October 2010
Feature Story

Jared N. Schwartz, MD, PhD, was presented Sept. 26 with the Pathologist of the Year Award during an evening event at the CAP ’10 annual meeting in Chicago. The Resident of the Year was presented with her award at the same time. Twenty-six others received awards at separate meeting events at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Dr. Schwartz was honored for his strong leadership of the College during his term as president from 2007 to 2009, and for his efforts in nurturing the transformation of the specialty of pathology campaign.

He served the CAP in numerous positions over the years, among them as president-elect and secretary-treasurer. He was chair of the Finance Committee and the Ad Hoc Task Force on National Preparedness. He is a longtime member of the CAP Spokespersons Network, and he serves now as an alternate delegate to the World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Dr. Schwartz was president of the CAP Foundation Board, a member of the CAP/JCAHO Lab Committee and the Microbiology Resource Committee, and chair of the Council on Scientific Affairs, the CAP Web Strategy Task Force, and the Program and Program Evaluation Committee.

He is now chief medical officer for Aperio Technologies and a consulting professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University.

Alina Iuga, MD, received the Resident of the Year Award for her commitment to pathology and for serving as a role model for other residents to follow. In addition, she has exhibited outstanding leadership and management skills in her duties as chief resident and as a CAP Residents Forum delegate.

Dr. Iuga is a resident in anatomic pathology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, where she also served as chief resident. She has accepted a fellowship in surgical pathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and one in gastrointestinal pathology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Peter J. Howanitz, MD, was presented with the Laboratory Improvement Program Service Award for his contributions and service to the CAP laboratory improvement programs. He has provided his expertise and leadership as a member and chair of numerous CAP committees, among them the Point-of-Care Testing Committee. He was honored for being a trusted advocate for the best science, the best patient care, and the pathology profession.

Dr. Howanitz is professor of pathology, director of clinical laboratories, and vice chairman of the Department of Pathology at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn.

R. Bruce Williams, MD, was given the Laboratory Accreditation Program Service Award for his service to the program, beginning in 1986 as a state commissioner for Louisiana. He continued to serve the program as the south central regional commissioner from 1990 until 2005. The CAP selected him as chair of the Commission on La-boratory Accreditation in 2006, and he led the commission until 2009. Dr. Williams was involved in almost every aspect of the program, from leading inspection teams and drafting accreditation checklist questions to being interviewed by reporters and speaking at national meetings.

He is laboratory director of Minden (La.) Medical Center and a partner and member of the executive committee of The Delta Pathology Group, LLC, Omega Diagnostics, LLC, and Pathology Resource Network. Dr. Williams is a clinical associate professor of path-ology at Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Shreveport.

Kim A. Collins, MD, won the Outstanding Communicator Award for her efforts to help educate the public on the important role pathologists play on the patient care team. She is a strong advocate for breast cancer patients, as a survivor of HER2 breast cancer.

Dr. Collins serves the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office and Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta as a forensic pathologist.

Lawrence J. Burgart, MD, won the Distinguished Patient Care Award for his contribution to patient care as a superb educator and diagnostic pathologist specializing in gastrointestinal, liver, and general surgical pathology. He has been a co-author of several CAP cancer protocols. He has also worked closely with CAP staff to develop a number of new programs, such as the certificate programs for select areas of pathology, which are expected to improve patient care and help standardize practice.

Dr. Burgart is a staff pathologist at Hospital Pathology Associates in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. He is a clinical professor of pathology at the University of Minnesota College of Medicine.

Andrew E. Horvath, MD, won the Outstanding Service Award for his service to the College in developing and strengthening its strategies, and for his leadership in guiding improvements in its governance and manage-ment.

Dr. Horvath currently serves on the board of directors for TriCore Reference Laboratories.

Mahul B. Amin, MD, received two awards—the Distinguished Service and Foundation Lansky awards—for his contributions to pathology and to the CAP through his collaborative work in developing the CAP cancer protocols. He is a leading advocate for the practice of pathology and cancer care for patients. Dr. Amin has been a strong speaker on cancer topics at numerous CAP meetings and has contributed to many educational pro-grams.

He is professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is also president and CEO of Consultants for Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, a private pathology group contracted to provide laboratory services to Cedars-Sinai.

