Pathways to Excellence | Spring 2021

Pathways to Excellence URMC DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE | WWW. PATHOLOGY. URMC. EDU | SPRING 2021

Becky Davis, Kim Handley and Joanne Dixon at work in the microbiology area at the Central Laboratory. To date, the lab has reported over half a million Covid test results.

our new normal Laboratories Back up to Pre-Pandemic Volumes After a Flu Season that Never Happened Nothing about this past year was “normal” by any measure.

In that sense, our laboratories continue to adjust to what the additional presence of SarsCov2 will mean for our foreseeable future.

Just over a year ago, “Covid wasn’t even part of our vocabulary,” said Dwight Hardy, Ph.D., director of Microbiology. Since March 2020, we went from reporting our first Covid result to more than half a million at our Central Lab on Bailey Road.

No one anticipated the pandemic, but one side effect of masking, handwashing and social distancing has been marked – the absence of a flu season. Neither influenza nor RSV were present in the community as has been the case in years past.

“This was a flu season for the record books,” said Hardy, who said anxiety ran high as staff anticipated the possibility of a so called twin-demic. “If we had a busy active flu season on top of Covid-19, it would’ve made us work double time.”

When winter arrived, however, these fears were thankfully put to rest.

Kim Handley, supervisor of virology, said the lab saw a clear progression from the beginning of the pandemic to now. It started small, then grew fast and furious as our testing methods and capacity grew to thousands of daily results with automated platforms like the Roche Cobas 8800 and, most recently, Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Amplitude – making ours the first and only Continued on page 2

IN THIS ISSUE From the Chair.................................................................. 3

Education News................................................................ 4

New Faculty...................................................................... 3

Research News.................................................................. 5

Save the Date.................................................................... 4

Focus on Faculty................................................................ 6

OUR NEW NORMAL

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laboratory in Upstate New York to go live with the instrument. pandemic. The impact of the standstill was felt not only in clinical, The lab team overcame a host of obstacles like plastic, pipette but in surgical pathology, as elective procedures were put on hold and reagent shortages, to staffing coverage. across the health system. But as hospitals resumed elective surgeries For their historic efforts in test development and clinical and physicians began to see patients again at their offices, the work application, the microbiology team received a Medical Center slowly resumed.

Board Excellence Award. Hospital administration also invested “Our volumes slowly started increasing, but we were ready to in the latest and greatest instrumentation on the market, the add that to our mix because we had settled into Covid testing Amplitude, which effectively doubled our capacity for Covid and were able to add more on,” said Handley, adding that samples at the present. approximately 75 percent of virology’s volume is Covid samples When taking a moment to reflect, virology medical technologist, and 25 percent is comprised of other testing. Virology is now up Kelly DeLary, said it will be a year to remember. to pre-Covid volumes for other assays.

“We’ve been busy and tired and working long hours, staying late By the fall of 2020, our lab could support the demands of the and coming in early,” she said. entire health system without “I am just so proud to be a part of this team.

“I am just so proud to be a part sending any samples to outside of this team. It’s been a year, labs. Today, UR Medicine It’s been a year, but we’ve really come together but we’ve really come together patients get their results within and gotten through it.” and gotten through it.”

24 hours.

- Kelly DeLary, Medical Technologist While seeing clinical As the world moves one step laboratories on the nightly news may have boosted public closer to “normalcy,” Hardy said his team is prepared for whatever awareness about lab testing in general, “I think what people don’t comes next. Testing is an important part of the transition out of one realize is that we do more than Covid testing,” said Handley. She “new normal” to the next as more people are vaccinated. cited testing for transplant patients the lab performs, in addition “Our staff works tirelessly to ensure that the testing we provide is to HPV for cytology and STI testing done at high volumes. of the highest quality because we recognize that the test results impact All of this non-Covid work went down to zero at the start of the patients, their families, and the entire community,” said Hardy.

There are six different platforms used to test for the virus that causes Covid-19. Available resources dictate what’s used each day.

