Department of Pathology

Return to: Keck School of Medicine of USC

Hoffman Medical Research Center 204
2011 Zonal Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90089-9092

MS Student Adviser: Cheng-Ming Chuong, MD, PhD, (323) 442-1296

PhD Student Adviser: Florence M. Hofman, PhD, (323) 442-1153

Program Director, Pathology Residency Training Program: Wesley Y. Naritoku, MD, PhD, (323) 409-4698

MD Student Adviser: Wesley Y. Naritoku, MD, PhD, (323) 409-4698

Faculty

Michael E. Selsted, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair

Renette and Marshall Ezralow Family Chair in Cancer Therapeutics: Parkash Gill, MD

Harold E. Lee Chair in Cancer Research: Michael F. Press, MD, PhD

Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Chair in Medicine and Hastings Professor of Medicine: Edward D. Crandall, MD, PhD

Rita and Edward Polusky Chair in Basic Cancer Research: Michael Lieber, PhD, MD

Rupert and Gertrude Stieger Vision Research Chair: Narsing Rao, MD

Gavin S. Herbert Professor of Vision Research: David R. Hinton, MD

Professors: T.C. Chen (Neurological Surgery); C.-M. Chuong; T.D. Coates (Pediatrics); Wendy Cozen (Preventive Medicine); E.D. Crandall (Medicine); L. Dubeau; A.L. Epstein; P.S. Gill (Medicine, Urology); S. Govindarajan; D. Hinton (Neurological Surgery, Ophthalmology); F.M. Hofman (Ophthalmology, Neurological Surgery); R.W. Jelliffe (Medicine); M.N. Koss*; P.R. Levitt (Pediatrics, Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Psychology); M.R. Lieber (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology); T.M. Mack (Family and Preventive Medicine); C.A. Miller (Neurology); A.J. Ouellette; P.K. Pattengale (Molecular Microbiology and Immunology); M.F. Press; F.P. Quismorio, Jr. (Medicine); N.A. Rao (Ophthalmology); S. Rasheed*; M.E. Selsted; D.K. Shibata; I.A. Shulman; M.R. Stallcup (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology); C.R. Taylor*; T.J. Triche (Pediatrics); H. Tsukamoto

Professors (Clinical Scholars): J.A. Biegel; M.R.G. O’Gorman (Pediatrics); D.M. Parham; H. Shimada

Associate Professors: S. Asgharzadeh, (Pediatrics); S. Bellusci (Surgery); A. Erdreich-Epstein (Pediatrics); B.H. Gross (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medicine); Y.M. Kim, (Pediatrics); A. Kovacs (Pediatrics); J.R. Landolph (Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology); H.A. Liebman (Medicine); S.E. Martin; S.B. Turkel (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Pediatrics)

Associate Professor (Clinical Scholar): A.R. Judkins

Assistant Professors: T. Saito (Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Biology & Immunology); B. Stiles (Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences); D. Tian

Clinical Professors: C.A. Bell; H.N. Canawati; J.N. Carberry; J. Cicciarelli (Urology, Surgery); K.A. Frankel; F.H. Gilles (Neurological Surgery, Neurology); D.S. Harrington; R.E. Horowitz; G. Kanel; D.V. Kon; O.T. Kuzma (Medicine); D.H. Mills; J. Nelson; P. Nichols; P.N. Rao; C. Rogers; A.A. Roscher; L. Sathyavagiswaran (Medicine); S.V. Sostrin; A. Verity

Adjunct Clinical Professors: R.Y. Osamura; S.-R. Shi

Clinical Associate Professors: C. J. Cobb; T.E. Howard; G. Pezeshkpour; A.S.S. Raza; J.S. Wollman

Adjunct Clinical Associate Professors: M.M. Cosgrove; M. Pietruszka

Clinical Assistant Professors: JD Augustine; A. Baltayan; E. Carpenter, Jr.; J.A. Chan; W. Chick; O. Chinwah; P.D. Colman; E.C. Dinovo; R. Djabourian; R. Gellibolian; K.E. Grimm; M.D. Haimowitz; J. Iqbal; M. Kennedy; M.T. Kiyabu; B. Kwok; B.J. Le Berthon; M.S. Lewis; K. Matsuda; V. Nelson; S.D. Oh; R. Phan; G. Pinsky; S. Prabhu; S.T. Pullarkat; L.A. Scheinin; R.A. Soni; J.P. Tovar; K.J. Young; S.K. Young

Clinical Assistant Professor (Clinical Educator): N.M. Shillingford

Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professors: F. Antelo; M.A. Fajardo; N.M. Green; C. Lwin; Z. Pavlova; O.C. Upko

Professors of Clinical: R.K. Brynes; P. Carpenter; J.F. Emerson; A.L. Hiti; Y. Iwaki (Urology, Surgery); P. Mhawech-Fauceglia (Obstetrics and Gynecology); W.Y. Naritoku; A.E. Sherrod; S. Wu (Pediatrics); G.-Q. Xiao

Adjunct Professor of Clinical: L.A. Baxter-Lowe

Professors of Research: J. Groffen (Pediatrics); E. Heisterkamp (Pediatrics)

Associate Professors of Clinical: M. Aron; R.C. Bender (She); S. M. Butler-Wu; D.B. Casebolt; J. Dien Bard; A.N. Fedenko (Orthopaedic Surgery); X. Gai; D. Hawes; S. He (Ophthalmology); G.H. Kim (Dermatology); Y. Ma; A. Mathew; K.A. Nash*; G. Raca; S. Saitta; I. Siddiqi; L.L. Wang (Surgery); P.M. Ward; G.D. Zeger

Assistant Professors of Clinical: M. Burnett (Neurology); A.B. Chambliss; S. Chopra; A.J. Correa; J. Cotter; B.K. DeClerck (Dermatology); W.A. Elatre; X. Fu; J.P. Hudgins; K.M. Hurth; J. Ji; K. Lai; M.J. Oberley; L. O’Brien; A.C. Perumbeti; P. Sanchez (Pediatrics); M.E. Sibug Saber (Ophthalmology); S. Tatischev; M. Vegara-Lluri; M. Warren; S. Zhou

Associate Professors of Research: K. Asahina; R.B. Widelitz

Research Associate Professor: T.V. Tatarinova

Assistant Professors of Research: D.E. Feldman; T. Jiang; R.A. Moats (Radiology); P. Tongaonkar; P. Wu; Jun Xu; D. Zhu

Research Assistant Professors: P. Hu; N.W. Marten; Y. Ouyang

Adjunct Research Associate Professor: S.A. Imam

Resident Clinical Instructors: Z. Ashraf; L. Aye; C. Chang; T. Chong; C. Costales; A. Fong; M. Goebel; R. Golestani; W. Guo; S. Hamidi; T. Jenkins; T. Jong; M. Khoshchereh; T.H. Kim; I. Larsen; J. Makker; A. Mehta; R. O’Connell; N. Plaza; M. Takeda; S. Walia; D. Wang; C. Wei; D. Yau

Resident Clinical Instructors – Fellows: F. Baratelli; M. Boonyasampant; K. Duncan; E. Enbom; B. Kay; X. Li; V. Martin; B. Song; L. Szymanski; N. Tirawi; E. Yung

Emeritus Professors: S.B. Chandor; P.T. Chandrasoma; B.N. Nathwani; J.W. Parker; P. Roy-Burman; N.E. Warner; E.T. Wong

Emeritus Associate Professor: A.D. Cramer

Emeritus Clinical Professors: R.D. Aller; M. Greenblatt; G.G. Hadley; W.H. Kern; D.S. Shillam; R.J. Schroeder

Emeritus Clinical Associate Professor: W.C. Smith

Emeritus Clinical Assistant Professors: R.L. McClure; J.K. Waken

Emeritus Professors of Clinical: K.-M. Chan; D.L. Commins; J.F.P. Dixon; C.B. Inderlied; T.T. Noguchi (Emergency Medicine, Surgery)

Emeritus Associate Professor of Clinical: W.P. Lewis

Emeritus Assistant Professor of Clinical: R.B. Hopper

Emeritus Professor of Research: T.L. Lincoln

*Recipient of university-wide or school teaching award.

