively impacted our department’s communication efforts as we work to enhance the availability of educational and informative content. 

Following his Namesake in Shaping the Future of Clinical Pathology

Help us welcome our new resident class, the Class of 2028!

Pathology Faculty and Staff Team up with Clinical Colleagues to Address Post-Surgical Kidney Injury

Congratulations to Thomas Annesley, PhD, DABCC, Active Professor Emeritus of Clinical Chemistry on his recognition with an Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine from the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine. This award is considered the premier award of the Association and is granted as a "lifetime achievement" award for contributions to the field of clinical chemistry. Individuals selected for this award have made significant contributions in all aspects of clinical chemistry, particularly service, education, and research; have achieved international stature and reputation by virtue of their efforts; and have demonstrated long standing service to the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM, formerly AACC), either at the grass roots, national and/or international levels.

Congratulations to Drs. Stephanie Skala, assistant professor of genitourinary, gynecologic, and surgical pathology and director of surgical pathology, and Jensyn Cone Sullivan, assistant professor of transfusion medicine, director of blood bank, and incoming director of the transfusion medicine fellowship program, on being named to the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s 40 Under Forty list!

Voting is now open on the top 40 nominees for selection to the Top Five, awarded in-person at The ASCP 2024 Annual Meeting!  Click here to cast your votes – and vote daily through July 22nd, no login or email address required.

It is with great sadness that we share the sudden and unexpected passing of Liz McCloud, QA Coordinator for Satellite Phlebotomy. Liz started at Michigan Medicine-Pathology in 2006 and grew tremendously over the years from that of a Patient Care Tech Associate to Associate Supervisor, and in 2017 she assumed the role of Quality Assurance Coordinator. 

Team Enhancing Care Daily at U-M Health.

Pathology Takes Extra Steps to Ensure Patient Care Excellence

The Clinical Pathology Symposium traveled to Danto Auditorium to showcase the Future of Pathology. 

Healthcare disparities arise from multiple sources, some of which are cultural and rooted in historical biases. In health research, most study participants in the past have been of European descent. This delayed the identification of specific genetic differences that are found more frequently in non-Europeans, leading to misdiagnoses and inappropriate healthcare for those with these differences. One of these is the Duffy-null genotype leading to a Duffy-associated neutrophil count (DANC) that is lower than established reference ranges.

When thinking of Pathology, many people think of tests being run in a laboratory located “somewhere” or of autopsies being performed in the morgue. It is considered a field with little direct contact with patients, and this may be true for much of the department, but not all. One area of the department that has a lot of patient contact is our phlebotomy services. Phlebotomists are the people who collect blood at your bedside in the hospital or as you sit in a chair at a blood-drawing station. This high-demand career field is staffed with people whose goal is to make sure you have the best experience possible while having your blood drawn for testing.

One of these people is Jonathan Jennings, a phlebotomist at the Briarwood Clinics in Ann Arbor. Jennings has worked in this role for the past ten years, but phlebotomy was not his initial career choice in life. He occupied his younger years as a truck driver, making daily runs delivering goods around the Midwest. Years of long hours of sitting and bumping along in a semi took its toll on his body and by 40 years of age, his back could no longer endure the punishment. He had a choice to make…go on disability or find a career where his back issues could be accommodated.

David Harro recalls 40 Years in Pathology

Dr. Daniel Boyer was recently announced as the Hematopathology Section Director. The hematopathology section consists of eleven faculty members who provide expert subspecialty diagnostic services and care for a large population of Michigan Medicine and MLabs patients using a variety of technologies including morphology, flow cytometry, cytogenetics, FISH, and molecular diagnostics. The service is anticipated to grow in volume and complexity as our integrated care network expands, and Dr. Boyer's leadership will be instrumental to our joint success.

Our Apheresis Unit’s faculty and staff take excellent care of the patients who come through their doors. Their dedication and compassion were recently recognized by Michigan Medicine’s Office of Patient Experience as they were awarded as one of the top two sites for performance on the patient experience metric for the past two quarters. Keith Gran, Chief Patient Experience Officer, and Devin Uppert, OPE Administrative Director presented members of the Apheresis Team with their award on March 19, 2024.

The Michigan Association of Blood Banks 69th Annual Scientific Meeting is to be held at the Schoolcraft College VisTaTech Center in Livonia, Michigan on September 20^th and 21^st , 2023. 