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FROM THE CHAIR

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Bruce Smoller, M. D.

s we emerge from winter, there appears to be a bright future ahead for our department. We have had a successful recruiting season for both faculty and trainees. In this year’s match, we managed to fill all of our spots (more specific information below). We have one newly arriving PGY2 and another PGY3. We have four incoming first-year residents and they all come from the very top of our match rank list. Special kudos to our educational pathology division including Linda Schiffhauer, Residency Director, Majed Refaai, Associate Residency Director, Leslie Antinarella, Residency Coordinator, and Jennifer Findeis-Hosey, Vice Chair for Educational Activities for all of their hard work and the superlative results of this process. Last evening, I received word from the ACGME that all of our training programs received full accreditation with no citations or deficiencies in any of them!

We have recruited 10 new members to the faculty this year, in part necessitated by some departures and in part reflecting the continued rapid growth of the department. Over the next months, we will try to introduce our new team, but I will mention their names here so that you can get a feel for the direction of the department: GI Pathology: Roula Katerji (URMC), Yangshen Hao (Mt. Sinai), Sarah Findeis (Univ. Pennsylvania); Breast/Gyn: Hani Katerji (URMC); Cytopathology: Gong Feng (Northwestern) and Arash Lahoutiharahdashti (Montefiore); Autopsy, Cardiac, Thoracic: Philip McMullen (Univ. Chicago); Hematopathology: Siba El Hussein (MD Anderson); Molecular: Audrey Jajosky (Univ. Michigan); Microbiology: Andrew Cameron (URMC). We are excited about the new ideas that will ensue with this new cohort of faculty members.

The departmental leadership has begun working in earnest with the planning for the final phase of the Bailey Road relocation. At this point, many of the clinical pathology services are settled into their new homes and the laboratory is running smoothly. Transfusion medicine and the remaining in situ portions of microbiology, hematology and chemistry have successfully relocated to their new laboratories down the hallway from previously occupied laboratory space in order to clear room for the new Emergency Department tower.

The final part of the enormous project involves moving many of the non-stat components of anatomic pathology to the new facility. This will again require an enormous building project with several years’ worth of planning, as the hospital grapples with how to allow for continuous expansion without sacrificing the quality of its clinical care, research and educational endeavors. To this point, our team has done a spectacular job of maintaining our commitment to our missions, while accommodating for departmental growth and freeing up space at Strong Memorial Hospital for the growth of more urgent patient care needs.

Without question, the last years have been a period of rapid growth and diversification within our department, largely reflecting a similar change in the strategic plan of the medical center as a whole. I remain grateful to our faculty and staff for their hard work, flexibility and creativity as we struggle to transform the entire nature of our operations. I invite all of you to let us know should you find yourself in a position to tour our new central laboratories at Bailey Road. The transformation is just incredible.

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FOCUS ON FACULTY

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arising from spirited discussion from everyday consensus conferences with colleagues. Eight of her abstracts were accepted to USCAP this year, including an oral presentation on congenital hepatic fibrosis. One project she’s particularly proud of is a study whose findings, based on more than 100 cases from URMC, supported modifying the staging criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Outside of work, Liao enjoys gardening, film and music.

She looks forward to traveling to Europe post-Covid. She is married to husband, Xiamin, and they live in Pittsford with their teenage daughter, Rena.

SAVE THE DATE Updates in Pathology Regional Symposium Thursday, June 10 and Friday, June 11 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ritu Nayar, Professor and Vice Chair of Education and Faculty Development, Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine More Information: www.pathology.urmc.edu

EDUCATION NEWS EMBARKING ON A NEW SEASON OF LEARNING Match Day is an annual tradition colleagues. For others, we can only wish that seems to come around just as our them all the best as they go to other Rochester winters are abating and we see programs and institutions, proudly the earliest signs of spring. While this knowing that they will continue to do year we could only join our celebrating great things. medical students over Zoom, it was And in the mix of it all, we look still joyous. I recall the thrill of being forward to hosting two departmental gathered in a large auditorium with all of events: Research Day and the Updates in my medical school classmates, knowing Pathology Regional Symposium. Is it any that at the strike of noon, we would all surprise that these will be held via Zoom, tear into our plain white envelopes to see like so many events during this pandemic? where we had matched.

While virtual, I have no doubt that they Seeing “University of Rochester will still be interesting and engaging.

Medical Center” on my match card filled Research Day will occur on Monday, Jennifer Findeis-Hosey, M.D. me with excitement and anticipation June 7, with poster and presentation for the next step in my career. While I knew URMC was a sessions throughout the day. This is a great time to see the program where I would receive top notch training, it was the work done by our graduate students, residents, and fellows. people that I met during my interview that made it stand out The symposium will be split into four 2-hour nuggets among all the other programs. Fifteen years later I can truly of presentations and interactive sessions spread between say that it is the people that make this department special.

Thursday, June 10 and Friday, June 11. We are fortunate For our department, Match Day is also a wonderful to be able to have Dr. Ritu Nayar, former URMC time, seeming to start the season where we begin to wrap Cytopathology fellow and currently Professor and Vice Chair up another academic year and get ready for a new wave of Education and Faculty Development in the Department of trainees. This summer we will be welcoming six new of Pathology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School residents into our program. But before they can arrive, we of Medicine in Chicago, join us as the symposium keynote must say goodbye to some of the residents, fellows, medical speaker. technologists, and graduate students that we have come to Further details will be available on the departmental know so well. It is always a bittersweet moment. website (www.pathology.urmc.edu) in the coming month. I’m We are lucky to be able to keep some of these students looking forward to seeing many of you over Zoom for these on in other training programs, or have them join us as events, and hopefully in person sooner rather than later!

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IN BRIEF ALLEN PROMOTED, NAMED HEALTHCARE HERO Melissa Allen, our department’s program administrator, has been named a 2021 Health Care Hero Award winner by the Rochester Business Journal. She won in the Management category for her work as director of operations in 2020.

She and fellow winners from URMC and other health care organizations across the region, will be recognized at a virtual ceremony on May 11. The awards were established to recognize excellence, promote innovation and honor those making a significant impact on the quality of health care in the Rochester area.

Allen was promoted to program administrator for the department March 1. She replaced former Vice Chair for Administration, Kelley Suskie, who returned to the Univ.

Arkansas for Medical Sciences after four wonderful years in our department.

“I cannot even begin to list the ways in which (Kelley) has helped me and the department as a whole during her short period here,” wrote Dr. Smoller, who also praised Allen’s knowledge, having spent more than 20 years working her way up from the bench. “(Melissa) has succeeded in every position that she has held and I have no question that she will meet with similar success in Melissa Allen, M.S. this role.”

RESEARCH NEWS HOW OUR GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE CONTINUING TO EXCEL Our research mission frequently dovetails with our on Tumor Metabolism and the Microenvironment; and educational activities, particularly where our Ph.D. H. Mark Kenney, from the laboratory of Dr. Edward trainees are concerned. These up-and-coming scientists Schwarz, gave a podium presentation at the 2020 contribute an immense amount to the varied research American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. projects in our department and several others as well.

Moreover, two of our students garnered new NIH Pathology Research Day, an all-virtual event to be held Pre-Doctoral Fellowships in that time. Carol Deaton, in June, will showcase the mentored work of our many an MD/Ph.D. student studying cell biological aspects talented students and residents. I’ll highlight research of Alzheimer’s disease in the laboratory of Dr. Gail from our residents in my next column, but here I’d like to Johnson was awarded an F30 fellowship. Olivia Marola, share some of the accomplishments of our a Ph.D. trainee studying causes of cellular Ph.D. students from the past year. degeneration in glaucomatous disease in As I highlighted in my last column, the laboratory of Dr. Richard Libby was our primary faculty in Pathology and awarded an F31 grant. The awards to these Laboratory Medicine had a remarkably two talented students bring us to a total of strong year in terms of publication in six NIH pre-doctoral fellowships currently 2020. Our affiliated research faculty and held by our students.

