APIII August 16-18 Vancouver, British

Columbia

For conference information see

http://apiii.upmc.edu Registration deadline

June 30

Abstract deadline May 22

Academy of Master Educators The School of Medicine appointed 49 faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as Academy of Master Educators (AME). These appointments are based on the recommendation of the AME Membership Committee and recognizes the sustained record of excellence and achieve-ments in medical education. The appointment is a five year term. Those who were appointed must be involved with education of medical students, graduate students and/or residents for the duration of the appointment to the Academy. We are proud to announce that Dr. Gregory Naus has been appointed from the Department of Pathology. For guidelines on membership to the Academy, please see: http://www.medschool.pitt.edu/academy/. Congratulations Dr. Naus!

CAP INSPECTION CAP Inspection of the Clinical Labs has been planned by the team leaders for Monday, April 17---Thursday, April 20. Opening session will be scheduled in the CLSI Main Conference Room (room 5630) and the Summation meeting will be scheduled in the Children's Hospital McClusky Auditorium. Times will be announced. Call Bev Charlton if you have any questions at 647-5855.

Volume 2 , Issue 1 February 26, 2006

Special Points of Interest

Seminars and Publica-tions—Page 2-3 Abstracts—Page 4 Highlights—Page 5-7 Presentations —Page 7-8 Grants and VAMC — Page 9 Magee Womens Hospital News —Page 10 USCAP and ASIP Fellowship News— Page 11 Educational Credit Units —Page 12 Teaching/Promotion Ma-terial; Compliance Train-ing —Page 13 Residency Program and COI forms —Page 14

Valentine’s Day Lunch— Page 15

Dates to Remember Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 6:00 p.m. final live OIG session in lecture room 6 Scaife Hall (See Page 13 for details) Monday, March 27, 4:00 p.m. Department Faculty meeting 1104 UPMC Conference Center

P A T H O L O G Y N E W S

P A T H O L O G Y R E S E A R C H S E M I N A R

S E R I E S

“The Myb Oncoprotein is Required for Progression in Prophase of Mitosis” Joseph Lipsick, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Pathology Department of Pathology Stanford University Medical Center Stanford, CA Wed. March 1, 2006 12 noon 1104 UPMC Conference Center “Prospects for a Gene Therapy Approach for Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s Disease” 2nd Annual Martinez Memorial Lecture Eliezer Maslaih, M.D. Professor of Pathology and Neurosciences University of California, San Diego LaJolla, CA Tues. March 14 4:00 p.m. 1103 UPMC Conference Center “Mechanism of Life Span Extension In Long-Lived Mice” Gretchen J. Darlington, Ph.D. Professor, Huffington Center for Aging Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX Wed. March 15, 2006 12 noon 1105 B/C UPMC Conference Center “Integrin-Linked Kinase (ILK): Critical Roles in ECM-Actin Cytoskeletal Organi-zation, Cell Survival and Oncogenesis” Shoukat Dedhar, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Biochemistry University of British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia Wed. March 22, 2006 12 noon 1105 B/C Conference Center “Structure-function and Evolution of the Orphan Nuclear Hormon Receptors PXR and CAR” Matthew Krasowski, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Pathology Division of Clinical Chemistry University of Pittsburgh Wed. March 29, 2006 12 noon 1105 B/C UPMC Conference Center

PUBLICATIONS

Pathology News Page 2

Crowley RS, Medvedeva O. An intelligent tutoring system for visual classifica-tion problem solving. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 2006:36(1); 85-117.

Latimer JJ, Rubinstein WS, Johnson JM, Kanbour-Shakir A, Vogel VG, Grant SG: Haploinsufficiency for BRCA1 is Associated with Normal Levels of DNA Nu-cleotide Excision Repair in Breast Tissue and Blood Lymphocytes. BMC Med Genet, 6(26), 2005. (on-line)

Saad RS, Kanbour-Shakir A, Syde SS, Kanbour A: Sclerosing PapillaryLesion of the Breast: A Diagnostic Pitfall in FNA Cytology. Diagnostic Cytopathology. (In Press) Saad RS, Kanbour-Shakir A, Lu E, Modery J, Kanbour A: Cytomorphologic Analy-sis and Histological Correlation of High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions in Postmenopausal Women. Diagnostic Cytopathology. (In Press) Kanbour-Shakir A, Hunt J, Carter G, Kelley J and Chivukula M: Recurrent Gynan-droblastoma of Ovary – Molecular and immunohistochemical analysis. Interna-tional J. of Gynecological Pathology. (In press)

Duensing A, Liu Y, Tseng M, Malumbres M, Barbacid M, Duensing S. Cyclin-dependent kinase 2 is dispensable for normal centrosome duplication but re-quired for oncogene-induced centrosome overduplication. Oncogene 2006, ad-vance online publication, January 9. Münger K, Hayakawa H, Nguyen CL, Melquiot NV, Duensing A, Duensing S. Viral carcinogenesis and cellular structures. In Bignold L (Ed.), Experientia Supple-mentum, Cancer: Cell Structures, Carcinogens and Genomic Instability , Birk-häuser, Vol. 96; pp. 179-99 (2006).

