PATHOLOGY IN FOCUS Vol 6 Issue 3 August 2012 Message from the Chair At the start of Our faculty members hold can be productive. In total, it Inside this issue: another aca- numerous leadership positions is the team work and spirit of demic year and in national and international co-operation in the UAB De- Faculty Profile 2 my fifth year as societies and our residents, partment of Pathology that Chair, I would fellows and graduate students defines us and will assure our Accolades 3 like to take a continue to receive accolades continued success. 2012 Pritchett Lecture 3 moment to and career advancing opportu- thank all of nities. Departmental commit- Best wishes, New Course Director 4 you who make ment to excellent clinical care Kevin A. Roth, M.D., Ph.D. the UAB Department of Pa- and quality research and educa- FASEB 4 thology such a special place to tion remains unquestionable. work and train. It seems that In addition to the hard work Mycoplasmology Award 4 virtually every day presents of our faculty and trainees, I new challenges in meeting our am very appreciative of our Experimental Cancer 5 clinical, research, and teaching divisional and departmental Therapeutics missions. Despite reduced support staff who despite in- state support for higher educa- creasingly complex university, Cancer Pathobiology 5-6 tion, an extremely difficult hospital, state, and federal New Tools from UAB 6-7 research funding climate, and regulations and multiple de- increasing demands on clinical mands on their time, daily Where are They Now? 7-8 faculty and trainees, our de- provide assistance to our fac- partment continues to excel. ulty and trainees so that they From the Chief Residents 8-10 Spotlight on Administra- 11 From the Graduate Stu- 11-12 dents Faculty Profile: William H. Benjamin, Jr., Ph.D. Pathology Grants Awarded 12 Dr. Wil- Approval Committee since ate the many new vaccines now liam Benja- 2008. on the market for the prevention min is Pro- of diseases caused by Strepto- fessor in Nationally, he is a member of coccus pneumoniae. the depart- the Editorial Board of Micro- ments of bial Methods, the Journal of In 2006, Dr. Benjamin was part Pathology Clinical Microbiology and the of a team from the American and Microbiology. He was Journal of Clinical Microbiol- Society for Microbiology’s born and raised in the Pacific ogy. He’s performed several International Laboratory Capac- Pathology In Focus Northwest and attended Wash- CAP inspections and has more ity Building Program that trav- Editorial Committee ington State University for his than 70 published abstracts/ elled to Namibia. He spent two Editor-in-Chief: Bachelor of Science, Montana poster exhibits, 80 manuscripts, months collaborating with the C. Bruce Alexander, M.D. State University for his Master and 9 book chapters. Namibian Institute of Pathology of Science and UAB for his and the Centers for Disease R. Pat Bucy, M.D., Ph.D. Ph.D. His research interests focus on Control and Prevention on tu- Rakesh Patel, Ph.D. the epidemiology of Mycobac- berculosis diagnostics. While Walter C. Bell, M.D. terium tuberculosis and how it there, his team proposed a stra- Marisa B. Marques, M.D. Dr. Benjamin is actively in- can be used toward elimination tegic plan for expanding the Majd Zayzafoon, M.D., Ph.D. volved in teaching residents, Namibian Institute of Pathol- Angie Schmeckebier medical students, and graduate of tuberculosis in Alabama and Margaret Dotzler students. He has also mentored the United States. He is one of ogy’s tuberculosis laboratory a number of PhD students only a few UAB faculty mem- system. The priority for the throughout the years. He was a bers involved in the utilization laboratory system expansion Dept. of Pathology Website: Laboratory Medicine represen- of diagnostic procedures for was to improve the quality of www.path.uab.edu tative in the Faculty Advisory tuberculosis control in sub- acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear Committee of our department Saharan Africa (Namibia and microscopy at all levels, with Newsletter E-Mail: from 2006-2012 and has served Zambia). In addition, he also long-term goals being to in- [email protected] on the Research Use Only Test collaborates on the use of serol- crease AFB culture capacity; to ogy/ molecular typing to evalu- Cont’d... Pathology In Focus Page 2 Faculty Profile: William H. Benjamin, Jr., Ph.D., Cont’d... improve AFB smear micros- in the Section of Microbiology, be counted on and will still copy procedures; and to intro- he is our expert on parasites and have a smile on his face. More duce fluorescence microscopy mycobacteria and has taught recently, he became involved in at the Central TB Laboratory. hundreds of residents with pa- diagnostic molecular biology Dr. Benjamin has been married tience and enjoyment. The and his deep knowledge of the to Sarah for 40 years. They residents truly appreciate his intricacies and pitfalls of the have 2 grown