ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY

Medical Pathology

Overview

The approximately 250 autopsies that Medical Pathology performs annually are a critical component of the University of Pennsylvania Health System’s outcomes-based practice. Even as the discipline of autopsy pathology has declined nationwide, it remains essential at major academic centers like Penn for one fundamental reason. It continues to reveal clinically unsuspected findings that not only may have relevance to families of deceased patients in the moment, but will impact on the care of comparable patients in the future.

Highlights

  • Autopsies, with statistics provided at periodic reviews, are necessary for the Department to continue receiving re-accreditation for its training programs
  • Autopsies for each non-pathology department (e.g., Surgery, Medicine, OB/GYN) are also necessary in order for those respective training programs to receive re-accreditation
  • All hospital-inspecting agencies like the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) require proof that autopsy results are incorporated into ongoing hospital quality improvement programs
  • Experimental therapies are evaluated for their success or failure by autopsies
  • Certain diseases, such as Alzheimer's, can be reliably diagnosed only by autopsy
  • Despite advances in care, unexpected findings are still consistently revealed by autopsy

find a Specialist
Medical Pathology
Carolyn L. Cambor, MD

Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania



Associate Director, Medical Pathology Service

Education Officer

Director, Undergraduate Medical Education

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine



Co-Director, Perelman School of Medicine Morgue


Jui-Han Huang

Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania


Leslie A. Litzky, MD

Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania



Chief of Surgical Pathology

Director, Medical Pathology

Director, Molecular Anatomic Pathology Service

Director, Thoracic Pathology Service

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania


Zissimos Mourelatos, MD

Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine


John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD

William Maul Measey - Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D. Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

Former Co-Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Former Director, Institute on Aging

Former Director, Alzheimer's Disease Core Center

Former Director, Penn Udall Center for Parkinson's Research

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine