Department of Pathology

Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology, Associate Director for Education and Training, O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, was selected for the 2025-2026 class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) program at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Paul Benson, M.D., Professor, Autopsy Section Head, Anatomic Pathology, attended the Third Annual International Post-Tuberculosis Symposium at the STIAS Institute in Stellenbosch, South Africa, April 14-16. Benson joined his collaborators Adrie Steyn, Ph.D., Professor, UAB Microbiology, Africa Health Institute, and Threnesan Naidoo, MBChB, MSc, LLM, Professor, Water Sisulu University, Eastern Cape, South Africa. 

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While advances in technologies have improved our understanding of the molecular alterations that occur during breast cancer onset and progression, user-friendly tools for breast cancer data analysis are scarce. To determine effective treatment options, researchers need access to specimen data.

The UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine recognized 15 faculty members for their outstanding contributions to research, education, and clinical care at the Spring 2025 Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception.

The UAB Department of Pathology hosted its third annual Staff Retreat on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The day-long event featured an array of speakers and team activities.

The UAB Heersink School of Medicine is proud to announce the 19 winners of the 2025 Dean's Excellence Awards for Faculty.

This year April 20-26 is Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, an annual celebration of medical lab professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy led by the American Society for Clinical Pathology. This week’s theme is Mystery Machine of Diagnostics: Another Case Solved by the Lab.

Shi Wei, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director, Women’s Health, Section Head, Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology, has been named the Hazel Gore, M.D., Endowed Professor in Women's Health in the Department of Pathology, effective April 4.

April 14 marks the 12th annual Pathologists’ Assistant (PA) Day, 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.

Goo Lee, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Anatomic Pathology, will serve in the roles of interim section head of gastrointestinal (GI) pathology and GI fellowship director, effective Monday, April 14. Lee assumes the role from his predecessor, Sameer Al Diffalha, M.D., Vice Chair for Outreach and associate professor in the Division of Anatomic Pathology, who has served in these capacities since 2017. 

The UAB Department of Pathology recently funded travel awards to four trainees, Dr. Ashleigh Riegler, Ezgi Sari, Courtney Swain and Resha Rajkarnikar, who will present their research at national meetings this year.

Shi Wei, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director, Women's Health, has been named section head for bone and soft tissue pathology, effective April 1. Wei assumes the position from Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Robert W. Mowry Endowed Professor, who recently retires on December 31, 2024, after 34 years of service in the UAB Department of Pathology. 

Several members from the UAB Department of Pathology participated in the annual Birmingham Kidney Walk and Celebration on April 5 at Samford University’s Track and Field Complex.

Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair in Pathology, has been named president of the Genitourinary Pathology Society (GUPS), effective April 1.

On April 2, the UAB Department of Pathology honored Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., Robert W. Mowry Endowed Professor, Anatomic Pathology, with a symposium featuring guest speakers, colleagues and former mentees of this esteemed pathologist. Siegal joined UAB in 1990 where he was recruited as division director of Anatomic Pathology and professor in the Department of Pathology, a position he held for 25 years.

In a molecular diagnostic laboratory, having a system for tracking specimens, or assays, is integral to workflow efficiency and accuracy. Although streamlining this process often proves to be challenging, members from the Division of Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics in the UAB Department of Pathology have developed the In-house Lab Assay Database (ILAD) to customize and expedite specimen tracking.

Research is an essential part of health care. Every year, new discoveries are made that allow us to better understand the human body. Many of these discoveries would not be possible without enrolling patients as research participants. This is where the UAB Institutional Review Board (IRB) comes in. By protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects, UAB is able to continue learning through conducting human subjects research while also ensuring the health and safety of the participants.

The Heersink School of Medicine is proud to announce the 2025 recipients of its 1R01 Award. Securing extramural research funding is a very competitive process, and this award is a testament to these investigators’ groundbreaking research and dedication to advancing biomedical science.

November 2024 marked 20 years since the establishment of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute (EMBI) at UAB. The institute was made possible by a generous gift from the McKnight Brain Research Foundation (MBRF), matched by the university, to support research in cognitive aging and age-related memory loss. Ronald Lazar, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Neurology, has been director of the institute since 2017.

Twenty-two UAB leaders graduated among the ninth cohort of the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership on Dec. 11, 2024. Institute for Leadership is a flagship program of the UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office, an organization dedicated to providing tools and training to empower UAB Medicine’s leaders and the individuals and groups they manage.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE) celebrated its annual Innovation Awards on October 11, 2024, recognizing outstanding innovators and entrepreneurial achievements. Anath Shalev, M.D., director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center and founder of TIXiMED, was awarded the 2024 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award, the institute’s highest honor. Shalev's start-up, TIXiMED, recently advanced toward clinical trials after receiving FDA clearance for its novel Type 1 diabetes treatment, TIX100.