children, Heather quiet and friendly demeanor assays help ensure we provide and willingness to be called to our UAB patients with state-of- and Adam. In his free time, he the hospital any time of day or the-art diagnostic services. likes to garden, bicycle, and night to help review a malaria travel. In his 20 years as a fac- smear. Everyone knows he can ulty member in our department Faculty Profile: James Robinson Hackney, M.D. Rob Hack- fellowship in neuropathology. surgical pathologist in the do- ney, M.D. Rob spent his fellowship re- main of neuropathology. How- joins us as search year with Jonas ever, it may be the case that the Instructor in Almeida, PhD, in the Depart- entire approach of the neuropa- the Division ment’s new Division of Infor- thologist is different from the of Neuropa- matics, tackling projects in surgical pathologist, with much thology, diagnostic image analysis. greater emphasis on detailed having just Rob’s ongoing research inter- patient history, review of prior completed a ests are in the area of web- material, review of radiographic “late-life” fellowship in neuro- based applications for image scans, and a collaborative ap- pathology here at UAB under analysis, including pattern proach involving multiple sub- the guidance of Dr. Cheryl analysis and quantification of specialties. Palmer and Dr. Steven Carroll. immunohistochemical markers Rob graduated from the Univer- for diagnosis and prognosis. Rob is married with six grown sity Of South Alabama College He also has a developing inter- children and ten grandchildren. Of Medicine back in 1979, fol- est in bridging the gap between His interests outside of work lowed by training in AP/CP at surgical neuropathology and include electric guitar (he fa- Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans general surgical pathology, vors German-made Duesenberg and a fellowship in hematopa- especially with regard to the guitars), sports (especially run- thology at the University of training of surgical patholo- ning and swimming), and Pennsylvania. Following a stint gists, pathology Residents and spending time with family. as Director of the Hematology Fellows, and others in the Laboratory at Ochsner Clinic unique perspectives of the sur- from 1985-1989, Rob returned gical neuropathologist. Since to Birmingham to practice sur- we are training neurosurgeons gical pathology and hematopa- at a much greater rate than neu- thology at St. Vincent’s Hospi- ropathologists, much front-line tal, Birmingham, serving as neuropathology will continue to Chief of Pathology from 2002 be done by general surgical until 2010. While at St. Vin- pathologists. While their gen- cent’s, Rob was heavily in- eral diagnostic acumen is more volved in St. Vincent’s breast than equal to the task, the low cancer program and robotic volume of neuropathology prostatectomy program. The cases that they are likely to see latter was for several years one can lead to an erosion of skills of the 3 or 4 largest robotic over the years. This is being prostatectomy programs in the partially addressed by newer, world. In 2010, Rob moved to creative publications by neuro- UAB to undertake a two year pathologists designed to aid the Pathology In Focus Page 3 Accolades: C. Bruce Drs. Shi Wei Alexander, Michael G. Con- and Gene M.D. was ner, M.D. is now Siegal have awarded the serving as a had a book Gerald T. member of the published Evans Society of Gynecological On- entitled Award at the 2012 Academy of cology (SGO) Membership “Frozen Sec- Clinical Laboratory Physicians Committee and the SGO Edu- tion Library: and Scientists meeting. This cation Committee. The SGO is Bone”. A award is presented annually to a the national society of Ameri- description of member for outstanding leader- can and International specialists the book, ship and/or service to the soci- involved with treating gyn ma- given by the ety. lignancies. Dr. Conner is work- publisher Springer is “Frozen ing with the SGO to put Pathol- sections are performed while a John C. Chat- ogy lectures on the society’s patient is undergoing surgery as ham, D.Phil. website to be used as a part of a basis for making an immediate Was invited to the educational outreach pro- diagnosis that will impact treat- serve as the gram nationally and internation- ment decisions. Frozen section American ally. diagnosis is often a highly de- Physiological manding situation for the pa- Society repre- thologist who must render a sentative to the FASEB Science diagnosis quickly for the patient Policy Committee. and surgeon.” 2012 Pritchett Lecture Details New Fundamental Mechanisms in Cell Proliferation This year our endowed lecturer search to a capacity audience in for the Paulette Shirey Pritchett the Spain auditorium defining Lecture in experimental pathol- the key checkpoints in the cell ogy was Sir Salvador Moncada, cycle that integrate mitochon- M.D., Ph.D, D.Sc., University drial function with cell metabo- College London.