Announcement from Dr. David Roth:

With the start of my second six-year term as Chair, and after consultation with stakeholders from within and from outside the Department, I am delighted to announce the appointments of Warren Pear, MD, PhD, to Vice Chair of Research and Mike Feldman, MD, PhD, to Vice Chair of Clinical Services.

The Vice Chair of Clinical Services under the leadership of Dr. Feldman is intended to bring a common perspective to the six clinical divisions at HUP and, importantly, a unified vision to the various Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Departments across UPHS. High priority projects for Dr. Feldman as Vice Chair include:
- Establishing a department- (and system-) wide office of quality, supported by data feeds and data analytics
- Working with the division directors to further reduce barriers to movement of specimens and information across divisional boundaries
- Harmonizing the three downtown hospitals to ensure uniform standards, uniformity of practice (where practical), making use of resources across the three hospitals to increase the efficiency of our faculty as a whole
- Planning for the new patient pavilion
- Planning for the transition to EPIC Beaker
- Developing and implementing a digital anatomic pathology strategy, which will touch many areas of our operation and will foster integration of the downtown hospitals with our other entities
- Expanding the reach of pathology informatics

Dr. Feldman is an experienced, accomplished, and visionary leader. He knows the clinical side of the Department very well, having served as the physician lead for our LIS, which touches all aspects of our clinical work. Dr. Feldman’s research interests have been in the area of the applications of digital imaging and image analysis in the practice of pathology. Recently he was the co-PI on the Philips Healthcare FDA study that received FDA approval to use Digital Pathology for primary diagnostics in the United States. Studies in Europe and Canada (which have been using this technology for years) have shown that using digital pathology across a geographically distributed pathology practice allows faster and more accurate diagnoses, and this technology will be leveraged to help UPHS develop a distributed network of pathology expertise across our hospitals and multispecialty practice locations. Dr. Feldman is currently a co-Investigator on several NIH grants developing and implementing image analytic tools for diagnosis and prognosis in breast, lung and prostate cancer, and is looking to extend these efforts beyond cancer into cardiovascular medicine and nephrology where he is actively working with colleagues in these respective divisions.

The Vice Chair of Research under the leadership of Warren Pear, MD, PhD, is intended to oversee research and research operations in all research-oriented Divisions of the Department (with the exception of CHOP) and take a leadership role in implementing aspects of the Department's strategic plan 2023 that involve research and education of research-oriented trainees. High priority projects for Dr. Pear as Vice Chair include:
 - Oversee the Department's research refreshment program to help select, recruit, and onboard outstanding basic and translational scientists who enhance the Department's research mission  
 - Support faculty development by ensuring that Division Directors, who are charged with recruitment, onboarding, retention, mentoring, reappointment, and promotion of their faculty, perform these functions effectively
 - Work with the Chair and Chief Operating Officer Robert Challender to provide high-level oversight of the research cores under the management of Path BioResource

Dr. Pear is an experienced physician-scientist in the areas of tumor biology and development, stem cells, hematopoiesis, and immunology as well as an accomplished, visionary leader. He knows the research operations of the Department very well, having served as Division Director of Experimental Pathology and as Co-Director of the Residency Program, where he developed the Physician-Scientist Pathway (PSP) training track. Dr. Pear also serves on the School of Medicine’s Committee on Appointments and Promotions (COAP), Cores Committee, and Biomedical Postdoctoral Programs Committee. In addition, Dr. Pear is the co-leader of the Immunobiology Program in the Abramson Cancer Center and a member of the Institute for Immunology Executive Committee. Dr. Pear’s research focuses on the interplay between normal hematopoiesis and malignant transformation. His lab is particularly interested in understanding how normal differentiation processes are subverted to cause leukemia and lymphoma. Notch signaling has been at the center of many of his lab’s studies as the pathway has essential functions in both normal hematolymphoid development and function, and leukemic transformation. Although his research program is largely focused on hematopoietic malignancies, the widespread tissue expression of Notch suggests that his findings will be broadly applicable. The ultimate goal of his lab is to use the knowledge gained from these studies to improve the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. Dr. Pear has published over 150 papers and his lab has been continuously funded by the NIH and private foundations for 20+ years. Dr. Pear also directs a NCI-funded T32 that supports multiple trainees in the area of cancer immunobiology.

To help facilitate the administrative realignment with the two new Vice Chairs, I am also appointing Daniel H. Wild, PhD, as Chief of Staff for the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The Chief of Staff will serve as critical member for the Chair and COO's offices to manage various projects from inception through execution. As Chief of Staff, Dr. Wild will develop and regularly produce management reports on key metrics for operations; provide consulting or direct intervention to improve results, as necessary; assist individuals in finding solutions to problems they might not have been able to resolve through traditional channels and be focused on seeking solutions even in a most complex, highly matrixed organization such as ours. He will continue to oversee communication strategies for the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Penn Center for Precision Medicine, assist with creation of key strategic documents such as self-studies of the Department, reports to the Dean, long-term research and development plans, presentations and work with Department leaders in the development and drafting of complex and sensitive communications.

Dr. Wild joined the Department in December of 2011 in the role of Director of Communications and Strategic Planning. His accomplishments in that role have been numerous. Some of the most visible include: spear-headed the Department’s five-year review which resulted in a 225-page Departmental report outlining the entire mission of the Department as well as its future vision; project-managed a completely redesigned and reimagined new dynamic department website that includes over 1,000 webpages and garners 25,000 page views per month; produced numerous video projects for the Department, the Penn Center for Precision Medicine, the Center for Personalized Diagnostics, and the Department’s educational programs. Prior to joining Penn, Dr. Wild had a diverse and rich career trajectory, including Web Content Manager at NYU School of Medicine, Lecturer and Instructor roles at Rutgers University, and at the University of Pittsburgh in the areas of English, writing, film and media. He received a Master of Arts in English Literature and his Ph.D. in Cultural and Critical Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

David B. Roth, MD, PhD
Simon Flexner Professor and Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Director, Penn Center for Precision Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine