IRVING, Texas, Oct. 7, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caris Diagnostics (Caris Dx), a leading provider of integrated anatomic pathology and molecular testing services, today announced that it has hired 22 subspecialist pathologists in the areas of Dermatopathology, GI pathology, Hematopathology, Oncologic pathology/tumor profiling, and Urologic pathology, bringing the total number of Caris Diagnostics' expert pathologists to 61.
"We are indeed honored to have such distinguished academic leaders choose to join our team," commented Richard H. Lash, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Caris Diagnostics. "Their contribution to our ongoing diagnostic, educational, and research activities will ensure that Caris Diagnostics secures its position as the premier diagnostics company."
With the addition of these new pathologists, 36 Caris Dx pathologists hold or have held academic professorships at the nation's leading medical centers, and 9 have both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Also in keeping with our mission of academic-caliber pathology, the pathologists at Caris Dx have an extraordinary career record of academic productivity, including over 1,500 peer-reviewed publications, 900 abstracts, and 100 books and book chapters.
The following are among the experts who have recently signed with Caris Dx:
GASTROINTESTINAL PATHOLOGY
Salima Haque, M.D. has over 17 years of experience in GI and liver pathology. She completed her fellowship in gastrointestinal, liver and transplantation pathology at Yale University School of Medicine, then after 2 more years at Yale, served as Professor of Pathology and Head of Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology at Tulane University. Dr. Haque has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals and lectures nationally. Dr. Haque joins our distinguished GI pathology faculty in Dallas.
Mark Redston, M.D. has over 15 years of GI pathology experience and has served as Associate Professor, Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Full Member, Graduate Faculty at the University of Toronto. He received his GI subspecialty training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and University and has authored over 90 research publications and book chapters. Dr. Redston will join us from Ameripath, where he served as Managing Director of GI Diagnostics and Director of Molecular Diagnostics. Dr. Redston will serve as Medical Director of GI Molecular Pathology for Caris Dx.
HEMATOPATHOLOGY
Michael Miller, D.O. is a former Professor of Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He completed his hematopathology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where he later served as Head, Section of Hematopathology and Director, Bone Marrow Transplant Laboratory. He recently served as Director, Immunohistochemistry, Image Analysis, and FISH Laboratories for UniPath. Dr. Miller will serve as Medical co-Director of Hematopathology at our Phoenix laboratory.
GENITOURINARY PATHOLOGY
Rajal B. Shah, M.D. joins Caris Dx from the University of Michigan, where he served as Clinical Associate Professor of both Pathology and Urology as well as Director of the Urologic Pathology Section and Urologic Pathology Fellowship program. He undertook his fellowships in both genitourinary and surgical pathology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Shah has over 86 peer-reviewed journal publications and book chapters, speaks frequently at both national and international venues, and has been funded by several NIH grants. Dr. Shah will direct our new Genitourinary Pathology service beginning in January.
ONCOLOGIC PATHOLOGY
Raheela Ashfaq, M.D. joins Caris Dx from her position at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as the Charles T. Ashworth Professor of Pathology, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director of OncoDiagnostics tumor profiling laboratory. She has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and lectures frequently at national and international conferences. Leveraging her 10 years of experience in image analysis and tumor profiling by IHC, FISH, and molecular techniques, Dr. Ashfaq will serve as the Medical Director of Oncologic Pathology for Caris Dx.
DERMATOPATHOLOGY
Jill Allbritton, M.D. was previously Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Johns Hopkins University, where she also completed her dermatology residency and fellowships in dermatopathology and dermatoimmunology. Her areas of interests include inflammatory disorders of the vulva and medical education in dermatopathology and clinical dermatology.
Diane Hoss, M.D. joins us from the University of Connecticut Health Center, where she served as Associate Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Hair Loss and Scalp Disorders Clinic. Dr. Hoss completed her dermatology residency at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center followed by a dermatopathology fellowship at Cornell University Medical Center. Her areas of interest include alopecia and scalp disorders, cutaneous lymphocytic infiltrates, and clinical-pathologic correlation of difficult inflammatory dermatoses.
Julie Reimann M.D., Ph.D. completed multiple fellowships at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital, including dermatopathology and soft tissue pathology, and she earned her M.D. and Ph. D. degrees at Stanford University. Dr. Reimann's areas of expertise include melanoma and pigmented lesions, soft tissue tumors, epithelial neoplasms, and alopecia, and she also has a particular interest in molecular dermatopathology. She joins us from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.
Elsa Velazquez, M.D. will be joining us from her position as Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Dermatopathologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Velazquez completed her dermatopathology fellowship and anatomic pathology residency at New York University Medical Center. Dr. Velazquez has numerous peer-reviewed journal publications and book chapters and presents frequently at national and international conferences. Her interests include skin neoplasia, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma.
"Acquiring these distinguished pathologists furthers our commitment to diagnostic excellence, research and education while broadening the expertise and credentials of our already unprecedented team of diagnosticians," concluded Dr. Lash.
About Caris Diagnostics
Caris Dx is a U.S.-based biosciences company specializing in the development and commercialization of clinically-validated molecular diagnostics and anatomic pathology services primarily in the fields of oncology, dermatopathology, hematopathology and gastrointestinal pathology. The company provides academic-caliber medical consults through its industry-leading team of subspecialty fellowships and expert-trained pathologists in gastrointestinal and liver pathology, dermatopathology and hematopathology. Caris Dx also offers advanced molecular analyses of patient samples through prognostic testing services and genomic and proteomic profiling to assist physicians in their treatment of cancer and other complex diseases. Biopsies for more than 2,700 patients are received daily for analysis by Caris from physicians nationally. Formed in 1996, the company is headquartered in Irving, Texas and operates four laboratories: Irving, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona (2 sites) and Newton, Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.carisdx.com.