Eight faculty members recently graduated from UAB Medicine’s LEading Advancing Developing (LEAD) Fall 2024 leadership development program. The program, presented by UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office (LDO), recognized its graduates at a ceremony on Oct. 24, 2024.

UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office welcomed 22 individuals in its ninth cohort of Institute for Leadership in August 2024.

Girish Melkani, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Department of Pathology's Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, is the latest recipient of the Heersink School of Medicine’s Featured Discovery. This honor recognizes significant research contributions by Heersink faculty.

Graduate Biomedical Sciences (GBS) at UAB recently welcomed its new class of GBS students pursuing their Ph.D. across eight interdisciplinary training themes. The GBS Doctoral Training Program provides interdisciplinary education and mentorship while allowing GBS trainees to perform doctoral research in more than 350 labs across campus.

Seven chief residents at UAB recently graduated from the Chief Residents Leadership Series Spring 2024 program. The program, presented by UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office, recognized its graduates at a ceremony on May 30, 2024.

The spring 2024 Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception honored the distinguished faculty members of the Heersink School of Medicine for their outstanding impact on contemporary medicine and medical education. Anupam Agarwal, M.D., the dean of the Heersink School of Medicine, extended a warm welcome to the honorees, their families, and other leaders from the school. The gathering took place at the Wallace Tumor Institute on April 17. 

UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office recently recognized 12 individuals in its fourth cohort of Sharing Authentically to Inspire and Lead (SAIL). The spring 2024 graduates received their certificates on April 9.

The Heersink School of Medicine Office for Diversity and Inclusion hosted the annual Women in Medicine and Science Promotion Reception April 11, which recognized women faculty promoted at the end of 2023. The honorees and their guests were greeted by Heersink leadership to celebrate their remarkable achievements.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine saw great success in acquiring research funding in 2023, making significant strides in securing resources to advance human health through biomedical discovery.

Thirteen faculty members recently graduated from UAB Medicine’s LEading Advancing Developing (LEAD) Spring 2024 program. The program, presented by UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office (LDO), recognized its graduates at a ceremony on March 14, 2024.

The UAB Department of Pathology, in the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, is ranked number 10 for the most funds awarded to a United States pathology department by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2023.

Lunar New Year 2024 begins Feb. 10. The Office for Diversity and Inclusion sat down with Yabing Chen, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, to learn what Lunar New Year means to her.

After a national search, Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Pathology, effective March 4, 2024. Magi-Galluzzi is a professor and the director of the Division of Anatomic Pathology, and the director of Genitourinary Pathology in the Department of Pathology. She holds the C. Bruce Alexander Endowed Professorship in Pathology.

Co-investigators Paul V. Benson, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Pathology, and Threnesan Naidoo, M.B.Ch.B., professor and head of Division of Forensic Pathology at Walter Sisulu University and president of the College of Forensic Pathologists of South Africa, are using forensic pathology to research tuberculosis (TB) in a partnership between UAB and the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa.

On Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, students from Heersink School of Medicine gathered to celebrate faculty, courses, and course directors at the annual Argus Awards Ceremony.

On Thursday, Aug. 10, the UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office (LDO) held its first annual reception to honor the participants of six cohorts (91 graduates) who have completed the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership.

Girish Melkani, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Pathology, is the latest winner of the Heersink School of Medicine's Featured Discovery. This initiative celebrates important research from Heersink faculty members.

Extended research has been conducted to understand how Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) can remain in the body for many years without causing any symptoms of the disease, only to suddenly become active and cause an explosive outbreak of tuberculosis (TB).

Gene Siegal, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed as the interim chair of the Department of Pathology in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine effective June 1, 2023.

In the last several years, UAB Medicine and Heersink School of Medicine have worked to bring leadership development to faculty and staff through the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership and Momentum in Medicine programs.

Sixteen remarkable faculty members have been named winners of the 2023 Dean’s Excellence Awards for Faculty.

Sooryanarayana Varambally, Ph.D. MBA, professor in the Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, has been awarded the senior faculty 2023 Dean’s Excellence Award in Research.

Diana Lin, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pathology’s Division of Anatomic Pathology, has been awarded the junior faculty 2023 Dean’s Excellence Award in Teaching.

The Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation held a Grand Rounds presentation with speaker George J. Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair, UAB Department of Pathology, on April 13, 2023.

Medical students honored their outstanding mentors, professors, courses, and course directors at the annual Argus Awards Ceremony on Friday, Jan. 6.

Scott Ballinger, Ph.D., has been named the new associate dean for Faculty Affairs.

Anupam Agarwal, M.D., interim dean of the Heersink School of Medicine, welcomed faculty members and their families to the Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception on Sept. 29.

The second year of UAB’s Momentum in Medicine program launched this month and includes 16 women across UAB Medicine and UAB Heersink School of Medicine.

Heersink and UAB Medicine are working to reduce disparities by adopting a new recommended formula to assess kidney function—one that no longer includes race as a variable for kidney health—effective Thursday, Sept. 1.