Learn more about residency at the University of Michigan.

Meet our Resident Class of 2027

It is with great pleasure that we introduce Dr. Annette Kim, Division Director for Molecular and Genomic Pathology and Clinical Professor of Pathology, effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Kim is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in her field, with a remarkable track record of accomplishment in clinical practice, education, and discovery.

The ever-popular annual Clinical Pathology Symposium returned to an in-person format this year in honor of Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and was a hit! The theme for this year’s Symposium was Resilience. Rebound. Readiness. Held in the football-shaped Dining Hall at the NCRC [...]

Dr. Lee Schroeder shares his story.

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[...]

Standing-Room-Only Crowd Honors Achievements

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.

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!

Congratulations to Kristina Martin, Clinical Pathology Operations Director, who recently took home the award for the Scientific-Assembly Laboratory Administration award from the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) [...]

Dr. Matt Cusick describes the role of the HLA Laboratory in Organ and Bone Marrow Transplantation.

This month marked the usual United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP)'s Annual Meeting. This year's hybrid-style event, the 11th annual, was held both in-person and virtually in Los Angeles, California from March 18-24, 2022. The symposium featured several short and long courses, as well evening specialty conferences and ticketed seminars. The conference also included numerous poster sessions, live Q&A segments, and a multitude of social events [...]

Dr. Riccardo Valdez, the John G. Batsakis Professor of Pathology and Director of Clinical Pathology, has been appointed as the Ambulatory Care Clinical Chief (ACCC) for Pathology.  While he has been fulfilling the duties of the role since just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the appointment was recently formalized.

Today is Match Day!  Match day is when medical students find out where they will be going for their residency training programs and the training programs find out who is coming.  In this year’s match, the Department of Pathology discovered that the following medical students will be coming to Michigan on July 1, 2022 [...]

Last year was an eventful time within the Department of Pathology at Michigan Medicine. As we reminisce about 2021, let's revisit some of the greatest memories [...]

As COVID closed down research labs, researchers shifted focus.

It is with regret that we announce the passing of W. John Judd, former Professor of Immunohematology for the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan.  Judd passed on December 1, 2021, at the age of 76, in his hometown of Supply (near Wilmington), North Carolina.  He served in the Department of Pathology for 34 years.

With great anticipation, the UH Core Lab team hosted Department Chairman Dr. Charles Parkos and other senior leaders in our department on November 9th to demonstrate the department’s newest automation lines. These automation lines are the result of years of planning, and literally, hundreds of hours spent envisioning, forecasting, designing, and training involving laboratory scientists [...]

The SARS-CoV-2 virus brought lab testing to the headlines. Learn how Michigan Medicine Pathology responded to this unprecedented challenge.

An interview with Kristina Martin and Christine Rigney

A study related to the maternal gut microbiome and how it regulates immunity to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in offspring was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Clinical experts from the Department of Pathology including Drs. Wendy Fonseca, Nicholas Lukacs, and Catherine Ptaschinski were responsible for carrying out this study [...]

Research pertaining to Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) and cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinomas was just published in the latest edition of Modern Pathology. Led by the team of Drs. Paul Harms, May Chan, Aaron Udager, Rajiv Patel, and more [...]

Research from experts in the Department of Pathology was published in Europe PMC's Histopathology. The team comprised of Drs. Jiaqi Shi, Laura Lamps and Erika Hissong examined the impact of adenomatoid tumors within the gastrointestinal tract [...]

The Department of Pathology's 2020 Annual Report is now available online. In the report, you will read about the department’s tripartite mission of research, education, and patient care, and learn about the goals of the department’s Strategic Council [...]

The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce that Dr. Carmen Gherasim has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the 2020-2021 Faculty Teaching Award [...]

A new publication from the Department of Pathology, led by Dr. Kathleen Cho, was just published in the American Association for Cancer Research's flagship journal. highlights how altering the microbiome within a mouse model of oviductal high-grade serious carcinoma can inhibit tumorigeneis [...]

A new study, led by U-M graduate in molecular and cellular pathology Dr. Andi Cani, was just published in European Urology Oncology. The publication focuses on the development of a whole-urine, multiplexed, next-generation RNA-sequencing assay that is used for the early detection of aggressive forms of prostate cancer [...]

Thursday, January 28^th, was a bittersweet day for the Department of Pathology. Bill LeBar, Administrative Manager of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, retired after more than 12 years of service. A virtual retirement ceremony was held in his honor, with more than 50 faculty, staff, and family members attending [...]

A new study led by Drs. Jolanta Grembecka and Tomasz Cierpicki of the Department of Pathology was just published in Blood's American Society of Hematology. The research focuses on combinatorial treatment with menin and FLT3 and how inhibitors induce complete remission in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with activating FLT3 mutations [...]

New research by the Department of Pathology was recently published in Modern Pathology. The study, led by Drs. Aaron Udager, Noah Brown, Bryan Betz, Jonathan McHugh and Scott Tomlins, focuses on how TP53 mutations and CDKN2A mutations and deletions are highly recurrent molecular alterations within malignant progression of sinonasal papilomas [...]

Congratulations to Usha Kota, BS, MT(ASCP) on her retirement following 32 years in Pathology! Usha began in Pathology in 1988 in the blood bank, moving to flow cytometry in 1989. In 1990, she was promoted to senior technologist, then flow cytometry supervisor in 1994.  In 2005, she was promoted to laboratory supervisor of Hematology [...]

Congratulations to Don Giacherio, PhD, who retired July 31, 2020, following 38 years of service in the University of Michigan Department of Pathology. Giacherio completed his PhD at the University of Illinois in 1980, followed by a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Mayo Clinic. In 1982, Giacherio joined the University of Michigan Department of Pathology as an Instructor in Pathology [...]

Research from Dr. Analisa Difeo was just published in Nature Communications. The study focuses on miR-181a and how it initiates and perpetuates oncogenic transformation through the regulation of innate immune signaling [...]

Congratulations to Thomas Annesley, PhD, on winning the 2020 IFCC Award for Distinguished Contributions in Education.

The Department of Pathology 2019 Annual Report is now available online. Our department continues to show outstanding performance and growth and the past year was another example of why our department is one of the best in the world.

In the report, you will read about [...]

The study sheds light on alternative methods used for measuring size and depth of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.

Clinical Pathology Operations Director, Kristina Martin, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CM, has been named the recipient of the 2020 Recent Alumni Award from the Michigan State University College of Natural Science. Martin graduated from [...]

Resources and guidance.

Tom Morrow grew up in Ann Arbor, graduated from U-M, and spent his entire 47-year career working for the University. He joined the Department of Pathology as a System Administrator in 1981, and while he’s officially retiring February 28th, he’ll stay [...]

Event showcases clinical and translational research.

Suzanne Butch, who is the Division of Quality and Health Improvement’s (DQHI) Manager of Clinical Pathology Quality Assurance has been an instrumental part of the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation (ICCBBA) for many years. ICCBBA is the not-for-profit, nongovernmental standards body in official relations with the World Health Organization [...]

We are pleased to announce that Mike McVicker is the new Administrative Manager for Clinical Operations in the Department of Pathology.

Mike has worked at Michigan Medicine for over 13 years, kicking off his career in the Specimen Processing division [...]

Dr. Sean Li has been appointed to the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Test Development and Advisory Committee (TDAC) for Clinical Pathology CertLink® for 2020.

Physicians appointed to TDACs are considered established subject matter experts in their subspecialties [...]

In 2015, Felipe da Veiga Leprevost, PhD, came to the University of Michigan as a research fellow to study computational proteomics. In June of 2019, he accepted a faculty position as a Research Investigator in Bioinformatics. He now has a Michigan-born little one and his roots are growing deeper in Ann Arbor [...]

Not yet entirely settled in at home, Matt Cusick, PhD, is diving into his new role as an Assistant Professor in Clinical Pathology.

Michigan lost one of it’s most celebrated and beloved pathologists this week as Dr. Bertram Schnitzer passed away at the age of 90. [...]

The Department of Pathology embraces the future while navigating through multiple changes as it settles into its new laboratory home.

When Kasey Hilton was 19 weeks pregnant, she and her husband, Mike, visited U-M Midwives for their first ultrasound. Not knowing what to expect, the couple wasn’t concerned when a doctor was called into the room. Then, everything changed [...]

Dr. Choi is an assistant professor and the Hematopathology Fellowship Director.

No stranger to the Department of Pathology, Dr. Kristina Davis now joins the department as faculty.

Staff members were recognized for their years of service and for going above and beyond. 

Sarah Choi, MD, PhD, has been honored as one of ASCP’s “40 under Forty” program recognizing the future generation of laboratory leaders.

ASCP’s 40 Under Forty program shines the spotlight on 40 highly accomplished pathologists, pathology residents, and laboratory professionals under age 40 who have made significant contributions to the profession and stand out as the future of laboratory leadership. [...]

The Blood Bank’s John Ko and Phlebotomy’s Jennifer Slater will serve on the board of the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science’s (ASCLS) Michigan chapter. Beginning August 1, Ko will serve as President-Elect and Slater will serve as [...]

First-year resident, William R. Perry, MD, received a 2019 Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award at the 54th Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS) Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. The awards were established [...]

Two of our hematology lab technologists were first authors on poster abstracts at the XXXII International Symposium on [...]

University of Michigan researcher Lee Schroeder takes a deep dive on much-needed help for tackling the burden of cardiovascular diseases in India.

The 10^th annual CHAMP Research Day will be held on Thursday, February 7^th, 2019 from 3:00 pm to 7:30 pm in the Research Auditorium located in building 10 of the North Campus Research Complex. The event will feature presentations by Department of Pathology trainees and faculty [...]

A multi-disciplinary study out of Michigan Medicine’s departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation, pathology, and pediatrics, and Child & Family Life and the Office of Patient Experience, was published in the Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine.

Phlebotomy training tends to focus on clinical technique rather than [...]

On December 12, Dr. Thomas Glover was recognized as the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award in Biomedical Research. Glover, who is the pioneer and defining scientist in the field of common fragile sites (CFS) in human chromosomes, gave [...]

On Thursday, December 20, 2018, at 3:30 pm, the founders of InheRET, Inc., participated in the bell ringing ceremony at the University of Michigan’s Technology Transfer office. The event signaled the formal licensing of technology developed at the University of Michigan to the spin-off corporation.

InheRET, Inc., developed jointly by the Department of Pathology and the Department of Internal Medicine faculty and staff, has produced an online family health history questionnaire.  It interprets patient-entered data [...]

Second-year resident, Laurie Griesinger, MD, won both second and third place at the 2018 Winter Resident Research Competition on December 1^st at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan. The competition, held annually by the Michigan Society of Pathologists during their Winter Meeting, is open to [...]

Rohit Mehra, MD—faculty perspective on the need to understand why a patient’s cancer would not respond to treatment.

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm | Taubman Health Sciences Library

The Department's commitment to collaboration and innovation well-represented at Quality Month event.

The Department of Pathology’s blood draw station at the Rogel Cancer Center has been renovated to improve the patient experience. Prior to the renovation, the average wait time was over [...]

You have seen his face around Pathology for the past six weeks, but you may not even know his name.  Winston Lee, MD, PhD, joined the Department of Pathology as a Clinical Assistant Professor on June 1, 2018.  Board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Hematopathology, [...]

Commitments to patient care and innovative technologies earn us top ratings.

Pathology Informatics put together a team to create a new specimen tracking application, in house.

In 1987, Lynn Forbes was taking the first year of medical laboratory technology classes at Eastern Michigan University when she received a letter. The University of Michigan was looking for students interested in filling open positions in Central Distribution, now known as Specimen Processing. Intrigued, Forbes applied. Soon after, she accepted [...]

Talha Anwar is in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and the Molecular and Cellular Pathology Program at U-M. He defended his PhD thesis, Regulation of EZH2 in triple-negative breast cancer, on Friday April 6, 2018 [...]

Pathology's involvement in tuberculosis research and diagnosis

Michigan Pathology has over 30 pathologists traveling to Vancouver, BC for this year's USCAP 2018. The department is featuring numerous speakers and displaying dozens of posters at this annual meeting. Read more to find out where and when to meet up with our faculty, fellows, and residents.

Dr. Ting successfully defended her PhD thesis, Notch ligand Delta-like 4 (DII4) induced epigenetic mechanisms in regulatory T cell function during pulmonary viral infection, on February 21, 2018. [...]

Pathology’s newest faculty will study this life-threatening condition in the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center

Blood donations are used in a host of ways and often needed without warning