NEWS BRIEFS

Vertino Takes Reins As Leader Of Basic Science At Smd

Paula Vertino, Ph.D., a professor of both Biomedical Genetics and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, as well as a longtime faculty member in our Ph.D. program, has been appointed senior associate dean for Basic Research.

Vertino was recruited to the Wilmot Cancer Institute in 2018 to transform its research endeavors by breaking down silos and promoting collaboration and team science.

Smoller Honored With Cap Lifetime Achievement Award

The College of American Pathologists presented Bruce Smoller, M.D., with the Lifetime Achievement Award during its CAP22 national conference in New Orleans. He was recognized for his long and distinguished career in academic pathology and dermatopathology.

Smoller has led organizations and several departments of pathology and published more than 235 original articles, 39 book chapters and 13 textbooks on dermatopathology. He has been honored with numerous awards for research and teaching.

Roberts Promoted To Director Of Education

Vicki Roberts has been promoted to Director of Education, a new role in the department’s administrative leadership team. Roberts, who has been with Pathology since 1989, has had an integral role in the development, management and expansion of educational programs, including our Clinical Medical Technology program, which now has its sixth class.

Pathology Snapshots

Above: Our trainees represented URMC at the American Society for Clinical Pathology, held in Chicago in the fall. From left: Dingani Nkosi (resident), Mona Deerwester (fellow) and Leah Militello (resident). Right: Our Blood Bank team received a Greater Rochester Quality Council Silver Award for resourcefulness in maintaining a 2-day+ blood supply reserve at Strong Memorial during pandemicrelated shortages.

Above: Anwar Iqbal, Ph.D., (third from left) director of the Microarray CGH Laboratory, director of Clinical Cytogenetics Development and associate director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory, moderated a session about advances in genome mapping at #ASHG22 in Los Angeles.

A FIRST FOR PEDIPATH: NATIONAL SPP MEETING COMES TO ROCHESTER

For the first time ever, Rochester was the host city for the fall meeting of the Society for Pediatric Pathology (SPP), held at URMC in October.

The event, co-sponsored by our department and the SPP, featured three days of academic presentations, as well as extracurricular outings including a boat cruise on the Erie Canal and banquet at the historic George Eastman Museum.

Pedipath faculty Phil Katzman, M.D., and Leon Metlay, M.D., were co-chairs for the event, which they joked is sort of like hosting the Olympics without the corporate sponsorships. Each year the SPP holds two large meetings— one in the fall and another in the spring that coincides with USCAP.

The fall meeting is traditionally hosted by a children’s hospital, and while Golisano Children’s Hospital is one of the largest in Upstate New York, it’s much smaller than most places that have hosted the SPP meeting in the past. For that reason, the event was an opportunity to showcase our city and institution and network with experts and trainees from across the country.

In total, 110 people attended the hybrid conference in person, with another 70 who joined virtually. Poster presentations were held in Flaum Atrium and platform sessions in the Class of ’62 Auditorium. The meeting also included talks by clinicians and investigators from URMC Pediatrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, who collaborated with atPhology.

Focus On Faculty

I think there seems to be a slightly better appreciation for its place in health care, especially post-COVID-19 pandemic. I am hoping this continues since the public health value of autopsy has not been fully tapped.

What is one thing you believe could help bring more young people to the field of pathology? Awareness of the field and the many opportunities that are available, whether as a physician, researcher, medical technologists, etc. In addition, understanding the scope of our work and its role in the health care setting, be it in transfusion medicine and helping clinicians manage critical patients with complex blood product needs or morgue with piecing together the reason for unexpected clinical outcomes.

What do you do in your free time? I absolutely love to bake and watch documentaries on just about anything. However, with two toddlers, most of my time is spent baking with play dough and watching cartoons, which I secretly and thoroughly enjoy.

Being back in person meant a return to public speaking behind a podium, which pathologists rarely have the chance do in their daily work.

“I was uncharacteristically pushed in the forefront most of the meeting so I did a lot of the introductions which I’m not used to, but it was good,” Katzman said.

The sun shone brightly for the group outing on the Colonial Belle, giving guests time to chat and get fresh air before heading to dinner at the Eastman Museum.

The meeting itself featured a variety of engaging presentations, made all the more appealing by the ability to have in-person discussion with other attendees.

“I had a blast and a half,” Metlay said. “After a few years without in-person meetings, to be able to stand and talk to somebody was just cool.”

Continued from page 6

Hometown

Bois d’Orange, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

FAMILY

Husband Janai; son Noah, 3; and daughter Ava, 1

Education

2011 M.D.

Spartan Health Sciences University (West Indies)

2016-17 Fellowship

Forensic Pathology

Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis

2015-16 Fellowship

Surgical Pathology

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics GM

2012-15 Residency

Pathology, Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics