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The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pathology has established its new Division of Women’s Health.

The UA Board of Trustees approved the division in February 2022. Interim Division Director Thomas Winokur, M.D., will lead the division as an ongoing recruiting effort for a permanent director takes place. Winokur says the creation of the division stands to help emphasize our departmental and institutional commitment to women’s health.

“The establishment of this division serves to unify the subspecialties we have focused on in women’s health in pathology as a field—obstetrics/gynecology, breast, perinatal—and bring them under one umbrella,” Winokur said.

The primary goals for the division are to aid in recruiting talented individuals to UAB to focus on women’s health, to work with UAB Medicine to enhance diagnostic and molecular testing in areas impacting women’s health, and to build a research portfolio in these areas.

“Both our primary and secondary faculty will have strong relationships with anyone on campus working on women’s health issues,” said George Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair. “This will enhance our connectivity to others in the institution working toward the goal of improving health care diagnostics and treatment for all women seeking care at UAB.”

“The establishment of this division serves to unify the subspecialties we have focused on in women’s health in pathology as a field–obstetrics/gynecology, breast, perinatal—and bring them under one umbrella,” Winokur says.

Women’s health makes up one of the busiest pathology clinical services at UAB Medicine. The primary goals for the division are to aid in recruiting talented individuals to UAB to focus on women’s health; to enhance diagnostic and molecular testing in areas impacting women’s health; and to build a research portfolio in these areas.

“Both our primary and secondary faculty will have strong relationships with anyone on campus working on women’s health issues,” said George Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair. “This will enhance our connectivity to others in the institution working toward the goal of improving healthcare diagnostics and treatment for all women seeking care at UAB.”

The division has five faculty primary appointees: Andrea Kahn, M.D., Professor and Section Head, GYN Pathology; Virginia Duncan, M.D., Assistant Professor, Section Head, Perinatal Pathology; Xiao Huang, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and Valeria Dal Zotto, M.D., and Kavita Varma, M.D., DNB, assistant professors recruited to the division this spring.

“The Department of Pathology’s innovation in establishing the Division of Women’s Health, puts UAB Heersink School of Medicine on the map nationally, joining institutions across the country with similar divisions,” Selwyn Vickers, M.D., dean of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, CEO of the UAB Health System and CEO of the UAB/Ascension St. Vincent’s Alliance. “Recent efforts to focus on diseases and diagnoses affecting women will have a great impact in our state and region. Having this division at UAB will also enhance recruitment of the brightest scientists and physicians in disciplines unique to women.”

The department announced the division on the 21st anniversary of the death of its pioneering gynecologic pathologist, Hazel Gore, M.D. UAB Pathology holds an endowment named for Gore, a native of Australia whose parents were both well-known pathologists. She completed a fellowship in New York before coming to Birmingham and holding joint appointments with the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Department of Pathology. Gore spent the remainder of her career at UAB where she trained many students, even after her retirement. She passed away at the age of 78 on July 14, 2001, and the endowment in her name was established in 2007. The Hazel Gore, M.D., Endowed Program Support Fund for the Department of Pathology is being used to recruit the division’s director.

Warner Huh, M.D., chair of the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, says he is excited at the prospect of partnering with the new division, building on the relationship his department already has with UAB Pathology.

“We have a very busy division with the only cervical SPORE in the state (a grant-funded mechanism to study HPV vaccines to reduce cervical cancer incidents), and a significant contract with the National Cancer Institute on endometrial cancer, and we need this strong pathology partner to be successful in these areas,” Huh said. “In Alabama we see more diverse pathology in these areas than in most parts of the country. We look forward to enhanced diagnostic and molecular testing and screening for ovarian, endometrial and breast cancers.”

Helen Kontiras, M.D., Kirby I. Bland, M.D., endowed professor in Surgery and Division Director, Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Medical Director, UAB Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic, agrees.

“The establishment of this division will allow us to recruit and grow everything related to caring for women,” she says. “It has tremendous potential to bring under one umbrella many of the diseases that impact women in our area. The opportunities for research in these areas are huge, both from the standpoint of diagnosis, but also to identify more precision treatments for women.”

