In order to recognize the significant contributions of Brown University faculty members as advisors or mentors to graduate students, the Graduate School invites nominations on behalf of any Brown faculty member who has served as a graduate advisor, unofficial or official mentor, trainer, or dissertation chair for the Graduate School Faculty Award for Advising & Mentoring. The Graduate School will make up to four awards for mentoring and advising contributions within each of Brown University’s four disciplinary divisions: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Further information can be found on the Graduate School Website.

The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) members have elected Liang Cheng, MD as their President-Elect (2023-2025). Professor Liang Cheng will become the President on April 3, 2025 after the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) annual meeting. Congratulations!

Dr. M. Ruhul Quddus, has been recognized by the National Cancer Institute for his subject matter expertise and outstanding contribution to reviewing histologies of the Cervix, Endometrium, Fallopian Tube, Myometrium, Ovary, and Vagina. His insightful comments on tumor site-histology combinations provided a wealth of information that is being used to inform cancer surveillance data collection standards.

Cancer PathCHART is a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute, College of American Pathologists, American Joint Commission on Cancer, World Health Organization, and seven other national, North American, and global organizations that is aimed at aligning standards for public health cancer data with medical practice. This initiative is the first of its kind with physician and registrar review of these gold standards for tumor site-histology combinations reported by tumor registrars. While initially focused on implementation for 2024 in North America, Cancer PathCHART standards will be made freely available in accessible formats for implementation by cancer registries and cancer researchers across the globe. Your reviews are critical to our reaching our goals for Cancer PathCHART.

Pilot Project Research Grant Award

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University is pleased to announce the 2023 Pilot Project Research Grant Awardees ($25,000 per project). The program objective is to foster translational research collaborations and provide funding support for junior clinical faculty in the Brown affiliated hospital systems.

Awardees:      Adina Badea, PhD & Daniel J. Spade, PhD

Project Title: A look into environmental reproductive toxicology: robust quantification of steroid hormones, cholesterol, and arachidonic acid levels in phthalate-exposed rat fetal testes

Awardees:      Shaolei Lu, MD, PhD & Yun-An Tseng, DO

Project Title: Characterization of basal-like pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Awardees:      Ece Uzun, PhD & Joyce Ou, MD, PhD

Project Title: Stratification of ovarian cancer subgroups using network biology approach

Panel Chairs

Liang Cheng, MD, Vice Chair for Translational Research

Geralyn M. Lambert-Messerlian, PhD, Vice Chair for Clinical Faculty Development

Panel Members:

Ivana Delalle, MD, PhD

Sean Lawler, PhD

M. Ruhul Quddus, MD

Robert W. Sobol, PhD

Li Juan Wang, MD, PhD

Chair of Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine:  Jonathan D. Kurtis, MD, PhD

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Brown Pathology Travel Award:

• Yigit Baykara, MD (PGY 3) - Protein-Protein Interactions in Papillary and FollicularThyroid Carcinomas
• Mohammed Omer, MD (PGY 2) – IPSS-M Improves the Risk Stratification of MDS Patients: A Single Institution Experience
• Evi Abada, MD, MS (Stuart Lauchlan Fellow) – Low Level Expression of Human Epidermal Growth Factor-2 (HER2) in High-Grade Mullerian Tumors: Implications For Therapy Decision Making
• Jessica Posada, MD, PhD (Surgical Pathology Fellow) – Characterizing the Genomic Landscape of Micropapillary Variant of Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder Harboring Activating Extra-Cellular Mutations of the ERBB2 Gene

We would like to thank our Brown Pathology Travel Award Selection Committee members for their efforts: Mariana Canepa, Shaza Ben Khadra, Katrine Hansen, Sean Lawler, Sara Maleki, Joyce Ou, Michael Punsoni, Mohammed Quddus, Kamaljeet Singh, Evgeny Yakirevich, Alisha Lima (Coordinator).
 
Diana O. Treaba, Director of Brown Pathology Residency Program
Jesse L. Hart, Associate Director of Brown Pathology Residency Program
Geralyn M. Lambert-Messerlian, Vice Chair for Clinical Faculty Development
Liang Cheng, Vice Chair for Translational Research

Dr. Anatoly Zhitkovich served as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) selected expert to evaluate EPA's Plan to conduct Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)  Assessment of Inhalation Exposure to Cobalt and Cobalt Compounds. The EPA held a public meeting on this topic on 1-11-23 where Dr. Zhitkovich gave two presentations. The first presentation was on the "Association Between Lung and Adrenal Tumor Formation" and the second was on "Proposed MOA of Cobalt Carcinogenicity."

On December 1, 2022, the Editorial Office of Cancer Drug Resistance (CDR) was very honored to interview Journal Editorial Board member Prof. Wafik S. El-Deiry, who is Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School, Director of the Cancer Center at Brown University, and Director of the Joint Program in Cancer Biology at Brown University and Affiliated Hospitals, Providence, RI, USA.

In the interview, Prof. El-Deiry shared what motivated him to enter the field of oncology research, research advances, and challenges in the field. In addition, he shared that the original discovery of p21 is one of the most exciting things in his career. p21 was the first mammalian CDK inhibitor to be discovered, which eventually led to the discovery and development of a new class of now FDA approved CDK inhibitor drugs. Furthermore, he also gave some advice to young researchers. He stressed that young researchers should really consider pursuing oncology research when they do have some interest and skills on it. He said that they can really make a difference in the world. Finally, he talked about how cancer drug resistance is very important and has huge challenges, and hoped that we could continue making important progress.

View the complete interview at the link below:

CDR Interview with Dr. El-Deiry

Dr. Liang Cheng, Vice Chair for Translational Research, has had a State of the Art review paper published in The BMJ (the journal impact factor, 93). 

Please see the link below to access the article.

State of the Art - Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Testicular Cancer

Dr. Anatoly Zhitkovich, Professor of Pathology,  has been selected to serve on the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Hexavalent Chromium Review Panel. The EPA SAB, its standing committees and ad hoc panels engage in a variety of advisory activities of significant importance to the EPA.  If you are interested in learning more about the SAB, please visit their webpage http://www.epa.gov/sab.

1. Geralyn Messerlian, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, CNE
Director of Clinical Chemistry and Special Testing, is appointed Vice Chair for Clinical
Faculty Development of the Department of Pathology of Warren Alpert Medical School
of Brown University effective August 10, 2022.
2. C. James Sung, MD, led an international team of College of American Pathologists
(CAP) inspectors conducted a virtual CAP inspection of the Department of Laboratory
Medicine of the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, Liaoning, China
on August 23-24, 2022.
3. The Microbiology Lab welcomes Amy Arruda, MLS(ASCP) as our new Microbiology
Lab Manager. Amy started 8/22/22. She joined us from the Beth Israel Deaconess
Plymouth Hospital.
4. The Department welcomes Steffanie C. Tamayo, MD, as our Visiting International
Fellow in Women’s Pathology. Dr. Tamayo joins us from the St. Luke’s Hospital in
Manila, Philippines. She will be with us until June 30, 2023.
5. Zhenwei Zhang, MDPhD, currently a pathology resident at the University of
Massachusetts, Worcester, is selected as the next Stuart Lauchlan Fellow in Gynecologic
Pathology and Breast Pathology in 2024-2025