The Department of Pathology provides training for both medical and graduate students. Medical students are trained in general, systemic and cellular pathology, providing them with an understanding and visualization of the basic processes underlying symptoms and clinical courses, as well as the ability to evaluate laboratory findings. This department also contributes to the training of residents and fellows at the LAC+USC Healthcare Network, Keck Hospital of USC and the USC Norris Cancer Hospital, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office, providing these residents and fellows with an intensive residency program in anatomic and clinical pathology and offering subspecialty fellowship training in surgical pathology, cytopathology, hematopathology, neuropathology and forensic pathology.

The Department of Pathology has a Master of Science program. The two-year MS program provides training in the latest technologies and concepts of biomedical research and provides the graduate with enhanced opportunities for positions in biotechnology companies, teaching colleges and various health department/governmental positions.

With 96 full-time faculty and 52 residents and fellows in training, the USC Department of Pathology is one of the largest pathology departments in the United States. The department has strong and diverse research programs in basic, clinical and translational pathology. Basic research includes programs in stem cell biology and organogenesis, molecular mechanisms of cancer, mechanisms of neurodegeneration and ocular diease, and pathogenesis of liver injury and disease. Clinical research is particularly strong in surgical pathology, cytopathology, hematopathology, immunohistochemistry, molecular pathology, microbiology, neuropathology, ocular pathology and pediatric pathology. Investigators in the department are leading programs developing novel therapeutics utilizing peptides, immunotherapies and stem cells. Residency training has added months in dermatopathology and molecular pathology at Keck Hospital of USC and in cytogenetics at CHLA. The hematopathology fellowship has increased fellowship items from two to three fellows and added Norris Cancer Hospital and CHLA as affiliated institutions, making this one of the leading hematopathology fellowships in the nation. CHLA has also provided funding for a second neuropathology fellow, and rotations at CHLA have been added in surgical and autopsy neuropathology, molecular genetics and research. The forensic pathology fellowship training program at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner/Coroner’s Office has administrative affiliation with the LAC+USC Medical Center.

The department provides diagnostic laboratory services for the LAC+USC Medical Center, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, Keck Hospital of USC, the USC Clinical Laboratories Group, and all USC Clinics. Approximately 30 of the department’s full-time faculty members work in service laboratories throughout the LAC+USC Medical Center, where they are supported by 40 residents and fellows and a technical and clerical staff numbering in excess of 300. The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital and Keck Hospital of USC, as well as the USC clinics, are served by 34 full-time pathologists, two fellows, three residents and approximately 200 technical and support staff.

Graduate Programs

General Admissions

Applicants to the graduate program in pathology must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with an undergraduate major in one of the natural sciences; a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for undergraduate work is required. Applicants must submit undergraduate transcripts and letters of recommendation from two undergraduate teachers with their application. All applicants must take the general portion of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). A combined score of at least 315 for the verbal and quantitative scores is required. International students whose native language is not English must submit scores from the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examination. Personal interviews by members of the department’s graduate committee may be requested.

Original application materials, except letters of recommendation, should be sent to the Office of Admission, University of Southern California. To expedite consideration of the application, applicants should also send photocopies of the application, transcripts and GRE scores to the Pathology Department’s graduate committee secretary, Lisa Doumak. Letters of recommendation should be addressed directly to the secretary, graduate committee. Applications are considered for admission to both the fall and spring semesters.

Residency and Fellowship Programs

The Department of Pathology offers six first-year residency positions and 24 residency positions in its fully ACGME-accredited four-year training program in anatomic and clinical pathology at the LAC+USC Medical Center. Training is offered in autopsy and surgical pathology, neuropathology, cytology, microbiology, hematopathology, immunohematology, clinical chemistry, toxicology, immunopathology, cytogenetics, cytogenomics, instrumentation, laboratory management, clinical informatics, electron microscopy, molecular pathology and other specialty areas. The Department of Pathology also offers the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fully accredited fellowship training in cytopathology (four positions), hematopathology (three positions), neuropathology (two positions), surgical pathology (seven positions) and forensic pathology (six approved positions). Admissions to residency is exclusively through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) and the NRMP (National Resident Matching Program). Applicants to fellowship should contact the fellowship program director and program coordinator directly; the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Universal Fellowship Application Form is accepted by all USC fellowships.

Programs

Experimental and Molecular Pathology (MS)

Courses

Pathology (Keck School of Medicine)