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Faculty News

Dr. Neil Blumberg Appointed to BLOOD Editorial Board

Dr. Neil Blumberg, Director of the Clinical Laboratories and of Transfusion Medicine, has been appointed to the editorial board of BLOOD for 2008-2013. BLOOD is the most highly cited and prestigious journal in the field of hematology.

Dr. Brendan Boyce Promoted to Director of Anatomic Pathology

Dr. Brendan Boyce has accepted the position of Director of Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He will oversee all diagnostic tissue pathology services, including Surgical Pathology, Cytopathology, Neuropathology, Hematopathology, Autopsy and other subspecialty areas, with specific involvement in strategic planning and coordination of clinical and academic activities. These responsibilities are similar to those of the Director of Clinical Laboratories, Dr. Neil Blumberg, with respect to Laboratory Medicine divisions. Our department has not previously had an Anatomic Pathology Director. The need for this postion was driven by the increasing complexity and specialization of diagnostic tissue pathology.

Dr. Boyce has been Director of Surgical Pathology here at URMC for the past eight years, leading an academic resurgence in his unit which has resulted in a three-fold increase in publications and the award of new research grants. At the same time, the surgical pathology unit responded to a significant increase in clinical volume and complexity as URMC expanded its clinical outreach and specialty services.

Dr. David Hicks Appointed Director of Surgical Pathology

Dr. David Hicks will be joining the Department November 5 as Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of Surgical Pathology.

After receiving his M.D. at the University of Rochester, Dr. Hicks did his pathology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was recruited back to Rochester in 1990, where he developed an interest in bone pathology, and received NIH funding to study the effects of lead on the epiphyseal plate. In 2001 he was recruited as Director of Surgical Pathology and Co-director of the Morphologic Molecular Pathology translational research resource at the Cleveland Clinic. While there, Dr. Hicks was instrumental in developing a subspecialty Surgical Pathology system which has been highly successful both clinically and academically. He also expanded his interests in breast pathology, with particular focus on prognostic molecular markers in breast cancer and development of advanced tissue-based diagnostic techniques. Dr. Hicks returned to upstate New York two years ago as Vice Chairman and Director of Anatomic Pathology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where he improved clinical service and timeliness of reports.

As Director of Surgical Pathology, one of Dr. Hicks' major goals will be to lead the evaluation of clinical and academic needs and opportunities relating to surgical pathology subspecialization here at URMC, and implement a strategic plan based on this evaluation.

New Faculty

Dr. Richard Burack is Associate Professor and Director of Hematopathology. Dr. Burack has a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed a residency in Clinical Pathology at the University of Virginia Hospital and a fellowship in Hematopathology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. His most recent appointment was as Acting Director of Hematopathology at Washington University School of Medicine. His research interests are membrane phospholipase biology and the T cell immunologic synapse. He is currently studying molecular mechanisms of lymphoma progression in patients.

Dr. Li-Sheng Chen is Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Automated Laboratories. She holds a Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from the University of California, served as a postgraduate researcher at the University of California, Davis, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic. Her research efforts at the University of Rochester will involve the redirection of tumor-marker and endocrine testing from immunoassay to direct measurement in order to eliminate immunospecificity-related inaccuracy.

Dr. Rana Hoda is Professor and Director of Cytopathology. Dr. Hoda completed residency training at North Shore and Lenox Hill Hospitals/Cornell University Medical College; a fellowship in Oncologic Anatomic Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering; and a fellowship in Cytopathology at Montefiore Medical Center. Most recently, she served as Director of Cytopathology at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her clinical and research interests include gynecologic pathology and fine needle aspirates. She has received several awards for excellence in cytopathology education.

Dr. Archibald Perkins is Professor, member of the clinical faculty in the Hematology unit, and a researcher studying the genetic mechanisms of leukemogenesis. He received his M.D./Ph.D. from Columbia, completed a pathology residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Neal Copeland's laboratory at the NCI Mammalian Genetics Laboratory. His most recent appointment was as a member of the Pathology faculty at Yale. His particular focus is on Evi 1, a complex locus that plays a critical role in both normal hematopoissis and myeloid leukemogenesis.

Dr. Majed Refaai is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of the Blood Bank/Transfusion Medicine service. Dr. Refaai completed residency training at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine, and a fellowship in Transfusion Medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital/University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His research experience has included studies of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) and of thrombotic disorders.