As we begin the new academic year, I would like to provide a warm welcome to our new Residents, Fellows, and Faculty. Additionally, I would like to highlight the Farewell Ceremony awards and recipients.

NEW TRAINEES

Please join me in welcoming our new PGY1 Residents and new Post Junior Fellows, ACGME Fellows, Non-ACGME Fellows, and Clinical Post Docs!

Dr. Sun Mi Choi will be joining the division of Immunogenetics as an Assistant Professor, starting August 1, 2023.

Dr. Choi graduated from LSUHSC in New Orleans with MD PhD degrees, where she conducted research in the fields of genetics and immunology. After completing Pediatric Residency at Washington University’s St. Louis Children’s hospital and Allergy/Immunology Fellowship at UCSD, she started at UCLA Immunogenetics Center to further her training in Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. She will join the team of directors at UIC as an assistant professor to provide comprehensive and advanced testing for solid organ and stem cell transplantation. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Choi in her new role in Immunogenetics.

Dr. Xiaotang (Alison) Du will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as an Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2023.

Dr. Du obtained her medical training from the Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in Guangzhou, China. She completed her AP/CP pathology residency training at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.

Additionally, she completed a Surgical Pathology Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She has been a Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pathology Fellow at the University of Chicago, IL since 2022. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Du in her new role in the section of GI and Liver pathology.

Dr. Alden Huang will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as an Assistant Professor, starting August 21, 2023.

Dr. Huang obtained his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from UCLA. He has been a Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Fellow at UCLA since 2021. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Huang in his new role in the section of Cytogenetics.

Dr. Matthew Koo will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as a Staff Physician, starting July 1, 2023.

Dr. Koo obtained his medical training from the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu, Hawaii. He completed his AP/CP pathology residency training at UCLA.

Additionally, he completed a Hematopathology fellowship as well as a Surgical Pathology fellowship specializing in Soft Tissue and Bone Pathology at Stanford University He has been a practicing pathologist at Huntington Hospital since 2021. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Koo in his new role in the section of Hematopathology.

Dr. Israa Laklouk will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as an Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2023.

Dr. Laklouk obtained her medical training from the University Of Tripoli School Of Medicine in Tripoli, Libya. She completed her AP/CP pathology residency training at Boston University Medical Center in Boston, MA.

Additionally, she completed a Head and Neck Pathology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Surgical Pathology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, CA. She has been a faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2021. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Laklouk in her new role in the section of Head and Neck and Genitourinary Pathology.

Dr. Manando Nakasaki will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as an Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2023.

Dr. Nakasaki obtained his medical training from the Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan. He completed his AP/CP pathology residency training at the University of California, Irvine.

Additionally, he completed a Surgical/Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology fellowship at UCLA. He has been a Molecular Genetic Pathology Fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles, CA since 2022. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nakasaki in his new role in the section of Molecular Pathology.

Dr. Nicholas Stanzione will be joining the division of Anatomic Pathology as an Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2023.

Dr. Stanzione obtained his medical training from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, PA. He completed his AP/CP pathology residency training at UCLA.

Additionally, he completed a Cytopathology fellowship at Stanford University Health Care and VA Palo Alto Health Care System. After training he joined Calpath Medical Associates, a private practice in the San Jose area, and most recently he has been a faculty at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System since 2022. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Stanzione in his new role as a general pathologist covering Westwood as well as our affiliated Santa Monica and Northridge Hospitals.

RETIREMENT ANNOUCEMENT

After 48 years of service to the UCLA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine and the UCLA Department of Biostatistics in the Fielding School of Public Health, Dr. David Gjertson, Adjunct Professor, will be retiring on June 29, 2023. Dr. Gjertson, a biostatistician, made impactful contributions in the fields of cancer, genetics, immunogenetics, laboratory studies, and transplantation medicine with over 200 peer-reviewed publications. 

In May of 1975, he started working at the UCLA Tissue Typing Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Paul Terasaki who introduced him to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing and its important role in determining transplant compatibility between patients with end-stage renal disease and their potential organ donors. He continued to identify key transplant factors that predict chronic organ failure at the UCLA Immunogenetics Center (UIC) under the direction of Dr. Elaine Reed. He also contributed seminal findings in calculating probabilities of DNA pedigrees by incorporating measurement errors and robust estimation of HLA genotype frequencies. He subsequently contributed to the development of internationally recognized standards for the statistical interpretation of genetic evidence used in relationship testing and edited two volumes of worldwide HLA frequencies. Dr. Gjertson co-directed UIC’s reference area and is principal investigator on a long-standing contract to provide histocompatibility survey material to the College of American Pathologists. Dr. Gjertson has served numerous times as a Department of Defense and FDA panelist as well as a member of the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Scientific Review Committee. Since 1988, he taught introductory biostatistical courses to public health graduate students and developed consulting courses designed to enrich biostatistics doctorial students with "true-life" experiences. One of his passions was teaching SCUBA diving through UCLA Recreation and volunteering on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department dive team for 40 years. 

Dr. Gjertson’s near 5 decades of service as an exceptional educator, scholar and collaborator has positively impacted the UCLA Immunogenetics Center and our Department and we thank him for all of the contributions he has made. Please join us in wishing him all the best for his retirement.

FAREWELL CEREMONY

Please join me in honoring our Farewell Ceremony award recipients and graduating Trainees!

As we start anew, I look forward to our department focusing our continued excellence and advancement in clinical care, education, and research.

The Department of Pathology was thrilled to participate in the UCLA Medical School Graduation. Congratulations, Class of 2023! Featured Left to Right: Drs. David Dawson, Wayne Grody, Chandra Smart, Elena Stark, and Sarah Dry.

UCLA Pathology hosted our Intro to Pathology Panel with medical students. The panel provides the opportunity to discuss general & specialized pathology with professionals & educators in the field. This year, we had record attendance! Featured: Front Left to Right: Drs. Amanda Zand, Chana Sachs, Zhen Mei, and David Dawson. Back Left to Right: Dr. Elena Stark, Nichole Legaspi (MS1), and Karen Kikuta (MS1).