Ph.D. students also made great strides We were excited to welcome five new in their work despite the restrictions on trainees into the Ph.D. program, including research wrought by Covid-19. In fact, our one from the Medical Scientist Training students along with their mentors and coProgram (MSTP – better known as MD/ authors published 17 papers in 2020, with Ph.D.). And because goodbyes are also part our graduate students as first author on of each trainee’s journey, we bid “farewell” to five of these. These cover topics as varied six of our former students who have moved as regulation of retinal ganglion cell death on to the next step in their career journey: Helene McMurray, Ph.D. in glaucoma, metabolic regulation in CAR Dr. Fu-Ju Chao is now a postT-cells, and novel delivery approaches to target cells of the doctoral associate at the National Cancer Institute, lung with gene therapy.

Neuro-Oncology Branch; Dr. Chao Xue has taken In addition to publication, several students were a-doctoral position at the University of Michigan Medical selected to give podium presentations at national meetings: School in Cardiovascular Medicine; Dr. Ronghao Wang Jiatong “Scarlett” Liu, from the laboratory of Dr. is now a faculty member at Southwest Medical University Lianping Xing, spoke at the 2021 Orthopedic Research School of Basic Sciences in Luzhou, Sichuan, China; Dr. Society Conference and received the Webster Jee Young Katherine Best is working as a regulatory scientist and Investigator Award for her work; Andrea Amitrano, from medical writer at RQM+; and Drs. Jerry Saunders II the laboratory of Dr. Minsoo Kim, was selected to give and Jonathan Bartko have returned to medical school to a talk at the 2021 International Keystone Conference complete their MSTP training programs.

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Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine University of Rochester Medical Center 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 626 Rochester, NY 14642

FOCUS ON FACULTY: XIAOYAN LIAO, M.D., PH.D. Curious, adventurous, eager to learn.

These qualities have, and continue to, drive Xiaoyan Liao, M.D., Ph.D. to be a better clinician and researcher.

Liao is a primary faculty member in GI and the director of URMC’s GU fellowship. She joined the faculty in 2018 and has imparted that same curiosity onto those around her. In addition to teaching residents and medical students, she’s also an instructor for our Ph.D. students.

“While you teach, you don’t always need to know one answer,” she said. “Sometimes trainees surprise you with something you never thought about, so I love that kind of interaction with trainees. I don’t just want to lecture.”

Her zest for learning started early. At a young age, she asked her mother why there weren’t any doctors in their family. Her mom replied, “You can be the first one,” and the rest is history.

Liao came to America in 2002 after completing her M.D. in China. She had a scholarship from the Chancellor’s office at UCLA to support her toxicology study in mouse models, where she found her passion in histology and molecular pathology, though it would be years before she decided to go back into medicine.

After earning her Ph.D. at UCLA she stayed another year to continue research before doing a one-year stint at the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute in Chicago. In 2009, she returned to California to do stem cell research for the next four years at the University of California San Diego (UCSD).

After an accomplished run as a basic researcher, she stayed at UCSD for her residency training in pathology and take her skills into a new chapter in her career. In many ways, this was her end goal all along. The spark was there even as a Ph.D. candidate, when she was encouraged to develop her own hypotheses and seek answers that would ultimately improve patient care.

“I was already determined,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go back into medicine no matter what, and that I would still do research with pathology.”

After residency, Liao completed her GI fellowship at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, which is not only the world’s biggest center for inflammatory bowel disease research, but had a strong molecular lab that gave her the chance to build collaborations in her study of colorectal carcinoma.

While fascinated by GI, she lost a cousin to liver cancer at the age of 36, one of many reasons she wanted to help people suffering from similar diseases.

Liao’s current research is inspired by daily practice – sometimes Continued on Page 4 URMC DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE 6