Zhang J, Parwani AV and Ali SZ. 2005. Heppar-1 immunoexpression in esophag-eal brushings: a sensitive marker for Barrett Esophagus with intestinal metapla-sia. Cancer. 2005 Oct 25;105(5):304-9.

Herawi M, Parwani AV, Irie J and Epstein JI. Small Glandular Proliferations on Needle Biopsies: Most Common Benign Mimickers of Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Sent in For Expert Second Opinion. Am J Surg Pathol. 2005 Jul;29(7):874-80.

Parwani AV, Herawi M, Tsay S-H and Epstein JI. Urothelial Carcinoma with Rhabdoid Features: Report of Six Cases. Human Pathology 2006 Feb;37(2):168-72.

Publications continued from page 2

Wu T. Cyclooxygenase-2 in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Treat Rev. 2006, 32(1):28-44. G and Wu T. Prostaglandin E2 receptor EP1 transactivates EGFR/MET receptor tyrosine kinases and enhances invasiveness in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. J Cell Physiol. 2006, 207(1):261-70.

J Callio, TD Oury & CT Chu (2005) Manganese superoxide dismutase protects against 6-hydroxydopamine injury in mouse brains J Biol Chem, 280:18536-18542.

CT Chu, JH Zhu, G Cao, A Signore, S Wang & J Chen (2005) Apoptosis-inducing factor mediates caspase-independent 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium toxicity in dopaminergic cells. J. Neurochem, 94: 1685-1695.

C Horbinski & CT Chu (2005) Kinase signaling cascades in the mitochondrion: A matter of life or death (Invited review) Free Rad Biol Med. 38: 2-11.

CT Chu. Autophagic stress in neuronal injury and disease. (Invited review). J Neuropath Exp Neurol, in press.

Zhou Z, Song R, Fattman CL, Feghali-Bostwick C, Oury TD, Benezra R, Choi AMK, Morse D. (2005) Carbon Mon-oxide Suppresses Bleomycin-Induced Lung Fibrosis via Anti-Proliferative and Anti -Fibrotic Effects. Am. J. Pathol. 166: 27-37. Petersen SV, Olsen DA, Kenney JM, Oury TD, Valnickova Z, Thogersen IB, Crapo JD, Enghild JJ (2005) The high concentration of Arg(213)-->Gly extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) in plasma is caused by a reduction of both heparin and collagen affinities. Biochem J, 385: 427-432 Callio J, Oury TD, Chu CT. (2005) Manganese superoxide dismutase protects against 6-hydroxydopamine injury in mouse brains. J Biol Chem. 280: 18536-42 Kinnula VL, Fattman CL, Tan RJ, Oury TD. (2005) Oxidative stress in pulmonary fibrosis: A possible role for re-dox-modulatory therapy Am J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. 172: 417-422 Auten RL, O’Reilly MA, Oury TD, Nozik-Gracyk E, Whorton MH. (2006) Transgenic extracellular superoxide dismsutase (ec-sod) protects post-natal alveolar epithelial development during hyperoxia. Am J Physiol (Lung Cell Mol Physiol). 290: L32 Tan RJ, Lee JS, Manni ML, Fattman CL, Tobolewski JM, Zheng M, Kolls JK, Martin TR, Oury TD. (2006) Inflam-matory cells as a source of airspace extracellular superoxide disumtase after pulmonary injury. Am. J. Resp. Cell Molec. Biol. 34: 226-232.

Shurin G.V., Tourkova I.L., Chatta G.S., Schmidt G., Wei S., Djue J., Shurin M.R. Small Rho GTPases Regulate An-tigen Presentation in Dendritic Cells. J. Immunol. 174: 3394-3400, 2005.

Tourkova I.L., Shurin G.V., Chatta G.S., Perez L., Finke, J., Whiteside T.L., Ferrone S., Shurin M.R. Restoration by IL-15 of MHC class I antigen processing machinery in human dendritic cells inhibited by tumor-derived gan-gliosides. J. Immunol. 175: 3045-3052, 2005.

Pathology News Page 3

Shurin G.V., Ferris R., Tourkova I.L., Perez L., Lokshin A., Balkir L., Kollins R., Chatta G.S., Shurin M.R. Loss of New Chemokine CXCL14 in Tumor Tissue is Associated with Low Infiltration by Dendritic Cells, while Restoration of Human CXCL14 Expression in Tumor Cells Causes Attraction of Dendritic Cells both in vitro and in vivo. J. Immu-nol. 174: 5490-5498, 2005.

