UB Names New Chair of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- John E. Tomaszewski, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and interim chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named the new chair of the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Tomaszewski (pronounced Toma-CHEF-ski) will join UB Oct. 1, when Reid Heffner, MD, steps down as chair of pathology and anatomical sciences, a post he has held for four years.

The announcement was made earlier this week by Michael E. Cain, MD, dean of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

"Dr. Tomaszewski is optimally qualified to transform the department and bring 21st-century molecular diagnostics to our Academic Health Center," Cain said.

The hiring of Tomaszewski brings to five the number of new chairs and high-level physicians that Cain has hired in the past three years, an effort that he says is a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical school.

"With these new hires, the UB medical school is expanding and enriching its expertise both in the basic sciences and in clinical care, which will greatly benefit UB medical students and faculty and, most importantly, the Western New York community," he says.

Cain said that during a comprehensive national search, it rapidly became apparent that Tomaszewski possessed all the skills needed to advance the UB department and expand its basic and clinical research programs in service of UB 2020's strategic goals. Under Tomaszewski, the UB department will enhance its graduate medical education and mentored research training programs, and work with Great Lakes Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Western New York community to further develop a comprehensive clinical program.

Tomaszewski's long-term research interests lie in the fields of genitourinary malignancies and immunopathology, with a particular focus on renal transplantation and advanced tissue image analysis.

His internationally recognized work has moved these fields forward and favorably affected the treatments of patients with bladder and prostate cancers and those having kidney transplants.

Tomaszewski has received funding from the National Institutes of Health to support his research programs, and he holds four patents in novel systems and methods for detecting cancer.

He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology with added specialty qualifications in immunopathology.

In recent years, Tomaszewski's research interest has focused on the application of quantitative image analysis, computer vision, and machine learning to diagnostic problems in prostate and other cancers. He sees the field of "integrated diagnostics" with the fusion of large, quantitative high resolution imaging and molecular data sets as the paradigm for the new 21st- century diagnostics.

Tomaszewski has published more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts and more than 40 reviews, book chapters, editorials and books.

He has won numerous awards and lectured nationally and internationally. He also serves on peer-review study sections of the National Institutes of Health, editorial boards of leading medical and scientific journals in his field, and leadership positions in several professional societies.

He is the current president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

A native of Philadelphia, Tomaszewski received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After completing his residency in pathology and a fellowship in surgical pathology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he had additional training in renal pathology at Columbia University in New York City.

Tomaszewski joined the faculty of University of Pennsylvania in 1983 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

During his 28-year tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, he served in numerous leadership positions, including director of electron microscopy, director of surgical pathology and vice chair of anatomic pathology-hospital services.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.