“At UAB we are just trying to treat patients efficiently, with compassion and cutting-edge therapy,” Kontiras says. “Having a team- and disease-based approach is the best way to do it.”

Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, says this division’s establishment speaks to the mission to unite and build on existing strengths within our institution.

“Being part of the multidisciplinary team looking at the diagnoses and making the treatment plans is a huge benefit of this division dedicated to women’s health,” Sleckman said. “If you can recruit talented faculty, you’re going to improve patient care.”

This is the second division established during Netto’s tenure as chair of the department, and it will partner directly with the first, the Division of Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics, established in 2017.

“As we continue progress toward the establishment of a freestanding Genomic Diagnostics Lab at UAB, this new division will dovetail with the expertise of our existing molecular diagnostics team, their testing and research, and focus on improved care for the women of our state and region,” Nettop says.

https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/12989-uab-department-of-pathology-establishes-division-of-women-s-health

As they cross the stage at Convocation Hall, graduates from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering are marking the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

Having enriched the U of T community as undergraduate and graduate students, they now join a global network of U of T Engineering alumni who working to address pressing challenges around the world and inspire the next generation. Here are six inspiring women from the Faculty of Applied & Engineering annual Grads to Watch list .

Valerie Ajayi

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, plus professional experience year co-op.

Between working part-time and commuting two hours each way from just outside of Brampton, Ajayi found it difficult in her first year to participate in U of T Engineering life, especially on weekends. But she did not let that challenge stand in her way for long. “There are so many opportunities across a campus as large as St. George and a community as passionate as Skule,” she says, referring to the U of T Engineering community’s affectionate name for itself. “I wanted to take advantage of it as best as I could.”

Sayeh Bayat

PhD in biomedical engineering

In her thesis, Bayat aimed to develop “digital biomarkers” that can predict or explain neurodegeneration. For example, in one study she gathered mobility data from smartphones or other wearable devices to compare how older people – some with dementia and accompanied by family members – moved about their communities. The modes of transportation included by transit, bicycle, walking and by car. “Using machine learning, we showed that there may be very subtle changes in driving behaviors that can be indicative of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease,” she says.

Laura Berneaga

Master’s degree in mechanical engineering

Berneaga works on problems at the intersection of engineering and humanity. Her thesis revolves around the manufacturing of ventilators – one of the earliest health-care bottlenecks exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We focused on the controller since it is the most complex component, responsible for all the major decisions the ventilator makes,” she says.

“Today, the code for the controller is highly dependent on the specific hardware components. We created a framework for an open-source design – one that could be adopted by manufacturers anywhere in the world, helping them quickly scale up in a crisis.”

Julia Bincik

Bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, plus professional experience year co-op

Bincik’s passion is environmental sustainability, and she is graduating with a feeling of confidence in her ability to have an impact in her chosen field. “I feel well-equipped to make a positive difference,” she says.

Bincik credits the TrackOne program, which she did in the first year of her undergraduate studies, for sparking her interest in materials science engineering as a way to explore green technologies. A highlight from her academic career was co-authoring an article on microplastics for the Society of Plastics Engineers Newsletter, which won first place at the University of Toronto Engineers Without Borders Green Plastics Article Competition.

Marie-Eve Caron

Master’s degree in civil and mineral engineering

Caron describes her two years as a civil and mineral engineering student as a roller-coaster ride. “It had its highs and lows,” she says. “But I am grateful for the support I had from those around me, including my thesis supervisor and members of the department.” While many of her classes and projects were completed remotely, Caron was still able to immerse herself in the social life of her department through the CivMin Graduate Students Association (CivMinGSA), where she served as vice-president, social.

Saanjali Maharaj

Bachelor’s degree in engineering science, plus professional experience year co-op

“My experience at U of T has been a time of discovery,” says Maharaj. “I learned so much about engineering design, innovations in the industry and working as part of a team.” The time was also a period of self-discovery for Maharaj, as her various internships, courses and research experiences helped her find out what she is passionate about, charting the course of her career. In 2019, Maharaj had “the amazing opportunity” to be an intern at the NASA Ames Research Center’s department of rotorcraft aeromechanics.

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UAB Department of Pathology establishes Division of Women’s Health

Meet six women who are among U of T Engineering’s ‘grads to watch’ in 2022