Perez L., Shurin M.R., Collins B., Kogan D., Tourkova I.L., Shurin G.V. Comparative analysis of CD1a, S100, CD83, and CD11c human dendritic cells in normal, premalignant, and malignant tissues. Histol. Histopath. 20: 1165-1172, 2005.

Yurkovetsky Z.R., Shurin G.V., Barry D.A., Schuh A.C., Shurin M.R., Robbins P.D. Comparative Analysis of Antitu-mor Activity of CD40L, RANKL, and 4-1BBL in vivo Following Intratumoral Administration of Viral Vectors or Transduced Dendritic Cells. J Gene Medicine, 8(2):129-137, 2006.

Saad RS, Kanbour-Shakir A, Lu E, Modery J, Kanbour A: Cytomorphologic Analysis and Histological Correlation of High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions in Postmenopausal Women. Diagnostic Cytopathology. Vol. 34 (2); p. 114 – 118, 2006.

Yu G., Tseng GC, YU YP, Gavel T, Nelson J, Wells A, Michalopoulos, G., Kokkinakis D., Luo JH. CSR1 Suppresses Tumor Growth and Metastasis of Prostate Cancer. Am. J. Pathol. 2006 Feb; 168(2):597-607.

Siannopoulou M, Iszkula SC, Dai C, Tan X, Yang J, Michalopoulos GK, Liu Y. Distinctive role of State3 and Erk-1/2 activation in mediating interferon {gamma} inhibition of TGF—{beta} 1 action. Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol. 2005, December 2.

Han C, Michalopoulos GK, Wu T, Prostaglandin E(2) receptor EP(!) transactivates EGFR/MET receptor tyrosine kinases and enhances invasiveness in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. J. Cell Physiol. 2006 Apr:207(1)261-70.

Ren B., Yu G, Tseng GC, Cieply K, Gavel T, Nelson J. Michalopoulos, G., Yu YP, Luo JH. MCM7 amplification and overexpression are associated with prostate cancer progression. Oncogene. 2006 Feb 16:25(&):1090-8.

ABSTRACTS Patel, AA; Gupta, D; Seligseon, D; Hattab, EM; Balis, U; Ulbright, TM; Berman, JJ; Gilbertson, JR; Bechic, MJ; Par waniAV. Availability and Quality of Paraffin Blocks Identified by the Shared Pathology Informatics Network (SPIN): A Multi -institutional Study (Accepted for presentation at The United States and Canada Academy of Pa-thology, 2006 Annual Meeting in Atlanta).

Patel, AA; Gilberston, JR; Parwani, AV; Dhir, R; Datta, MW, Gupta, R; Berman, JJ; Becich, MJ, Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (Accepted for presentation at The United States and Canada Academy of Pathology, 2006 Annual Meeting in Atlanta).

Fine, JL; Yagi, Y; Parwani, AV; Becich, MJ; Gilbertson. Impact of Internet Based Resources on Resident Teaching and Educational Conferences: Experience at a University Affiliated Hospital Network Comprising Academic and Commu-nity Based Pathology Practices. (Accepted for presentation at The United States and Canada Academy of Pathology, 2006 Annual Meeting in Atlanta).

Ho J, Parwani AV, Jukic D, Yagi Y, Anthony L, Gilbertson J. Use of Whole Slide Imaging in Surgical Pathology Quality Assurance: Design and Pilot Validation Studies. Presented at The College of American Pathology Annual Meeting, 2005, Chicago, IL

Ho J, Parwani AV, Jukic D, Yagi Y, Anthony L, Gilbertson J. Applications of whole slide imaging for in anatomical pa-thology. Presented at The College of American Pathology Annual Meeting, 2005, Chicago, IL.

Ho J, Parwani AV, Jukic D, Yagi Y, Anthony L, Gilbertson J. Use of whole slide imaging for primary diagnosis in surgi-cal pathology: an intrainstitutional validation study. (Accepted for presentation at The United States and Canada Academy of Pathology, 2006 Annual Meeting in Atlanta).

Pathology News Page 4

Pathology News Page 5

“In the long run, we shape our lives and we

shape ourselves. The process

never ends until we die, and the choices that we

make are ultimately our responsibility.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady (1933-1945)

and reform leader

HIGHLIGHTS

Jeffrey Kant, M.D., Ph.D. has joined the CAP Economic Affairs Committee. He will continue as Chair of the Joint Biochemical and Mo-lecular Genetics with ACMG. He is a member of the Molecular Pathol-ogy Committee and will be the CAP representative to an international task force developing recommendations for genetic testing standards under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He attended the meeting of this group in Berlin Germany January 29-31.

