PATHOLOGY IN FOCUS Vol 5 Issue 3 August 2011 Message from the Chair The start of the many faculty candidates will be several Department of Pathology Inside this issue: new school year visiting UAB and I hope that you will investigators are tentatively Faculty Profile: Dr. Hébert- 2-3 once again brings be able to attend as many candi- scheduled to move this fall into Magee many new faces date seminars as possible. renovated laboratory space in the to the Department Wallace Tumor Institute. These APC Teaching Awards 3-4 of Pathology. In A number of construction and new facilities will permit further Where Are They Now? 4 addition to the building renovation projects are expansion of cancer related re- Spotlight on Administration 5 annual influx of new residents, underway in the department and search in our department and help fellows and graduate students, several are nearing completion. I us to recruit additional outstanding New Changes in HIT 5-6 several new faculty members will am optimistic that by the time you clinicians and investigators to UAB. 6-7 From the Chief Residents be joining various divisions over read the next quarterly newsletter, From the Graduate Students 7-8 the next few months. Look for new the Anatomic Pathology Division faculty profiles in this and upcom- faculty, staff, and services cur- Best wishes, New Faculty Recruits 8 ing issues of our newsletter. Our rently housed in the Kracke Build- Kevin A. Roth, M.D., Ph.D. Pathology Grant Awards 9 aggressive recruitment strategy ing will all be moved to newly com- will continue through the fall as pleted facilities in PD6A. Similarly, Faculty Profile: Majd Zayzafoon, M.D., Ph.D. Majd Zayza- by a fellowship in Gastroenterology osteoblast differentiation and bone foon, MD, PhD, at Preston Hospital, Tyne & Wear, formation. He has made significant is an Associ- England. Majd then moved to the contributions to the elucidation of ate Professor United States and joined the Physi- the role of Ca2+ signaling through Pathology In Focus in the Depart- ology Doctoral Program at Michi- the activation of calmodulin- Editorial Committee ment of Pa- gan State University, where he dependent protein kinase II and the Editor-in-Chief: thology. He earned his Ph.D. degree. In 2002 nuclear factor of activated T-cells, C. Bruce Alexander, M.D. serves as the Director of the UAB- he moved to UAB as a post- with a particular emphasis on the Center for Metabolic Bone Disease doctoral fellow in the Division of on the regulation of osteoblast R. Pat Bucy, M.D., Ph.D. (UAB-CMBD), is Co-Director of the Molecular and Cellular Pathology, proliferation and differentiation. Rakesh Patel, Ph.D. NIH P30 UAB Core Center for Basic Department of Pathology. Since His current research is focused on Walter C. Bell, M.D. and Translational Skeletal Re- that time Majd has moved rapidly identifying the roles of calcium, Marisa B. Marques, M.D. search, and is PI of the NIH T32 through the ranks, being promoted calmodulin, and related protein Majd Zayzafoon, M.D., Ph.D. Comprehensive Training Program to Associate Professor in 2009. kinases and phosphatases in os- Angie Schmeckebier in Bone Biology and Disease. Majd He is also currently enrolled in the teoporosis, osteosarcoma and Margaret Dotzler Zayzafoon was born in Birmingham MBA Graduate Program at the UAB prostate cancer bone metastasis. and grew up in Norwich, England. School of Business where he is A combination of biochemistry, cell He went to medical school at Da- expected to obtain his MBA in 2012. biology, and molecular biology Dept. of Pathology Website: mascus University, Syria where he Majd’s research program is fo- techniques are used in his labora- www.path.uab.edu obtained his MD degree. After cused on his long-standing interest tory to elucidate the critical signal graduation, he completed his resi- in the role of calcium signaling in transduction pathways involved in Newsletter E-Mail: dency in Internal Medicine followed the transcriptional regulation of [email protected] Cont’d... Pathology In Focus Page 2 Majd Zayzafoon Cont’d: each of these diseases, with the facilitate the translational re- In 2009 Majd was elected by the ultimate goal of modulating key search efforts of the Center for JHS faculty to UAB Faculty Senate, signal transduction pathways as Metabolic Bone Disease which he and in 2010 he received a Com- potential new avenues for therapy. directs. The goal of the CMBD is to mendation Award for Outstanding provide a broad-based multidisci- Service to the Senate. He was Majd has also received the prestig- plinary research, training and Chair of the Faculty Senate Cur- ious Harold Frost and John Haddad service focused on metabolic bone riculum & Research Committee Young Investigator awards from disease; with the mission to help from 2010-2011 and is now Chair of the American Society for Bone and catalyze and integrate educational, the newly created Faculty Senate Mineral Research (ASBMR), and he clinical and basic research activi- Research Committee for 2011-2012. was recently elected as executive ties. The membership of the CMBD Majd is also Founder and President board member of the AIMM/ currently includes 93 faculty from of Novicure Biotechnology, which is ASBMR. Majd’s clinical background 9 schools and 29 departments at a biotech company focused on coupled with his in-depth basic and UAB. drug discovery for prostate cancer translational research experience bone metastasis. provide the expertise necessary to Faculty Profile: Shantel Hebert-Magee, M.D. Dr. Shantel note characteristics which distin- she was told the favorite Creole Hébert-Magee guish them from other hereditary statement “et toi”, French literally has recently and sporadic renal neoplasms. For for “and you”, but used in bayou joined the UAB this work, she was awarded the territory to mean “your turn.” Cytopathology Ultrastructural Pathology Award at When her turn came, Dr. Hébert- faculty as a new the 2010 USCAP. Last year, Dr. Magee realized that she wanted to member. She is a native of Louisi- Hébert-Magee came to UAB as a make an impact in minority health, ana and attended medical school at Cytopathology fellow after her health disparities, and health initia- Georgetown University School of previous mentor at Georgetown, tives for the underserved. As an Medicine. She continued on at Dr. Mary Sidawy, highly recom- undergraduate Howard Hughes Georgetown University Hospital mended Drs. Isam Eltoum and An- scholar, she investigated the ef- completing a combined residency in dra Frost as experts in the field. fects of 7,12- Anatomic and Clinical Pathology in dimethylbenzanthracene on rat 2009, during which time she had As a child Dr. Hébert-Magee was mammary glands and the estrous been recognized as resident of the taught by her famille to make an cycle; this model paralleled inner- year and served as chief resident. impact. She learned of the legacy city carcinogenic exposure and Subsequently, Dr. Hébert-Magee of her family, having a great-great breast cancer risks for African went to the National Cancer Insti- -great grandfather who was an American women. In addition, she tute officer in the Louisiana 1st Native spent a summer as a Harvard- and completed a Translational Guard the first colored regiment in SHURP scholar, under the direction Surgical Pathology fellowship under the Civil War, whose family later of Dr. Michael Starnbach, of the the directorship of Dr. Maria Me- expatriated to Haiti and France for Department of Microbiology and rino. While at the NCI, Dr. Hébert- lack of rights for blacks. Upon her Molecular Genetics at Harvard Magee studied the ultrastructural family’s return to the states, they Medical School, investigating CD8+ features of renal tumors in patients emphasized education, culture and response to the pathogen C. with Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome and community. It wasn’t long before Cont’d... Pathology In Focus Page 3 Shantel Hébert-Magee Cont’d... trachomatis, a prevalent cause of submitted two grants directed at In her spare time, Dr. Hébert-Magee sexually transmitted disease and minority health disparities, has two enjoys writing Creole literature, blindness in developing countries. papers under review, and two painting, spending time with her She was also one of the first recipi- abstracts accepted for the ASC family, and her Pomeranian, Saint It wasn’t long before ents of the NIH-UGSP scholarship conference in November. She is (named after the New Orleans Saints, she was told the and worked with Dr. Michael A. particularly excited as to how her of course). She also volunteers with favorite Creole Rogawski at the Epilepsy Research projects in HPV oral pharyngeal medical school applicants, always statement “et toi”, Branch of National Institute of Neu- carcinoma and Triple Negative leaving them with two words to French literally rological Disorders and Stroke Breast Cancer in African Ameri- stimulate impact, et toi. investigating the inhibitory effects cans may serve as a nidus to other for “and you”, but of finasteride on allopregnanolone studies. She is very elated to have used in bayou and the therapeutic implications in started her professional career at territory to mean women with catamenial epilepsy. UAB. “your turn.” Dr. Hébert-Magee has recently APC Distinguished Teaching Awards: gram direc- leadership positions in many na- tors tional and international educational (PRODS,) organizations. established annual Distin- Dr. Anderson has received multiple guished "Advancing the Field of Pathology Teaching Through Computer Technologies" Awards in awards and "Best Departmental Undergradu- Website" awards from the Advanc- ate ing Pathology Informatics, Imaging Medical and the Internet Group (APIII). Last Two top educators from the UAB Education and Graduate Medical year he was awarded the Alpha Department of Pathology have Education.