The Department of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine educates medical students, graduate students, clinical residents and fellows in pathology and is committed to improving our specialties through impassioned teaching and instruction, innovative research and excellence in patient services though our affiliated care facilities.
Message from the Chair
Welcome to the Northwestern Department of Pathology Newsletter. This publication has been a long time in the making, and we hope to have it serve as a space for gathering what makes our Department great. Fall is a time of new beginnings in academic medical centers and this year is no exception. We’ve been busy lately with the turning on of the academic engines, especially as we have learned to live with Covid-19 in our lives and have begun to have slightly more normal schedules and activities. We have welcomed in 6 new Pathology residents, 14 new clinical fellows, 6 new faculty, and a large number of students and fellows in the labs. The addition of these new individuals to Northwestern Pathology will allow us to do better at what we have been doing extremely well already: educating and training, performing groundbreaking research, and providing exceptional patient care, all within a diverse, inclusive and generous environment. There is no shortage of achievement for our Department. We have shined and continue to excel in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the amazing transformation our labs underwent to provide high volume testing for patients, staff, faculty, students and trainees. Our nimbleness in procuring tissue and biospecimens during the pandemic led us to some of the most groundbreaking publications in the country. We completed the transformation of implementing Epic Beaker as our Laboratory Information System, which will allow our 12 hospital NMHC system to work as an integrated laboratory and practice to a much greater extent than in the past. There were some pain points in this conversion, but the future benefits outweigh the costs, by far. In research, we continue to grow and do high impact work that advances understanding of disease and the practice of Pathology. As one metric of success, our grant portfolio has more than doubled in the past 4 years. We continue to emphasize education and training as our highest calling in academics, since our responsibility is to the future. Combined, our residency and fellowship programs have grown by 25% in the past years, and the ranking of our residency program has improved dramatically. We are in a very good position in the Department because of the creativity, productivity, compassion and care of our faculty, trainees and staff. We look forward to sharing more success with you through this Newsletter in the months and years to come.
Message from the Department Administrator
As Dr. Brat has mentioned, the Department of Pathology has continued to grow and excel all while navigating the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. I envision future newsletters to provide insights and information to increase transparency and communication, while promoting discussion amongst clinicians, researchers, and support staff. Together we will ensure we continue to invest in the infrastructure needed to provide high-quality patient care, promote academic research, and train the next generation of Pathologists.
-Christopher Cheney, MS
Welcome New Faculty!
Dr. Booth earned his MD from Ross University School of Medicine. He completed residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, followed by a subspecialty fellowship in Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Pancreatobiliary Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. His research interests include serrated polyps of the colon, gastrointestinal post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, and the use of social media in pathology.
Dr. LaBoy received her MD from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She then completed a Residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and a Fellowship in Breast Pathology at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. She joined the Department of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Pathology in 2021.
Dr. Jager was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received her MD from University of Texas at San Antonio School of Medicine and then completed Residency in Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology at University of Colorado School of Medicine and Fellowship in Cytopathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is passionate about Cytopathology, with a particular interest in head and neck cytology and gynecologic cytology. She enjoys teaching and working with medical students, residents, and fellows.
Dr. Nigar Anjuman Khurram completed residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, with fellowship trainings in Surgical Pathology at University of Pennsylvania and Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Pathology at the University of California San Francisco. Prior to starting her residency, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, understanding and trying to identify potential prognostic biomarkers for lung cancer. Her main areas of research interests are creating algorithms to aid in pathology diagnosis, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, role of T-regs in inflammatory bowel disease and genomic features of liver tumors. In her spare time, she loves to create animations with iClone7 and tries to work towards getting better at the computer language program R.
Dr. Farres Obeidin is originally from Athens, Georgia. He graduated from the Medical College of Georgia, and then completed a combined Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at Northwestern University. Following residency, he attended the University of California-Los Angeles to subspecialize in Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology. His hobbies include reading, visiting museums, and playing the trombone.
Dr. Castellani received his MD from Wayne State University. He completed Anatomic Pathology residency at Wayne State University and a Neuropathology fellowship at Case Western Reserve University. He was formerly a tenured professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Medicine, and has directed Neuropathology divisions at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, and West Virginia University, before accepting a position as Professor of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2021.
New Trainees 2021
LATEST NEWS
Nun Study Arrives at Northwestern
The Nun Study, a longitudinal study on Alzheimer's and aging, has arrived at Northwestern. Formerly housed at the University of Minnesota, the study is now being led by Dr. Margaret Flanagan. Dr. Flanagan first learned about the Nun Study while attending Catholic elementary school in Chicago. In 2013, she began working with the Nun Study as a resident at University of Washington in Seattle. Currently, Dr. Flanagan is using the Nun Study samples and data to investigate both TDP43 and vascular dementia with plans to submit a resilience/resistance grant application next year.
Dr. Yi Featured in the New York Times and Nature Aging
Dr. Rui Yi and his lab have been featured in the New York Times and published in Nature Aging for the study Escape of hair follicle stem cells causes stem cell exhaustion during aging. View the Nature Aging paper here and the New York Times article here.
Drs. Booth and Ellis Named to 2021 Power List
Dr. Adam Booth and Dr. Carla Ellis were named to the 2021 Power List from the Pathologist Magazine. This list recognizes some of the brilliant and inspirational minds that fill medical laboratories across the United States.
Dr. Ramsey Named to HHS Advisory Committee
Dr. Glenn Ramsey has been nominated to join the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Advisory Committee for Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, which advises the HHS Secretary on the safety of blood, blood products, organs, and tissues.
Faculty Promotions
The Department of Pathology is lucky to have so many outstanding faculty members with diverse clinical and academic accomplishments. Many congratulations to our four colleagues who have been promoted by the Feinberg School of Medicine!
Samantha Gadd, PhD, Lurie Children’s Hospital: Promotion to Research Associate Professor-Research Track
Shunyou Gong, MD, PhD, Hematopathology, Lurie Children’s Hospital: Promotion to Associate Professor Clinician-Educator Track
Teresa Zembower, MD, Department of Medicine – Infectious Disease Microbiology: Promoted to Professor Clinician-Educator Track
Chao Qi, PhD, Microbiology: Promotion to Professor Clinician-Educator Track
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday Noon Conferences
Monday Noon Conferences are designed to provide Northwestern faculty and trainees with further education in special topics within pathology. The Pathology Departments hosts two types of Monday Noon Conferences: outside speakers invited by faculty and Calandra speakers, which are student research presentations.
Grand Rounds
The Northwestern Pathology Grand Rounds Lecture Series attracts some of the highest caliber experts in the field of pathology. We have hosted renowned thought leaders in policy, business, and research.
Contact Us
The Department of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine welcomes your questions and feedback.
Special thanks to the Feinberg Office of Communications for initial design work.