Darrell J. Triulzi, M.D. Was elected to a two year term on the AABB Board of directors. He was also named to the editorial board of the journal TRANSFUSION. He was also selected by NHLBI to chair an Institute strategic planning committee for funding areas related to blood safety and availability. Dr. Triulzi was honored with the Ned Maxwell Award from the Institute for Transfusion Medicine recogniz-ing 15 years of outstanding contribution to ITxM. Dr Bhargava received the prestigious F. Stephen Vogel Award at the USCAP 2006 for the best paper in Modern Pathology by a trainee in 2005 (EGFR gene amplification in breast cancer: correlation with

epidermal growth factor receptor mRNA and protein expression and HER-2 status and ab-sence of EGFR-activating mutations. Bhargava R, Gerald WL, Li AR, Pan Q, Lal P, Ladanyi M, Chen B. Mod Pathol. 2005 Aug;18(8):1027-33.). Dr Bhargava's paper published in the Am J Clinical Pathol in 2005 (HER-2/neu and Topoi-somerase IIa Gene Amplification and Protein

Expression in Invasive Breast Carcinomas: Chromogenic In Situ Hy-bridization and Immunohistochemical Analyses. Bhargava R, Lal P, Chen B. Am J Clin Pathol. 2005 Jun;123(6):889-95.) has been chosen as "THE BEST OF AJCP 2005" and will be presented by the senior au-thor of the paper at the ASCP companion meeting at USCAP 2006 on Sunday evening Feb 12.

HIGHLIGHTS

Judy Nestico completed her B.A. Degree in Humanities from the University of Pittsburgh in December. Congratulations!

Xiao-Ming Yin, M.D., Ph.D. has joined the Cellular Signaling and Dynamics Study Section, Center for Scientific Review of NIH beginning 2006 to 2008.

Lisa Teot, M.D. has assumed the role of Associate Director of Pediatric Pathology.

Vijaya Gandhi, Ph.D., M.B.A., will assume the role of Associate Director of Ad-ministration and Strategic Planning at UPCI. Dr. Gandhi will continue as Director of Clinical Research Services and take on added responsibilities as the designated ad-ministrator for the cancer institutes’ support grant and contact for the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute and other agencies. She will work on fiscal strategies for expansion of UPCI’s research endeavors and provide opera-tional leadership for the clinical research program.

Maryann Donovan, M.P.H., Ph.D. has been named Associate Director of Research Services and Advancement of UPCI. Dr. Donovan is responsible for oversight for shared resources, coordination of research and faculty development activities and will prepare and coordinate submission of proposals to secure institutional funding to support research. She will also be UPCI’s scientific representative to the Penn-sylvania Cancer Control Consortium and Pennsylvania Cancer Alliance and will partici-pate in legislative efforts to support cancer centers throughout the State.

Go Red for Women began in February 2004 to raise awareness that heart disease is women’s No.1 killer. The grassroots campaign has since grown into a vibrant national movement as more women, men, celebri-ties, healthcare providers and community leaders embrace and elevate the cause of women and heart disease. This year, Carolyn Nolte, Pay-roll Coordinator, played an active role with the activities as she was asked by her cardiologist to be one of the women who participated in the event. Carolyn has had some “heart” issues in the past. She par-

ticipated in a photo shoot and dinner sponsored by the American Heart Association. She as also served as an “ambassador” for the event on Feb. 3 at the PPG Winter Garden.

GO RED FOR WOMEN

Pathology News Page 6

HIGHLIGHTS

Maureen Lyons-Weiler, MSc is the recipient of the 2005 AMP Technologist Award sponsored by Third Wave Technologies.

Michael Shurin, M.D., Ph.D. Organized the International meeting "Immune-mediated Diseases: from Theory to Therapy" (Nov. 2005, Moscow, Russia)

Scott Kulich, M.D. was awarded a Career Development Award from the Veterans' Administration, in support of his Research in Parkinson's Disease. The award is for three years, allowing him pro-tected time to continue to excell in his research endeavors. Congratulations.

Gutti Rao. M.D. was awarded "Best Teacher" award, for the second year in a row, from the De-partment of Neurology Residents and fellows for his excellent and sustained efforts in didactic, microscopic and practical teaching of Neoropathology, to the fellows and residents and his dedica-tion in time and effort. Congratulations

Dr. Anette Duensing gave to presentations: Kuningas Foundation GIST Symposium, “A novel apop-totic mechanism in GIST”, November 9-10, 2005, Boston, MA. and Pittsburgh Chromatin Club Mini-symposium, “Imatinib induces tumor cell apoptosis through histone variant H2AX”, December 9, 2005, Pittsburgh, PA.

Charleen T. Chu, M.D. Autophagy and programmed cell death in Parkinsonian pathogenesis. Plenary lecture, Mechanisms of Neuronal Cell Death (Chaired: Montine and Roth). Experimental Biology 2005 (FASEB/ASIP).

Charleen T. Chu, M.D. was selected as module leader for the FASEB/ASIP course on Concepts in Pathobiology: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (Director: William Coleman), delivering two lectures at Experimental Biology 2005 entitled: Unit 1a: Tissue Injury and Cell Death and Unit 1b: Cell Death and Disease.

Tim Oury, M.D., Invited speaker for Biogen Idec, Boston, MA: Long-term suppression of RAGE: Not good for your psyche or your lungs: Biogen Idec, Boston, MA. December 15, 2005. Tim Oury M.D., Invited speaker for 1st International Conference on Nanotoxicology: Biomedical Aspects. Miami, FL: EC-SOD regulation of inflammation in response to fiber-particle instillation in the lung. 1st International Conference on Nanotoxicology: Biomedical Aspects. Miamii, FL. February 1, 2006.

"Growth Regulation in Liver Regeneration” George K. Michalopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Transplant Monthly Research Conference, UPMC, February 20, 2006.

PRESENTATIONS

Pathology News Page 7

Pathology News Page 8

PRESENTATIONS

“There are so many

things that we wish we had done yesterday; so few that we feel like

doing today.”

Mignon McLaughlin,

Writer

Dr. Ronald Jaffe gave the annual Virginia H & Russel McFarland Lecture in Pedi-atric Pathology at the Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor University, Houston in January. Dr. Jeffrey Kant gave two talks at the Washington G2-Reports Conference Jan 26-27 in Miami "Building a Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory: The lowdown on key business and technical considerations.” He participated in a panel presenta-tion: Insider Snapshots on Three Molecular Diagnostics Laboratories on Thursday and gave a separate talk Friday: Billing and Reimbursement for Molecular assays, Trickle down - or better? Sharawnda Smith (first year grad student) is spending 3 months rotating in Dr. Ochoa’s laboratory. Andrew Walls (2nd year resident) presented a poster at the USCAP meeting in Atlanta, "Walls A, Michalopoulos G, Demetris A, Ochoa E. HNF-4a Expression in Human Liver Regeneration after Massive Hepatic Necrosis."

Rosemary Recavarren (2nd year resident) presented a poster at the CAP meeting in Chicago. Recavarren RA, Demetris AJ, Lai C., Amir G., Pappo O., Ochoa ER. Granulomatous Hepatitis due to Polyvinylpyrrolidone: A case report. College of American Pathologists, Annual meeting, 2005 September 12, Chicago, IL.

Dr. Song presented a poster at the Science 2005 Meeting. Song JS, Ochoa ER. Overexpression of telomerase reverse transcriptase in hepatocytes using lentivi-ral gene delivery. Science 2005: the New Research Ecology, October 7, 2005, University of Pittsburgh, PA.

Z. Khan, W.C. Bowen, D.B. Stolz, and G.K. Michalopoulos. (2006) “Characterization of hypoxic tumor regions in a syngeneic rat hepatoma model.” (Abstract #237) Presented at the Hypoxia and Development, Physiology and Dis-ease Keystone Conference. (Breckenridge, CO 1/16-1/21/05). (Abstract/Poster) Z. Khan, D.B. Stolz, W.C. Bowen, and G.K. Michalopoulos. (2006) “Expression and localization of HIF prolyl 4-hydroxylases in rat hepatocytes and JM1 tumor cells.” (Abstract #1560). Presented at the Experimental Biol-ogy/American Society for Investigative Pathology Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA 4/1-4/5/06). (Abstract/ oral presentation) Z. Khan, W.C. Bowen, D.B. Stolz, and G.K. Michalopoulos. (2006) “Characterization of hypoxic tumor regions in a syngeneic rat hepatoma model.” (Abstract #7950). Presented at the Experimental Biology/American Society for Investigative Pathology Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA 4/1-4/5/06). (Abstract/poster)

GRANTS Sharon Winters, MS, RHIA, CTR, Director of Registry Information Ser-vices, received funding from WEDNet PA Guaranteed Free Training for $40,000 to begin February 1-June 30, 2006. The grant is for Information Technology and Basic Skills Training for 140 employees.

Anil Parwani, M.D., Ph.D. and Sharon Winters MS, RHIA, CTR received funding from UPMC Shadyside Hospital Competitive Research Fund for $9,719. beginning January 1-December 31, 2006. Title of project funded is: “Analysis of a Standardized Pathology Re-porting System.”

Charleen T. Chu, MD, PhD. (PI) PINK1 in neurodegeneration: a multidisciplinary approach. The Pittsburgh Foundation, John F. & Nancy A. Emmerling Fund. This project involves creation of a PINK1 deficient Drosophila model of autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease and testing the hypothesis that PINK1 participates in signaling responses to oxidative stress. Project Pe-riod: 03/01/2006-02/28/2008. Project Funding Amount: $367,429.

Charleen T. Chu, MD, PhD. (PI) Regulation of PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1). NIH/ NS053777-01. This project is designed to determine if PINK1 functions as a kinase, participating in death-regulatory signaling networks with other mitochondrially targeted kinases. Project Period: 08/15/2005-08/14/2007. Project Funding Amount: $100,000/year for two years or $200,000.

Michael Shurin, M.D. Ph.D. Total Years Awarded: 3 or (December 01, 2005- December 31, 2008) Year 01 Budget: $180,212; Total Budget: $552,510. Funded by Department of De-fense, US ARMY Medical Research and Materiel Command Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Prostate Cancer Research Program. Main goal of Dr. Shurin is to deter-mine how the prostate tumor escapes immune recognition and to exploit this knowledge to de-velop new diagnostic markers and therapies for the disease.

VA MEDICAL CENTER Clinical Laboratory of the Future

Pathology and Lab Medicine at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system is in the process of in-stalling a fully automated Chemistry Analysis system. This is the second system to be in-stalled in all of the VA's. This system consists of a conveyer belt that starts at the speci-men receiving window and connects to all the instruments in the lab. It is fully bar coded and will help the lab deal with the exponential increase in workload, ensure that the specimens are appropriately centrifuged, directed to the appropriate analyzer and stored in an organized Stock yard for future add-on testing if needed. It will also eliminate almost all clerical errors caused by handling specimens. We anticipate it will be fully operational before the end of this quarter. Mona Melhem, M.D., Associate Chief of Staff and Vice President of Clinical Support Service and Line.

Pathology News Page 9

Abstracts to be presented by our department at the Feb 10-17 at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology meeting in Atlanta: 1. Evaluation Of EGFR Expression In Colorectal Carcinomas, Adenomas, And Normal Mucosa: A Comparison Between Two Commonly Used Antibodies. R Bhargava, B Chen, D S Klimstra, C Hedvat, L Tang, W Gerald, J Teruya-Feldstein and J Shia. Annual Meeting, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Atlanta, GA. February 11-February 17, 2006. Mod Pathol. 2006;19 (Supplement 1): 325A, Abstract 1515. 2. Mammaglobin Versus GCDFP-15: An Immunohistologic Validation Survey For Sensitivity And Specificity. R Bhargava and D J Dabbs. Annual Meeting, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Atlanta, GA. February 11-February 17, 2006. Mod Pathol. 2006;19 (Supplement 1): 22A, Abstract 88. 3. Tissue Expression Of P16 In Benign And Malignant Endometria. R Bhargava and E El-ishaev. Annual Meeting, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Atlanta, GA. Feb-ruary 11-February 17, 2006. Mod Pathol. 2006;19 (Supplement 1): 172A, Abstract 796. 4. Mammaglobin Expression in Benign and Neoplastic Endocervix and Endometrium. K Onuma, DJ Dabbs and R Bhargava. Annual Meeting, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Atlanta, GA. February 11-February 17, 2006. Mod Pathol. 2006;19 (Supplement 1): 191A, Abstract 886 5.Clinical Significance of Lobular Neoplasia on Core Biopsy. R G Karabakhtsian1, R Johnson2, J Sumkin3 and D J Dabbs1. 1Pathology, Magee-Womens Hos-pital of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA; 2Surgery, Magee-Womens Hospitalof UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA and 3Radiology, Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA. 6. Molecular Archiving of Liquid Based Gynecologic Cytology Specimens in Paraffin with the Xpress Tissue Processor. D J Dabbs, N Mauser and R M Austin. 1Pathology, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Pitts-burgh, PA, United States. 7. The Spectrum of Molecular Morphologic Abnormalities of the E-Cadherin-Catenin Complex in Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma of the Breast. D J Dabbs1, M Kapali1, A I Kanbour1, A Kanbour-Shakir1 and G J Carter1. 1Pathology, Magee-Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 8. Tissue Fixation in Surgical Pathology for Proteome Analysis and Protein/DNA Preservation. D J Dabbs1, T El-Hefnawy2, D E Malehorn2, R Elbakri2 and W L Bigbee2. 1Pathology, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States and 2Pathology, University of Pitts-burgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 9. Immunohistochemical expression of DNA mismatch repair gene products-MLH1 and MSH2, metastasis supression gene nm-23 and beta-catenin in synchronous and metastatic endo-metriod adenocarcinomas of ovary and endometrium. Continued on page 11

MAGEE WOMENS HOSPITAL NEWS

Pathology News Page 10

Jones MW (first author) 10. Expression of D2-40 in primary peritoneal carcinomas, ovarian serous carcinomas, uterine carcinomas and sexcord stromal tumors. Chivukula, M(first author) 11. Clinical significance of cytologic diagnosis of atypical squamous cells cannot exclude high grade intraepithalial neoplasia in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Saad, R.(first author) 12. What is the utility of repeat HPV testing on ASCUS/LSIL cases followed by repeat pap tests. Kapali, M(first author) 13. Utility of P16 immuncytochemistry and high risk HPV in situ hybridization in liquid based pap tests with a diagnosis of ASC-H.

According to this year’s records, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was tied for one of the top five programs in the world in terms of acceptance of scientific abstracts for the prestigious Stowell-Orbison Awards Competition for Pathologists-in Training for the US and Canadian Academy of Pathology Meeting in Atlanta Georgia February 11-17. Over one hundred academic programs from throughout North America and the world participated in the submission process (over 80 in the US and Canada) had abstracts

accepted in this prestigious competition.

USCAP Stowell-Orbison Awards Competition for Pathologists-in-Training

Zahida Khan, G4, MD/PhD Student, Pitt/CMU Medical Scientist Training Program, CATER Trainee, McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine is the recipient of the ASIP fellowship for 2006. The American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) is pleased to present the Young Pathologist Fellowship (YPF) which offers 12 graduate students and post-doctoral fel-lows in pathology a unique opportunity to attend symposia, lectures, and poster sessions; net-work with career pathologists; explore career pathways; and explore the latest technological and biomedical advances at the Experimental Biology (EB) Meeting. Each year, 12,000 - 15,000 biomedical scientists worldwide participate in the EB meeting to share the latest scientific re-search, and YPF fellowships are limited to 12 per year, This year’s meeting will be in San Francisco, CA April 1-5. Congratulations Za!

American Society for Investigative Pathology Fellowship

Pathology News Page 11

Pathology News

Educational Credit Units (ECU) Every fall we are asked to submit to the Dean’s Office the Department’s teaching commitments for each faculty member. As many of you know, we ask you to re-view the information that is supplied by the Dean’s office and add anything that the may be missing. In an effort to be more efficient at recording the Depart-ment’s teaching commitments, this article is sent to ask you to remember to re-cord what you do throughout the year. The ECU information is of critical impor-tance since it determines a portion of the School of Medicine’s teaching budget allocated to the Department of Pathology. The areas for which data is collected includes the following:

Instructional Activities: defined teaching activities for: MS-1,MS-2, MS-3, and MS-4 years; M.Sc, Ph.D. and post-doctoral programs

Research Supervision: include the names students supervised as well as the exact dates and times of the supervision.

Administrative Activities: administrative time used to organized blocks or courses. Exact dates and times need to be included.

Advising Activities: advising activities for: MS-1, MS-2, MS-3, and MS-4 years; M.Sc., Ph.D., and postdoctoral mentoring. Names of students with exact dates and times need to be included.

Committee Activities: medical student committee service that directly supports UPSOM educational programs. Names of students with exact dates and times need to be included.

AOC (Area of Concentration) is for collecting data on areas of expertise that are taught in various course. Exact dates and times need to be in-cluded.

The data collected is for teaching and teach-ing-related activities that occurred between 7/1/05 to 6/30/06.

Also, teaching activities involving RESIDENTS are not applicable to the ECU data collection project.

In order to document your activities, an ECU tracking table was emailed to you recently. If you would like another copy, please let me know. If you keep track of your ECU’s during the year it should be easier to report them when the time comes.

Thank you. Chris Szalkuski

Page 12

We learn wisdom

from failure much

more than from

success. We often

discover what will

do by finding out

what will not do;

and probably

he who never

made a mistake

never made a

discovery.

(Samuel Smiles

1816-1904)

TE A C H I N G /PR O M O T I O N M A T E R I A L S This is just a note to new faculty members who may not be aware of the items needed for promotion. At some point in time, when the “big” moment comes and you are up for promotion, you will need to supply the Office of the Dean with a dossier. The dossier contains copies of your most recent publi-cations and depending whether you are tenure or nontenure, you will need to supply a history of your grant support. Last of all, you will need to provide teaching evaluations. If you teach medical school courses, the School of Medicine does conduct course evaluations. Pleased keep any evaluation you may receive in this regard. Graduate School teaching evaluations are also applicable for the dossier also. The purpose of this communication is to advise you to file any evaluation or feedback regarding your teaching so when the time comes, you will have it ready or your dossier. You can send me any copies of evaluations for this purpose if you wish (and many of you have). Going back in time and to collect evaluations can be very difficult. You can view the dossier requirements at: http://www.medschool.pitt.edu/facultyaffairs/FacProApp/portfoliofinal.taf. If you have any questions about the dossier, please feel free to contact me. Chris Szalkuski

UPP COMPLIANCE TRAINING/EDUCATION Have you completed your mandatory UPP Compliance Training/Education requirements? All UPP physicians are required to complete two hours of approved training focusing on high risk compliance and billing topics. The deadline to complete this requirement is April 30, 2006. If you have not completed your training, you may choose one of the following two options:

1) Attend the final live lecture on Tuesday, March 14, 2006, which will be held in Scaife Hall Auditorium lecture room 6 at 6:00pm. This session will complete the entire compliance requirement for 2006! To accommodate off-campus faculty, the March 14th session will be telecast in real-time at the following locations:

UPMC Bedford Hospital (Teleconference Room) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (McCluskey Auditorium)

Magee-Womens Hospital (Conference Rooms A & B)

UPMC McKeesport Hospital (Kelly Auditorium) UPMC St. Margaret (Conference Center A, B and C)

UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Hospital – Shadyside Campus (West Hall Auditorium)

Please RSVP to Nicole Lucarelli (see contact info below) with your full name and let her know where you will attend.

2) Complete four 20-minute online sessions at http://physicianportal.upmc.com/ for the following modules: a. Physician Teaching Guidelines

b. Pathology

c. Two recommended Elective modules: HIPAA Information Security Awareness and HIPAA Privacy Awareness

Please send the completion certificates for ALL modules and any questions to: Nicole Lucarelli, Department of Pathology, S415 BST, 200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (TEL: 412-648-1230; Fax: 412-648-1916; Email: lucarellina@upmc.edu). Thank you!

Pathology News Page 11 Pathology News Page 13

RESIDENCY PROGRAM UPDATE

We have just completed the recruitment process for the 2006-07 academic year. We re-ceived over 400 applications for the 6-7 open 1st year positions. As with last year, many of this year’s applicants had strong credentials. We invited 45 candidates for an interview and campus visit; many of these folks also interviewed at the other top Pathology programs in the country. The Residency Committee met earlier this month to review and rank the candidates. The final ranking list is due to the NRMP later this month. A heartfelt thank you to all faculty, residents, and staff who helped with this year’s recruitment efforts.

I am pleased and honored to let you know that the Pathology RRC of the ACGME has granted Full Continued Accreditation (effective October 2005) to our AP/CP Residency Program for five years, the longest term allowable. The average cycle length for all Core Pathology Pro-grams reviewed by the ACGME in 2004-05 (the latest period for which statistics are avail-able) was 3.1 years. The RRC found no significant problems and commended our Program for - among other things - the quality of education, scholarly activity, and certification examination performance. I would like to thank everyone who participated in our site visit, especially Trish and Senth and the Chief Residents for the past three years (Muammar Arida, Suzanne Bakdash, Kudakwashe Chikwava, Nicole Esposito, Melina Flanagan, Diana Ionescu, John Ozolek, Sourav Ray, Hina Sheikh, and Manuel Zarandona). There is so much to be proud of in our Residency Program - and the ACGME appears to agree. Greg Naus, M.D. Residency Program Director

CONFLICT OF INTEREST FORMS UPP & UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DUE APRIL 15, 2006

The annual Conflict of Interest (COI) forms are due by April 15, 2006. The forms are available at the COI Superform website at <https://coi.health.pitt.edu/front.asp>. The site may be used to satisfy the COI disclosure requirements for the University, UPMC and UPP. Upon login to the Superform Web site, you will be presented with the data from your most recent submission. You may submit the same data if still current or you may edit the form. Those who are using the forms for the first time should register when entering the Web site, provide an email address and a password. The password is self-selected and therefore can be synchronized with passwords associated with other online re-sources. No hard copy forms are accepted, however, when you are done with your submission, you must print the summary disclosure form and send it to Dr. Michalopoulos for review and signature. The Winter issue of the Physicians Services News (page 4) includes information regarding the most frequently asked questions about the COI. Access the Newsletter at: http://infonet.upmc.edu/, go to “quick links” then “newsletters” then “Physician Services News” then click Winter 2006. Please note the last question on page 5 - the most common problems with filing a COI disclosure and how to avoid them since it is very informative. One of the common problems noted was filing after the dead-line date of April 15. Any questions about the forms, please feel free to call me at 648-1040. Chris

Pathology News Page 14

V A L E N T I N E ‘S D A Y L U NCH

Hmmm ... how much can I get on this plate….

Getting ready….. Those who explained what we

were eating…...

Good to get a break from grants …..

better fill up now… may not see the light of day until the deadline is over…..

Those who wore red (and pink!) and those who did not.

More red……... and pink ….and other!

Pathology News Page 15