W. Stephen Black-Schaffer, MD, was honored with the CAP Resident Advocate Award for his support of pathology residents. He has worked proactively with the Residents Forum to promote the standardized pathology fellowship application and to move forward the fellowship application process and launch of the pathology subspecialty fellowship match.

Dr. Black-Schaffer is associate chief of pathology for education at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is also director of the pathology residency program. He is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Bruce A. Beckwith, MD, received the Excellence in Teaching Award for his contributions as faculty for several of the College’s educational activities. He is highly regarded in the areas of clinical chemistry and informatics, and he shares this knowledge as a skilled teacher. Over six of the College’s eight annual meetings, attendees gave Dr. Beckwith’s presentations high marks for providing practical, relevant content that they can apply in their own practices.

Dr. Beckwith is laboratory director at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Mass., where he also serves as chair of pathology.

Britt-Marie E. Ljung, MD, was honored with the Excellence in Education Award for participating in the development of the CAP Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Certificate Program. The two-day workshop, a key activity of the transformation initiative, provides pathologists with the means to acquire knowledge and skills so they can assume new roles in practice.

Dr. Ljung is a professor and vice chair of pathology, director of the cytopathology fellowship program, and co-director of the cytology division at the University of California in San Francisco.

Susan D. Rollins, MD, was honored with the Excellence in Education Award for participating in the development of the Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Certificate Pro-gram.

Dr. Rollins is med-ical director of the Outpatient Cytopathology Center in Johnson City, Tenn. She is also laboratory director of State of Franklin Healthcare Associates La-boratory.

Miguel A. Sanchez, MD, was recognized for Excellence in Education stemming from his contributions to the development of CME and CE education activities in support of CAP education. Dr. Sanchez is recognized for his team’s development of the CAP Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Certificate Program.

He is medical director of the Cytodiagnostics and Breast Care Center in Englewood, NJ, and associate professor of pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Mikhail Tismenetsky, MD, received the Excellence in Education Award for his contributions to the development of CME and CE education activities in support of CAP education. He is recognized for his team’s development of the CAP Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Certificate Program.

Dr. Tismenetsky is an assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and an attending pathologist in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Englewood (NJ) Hospital and Medical Center.

Eight pathologists were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their contributions to one or more areas of the CAP over an extended period. They are as follows:

James L. Connolly, MD, for his strong support of CAP programs and guidelines. He has co-authored numerous papers that provide CAP guidance to pathologists for the reporting of breast cancer. He has been a leading speaker at CAP meetings and has served as a faculty member for CAP breast cancer educational programs. He served as an ambassador for the CAP on the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers and is the past president of the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology.

Dr. Connolly is a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and director of the pathology residency training program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is also a staff pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a senior pathologist at Beth Israel Hospital, and a consultant in pathology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Wayne W. Grody, MD, PhD, for his contributions to the Molecular Pathology Committee and the CAP/ACMG Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Committee. From 1989 to 2003, Dr. Grody served as a member or chair of one or both of those groups, becoming the most central presence of the College during the formative years of the expansion of the CAP molecular pathology and genetics programs.

He is a professor in the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pediatrics, and Human Genetics at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He is the founder and director of the diagnostic molecular pathology laboratory within the UCLA Medical Center.

John D. Milam, MD, for his service as vice speaker of the House of Delegates and for his lifelong contributions to the College and pathology by serving as a member and chair of numerous committees and task forces.

Dr. Milam is an emeritus professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He is also a clinical professor of pathology at the Baylor College of Medicine and an active staff member at Memorial Hermann Hospital, the Shriners Hospitals for Children, and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital.

Richard A. Savage, MD, for his strong support of CAP programs and guidelines. He has represented Ohio, New York, and Iowa in the House of Delegates and was editor of the CAP TODAY “Q&A” column for nearly two decades. He was chair of the Hematology Resource Committee and the Clinical Microscopy Ancillary Resource Committee and a member of the Publications, Standards, Industry, and Federal and State Affairs committees. He also served as a director of the CAP Foundation.

Dr. Savage, now retired, was most recently a pathologist and department chair at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

Mary R. Schwartz, MD, for her contributions to the College and pathology as a superb educator, diagnostic pathologist, and pathology activist. She has authored nearly 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and 14 book chapters, and she has taught numerous courses at the local, regional, and national levels.

She served as the liaison from the American Society of Cytopathology to the CAP Cytopathology Committee, and she has been a member of the latter since 2005. Dr. Schwartz is an associate editor of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and is the editor of the “Cytopathology and More” section of CAP TODAY.

Dr. Schwartz is director of anatomic pathology and director of the surgical pathology fellowship at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. She is a clinical professor of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Margaret S. Skinner, MD, for her contributions to the College as a member and chair of numerous committees and councils, including the Council on Practice and Education, the Council on Membership and Public Affairs, and the Election Oversight Committee. She served on the Board of Governors for six years.

Dr. Skinner was a clinical associate professor of pathology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables for 24 years. She also served at Palm Beach Pathology and was the medical director at Good Samaritan Hospital Laboratories in West Palm Beach, Fla.

David C. Wilbur, MD, for his contributions to pathology and to the College. He served as chair of the Cytopathology Committee, where he was an integral part of the development of new products such as Web-based case studies, online cytopathology education, and a Web-based enhancement for the nongynecologic glass-slide program. Dr. Wilbur is an internationally recognized lecturer, has edited three major textbooks in cytopathology, and is an author of more than 70 original peer-reviewed articles.

He is a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and director of the cytopathology division at Massachusetts General Hospital.

David L. Witte, MD, PhD, for his embodiment of the transformative pathologist. He has demonstrated throughout his career how thoughtful and focused engagement with patients and other physicians through the clinical laboratory is essential for patient safety and superlative patient care. Dr. Witte was engaged in hospital governance, including serving as chairman of the governing board. He also gathered data on the impact of practice on patients and shared the information in many peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Witte led numerous CAP committees including the Public Health Policy Committee, the Performance Measures Working Group, and the Patient Safety and Performance Measures Committee.

Dr. Witte, now retired, served as a clinical professor at the University of Iowa for 17 years. He was also laboratory director and president of Collaborative Laboratory Services, as well as laboratory director of Laboratory Control, Ltd.

There were six recipients of the CAP Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award. The names of those who received the grants, and what the grants will make it possible for them to do, follow:

Adekunle M. Adesina, MD, PhD, to assist pathologists in sub-Saharan Africa in developing a program of continuing medical education. The award will allow Dr. Adesina to deliver pathology journals to 65 pathologists and institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. The grant will also allow for the organization of a regional West African international surgical oncology conference with a view to enhancing the quality of pathology services provided by the pathologists in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Adesina is professor in the Department of Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

John R. Benziger, MD, to expand pathology services in rural Nicaragua. The award will facilitate development of simplified, economical tissue processing and cutting instrumentation in small communities. It will also allow special immu-no-logic staining ser-vices to be introduced at the medical school hospital in Leon, Nicaragua.

Dr. Benziger serves as laboratory medical director and pathologist at Maine General Medical Center in Waterville and Augusta.

Omie L. Mills, MD, to hire a technician temporarily to train staff at Kirker Hospital in Maine-Soroa, Niger, on the use of a Vitros DT60-II analyz-er with a DTE and DTSC module, purchased with a generous donation from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics franchise. Kirker Hospital serves about 30,000 people per year. The grant will also allow the hired technician to visit affiliated clinics to assess QC.

Dr. Mills is completing her dermatopathology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester.

Paula E. North, MD, PhD, to develop a clinical laboratory in a new hospital being built by a nonprofit foundation in northern Peru. The area is underserved by a sole government-operated clinic in which laboratory support is limited to manual examinations of peripheral smears by technicians and spun hematocrits. The new lab will serve as a reference center for a large area of north-ern Peru and offer region-appropriate molecular diagnostic testing in addition to more basic lab diagnostic services.

Dr. North is professor and chief of pediatric pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and medical director of pathology and laboratory medicine at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Mil-waukee.

Jan A. Nowak, MD, PhD, to provide all newly identified uninsured diabetics of Tallahatchie County in Mississippi with home testing supplies and to support quarterly in-office testing for HbA1c, BUN, creatinine, and ALT testing at baseline and at six months.

Dr. Nowak is director of the molecular diagnostics la-boratory at NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Ill.

Matthew A. Zarka, MD, to increase the number of attendees at the East and West African Cytology Tutorial Series. The grant will allow 100 cytotechnologists, residents, and pathologists from South Africa and about 50 cytotechnologists, residents, and pathologists from Kenya to be trained in fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Dr. Zarka is a consultant and director of cytopathology in the Department of Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.