Detailed CV - Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ...

Name: Poonam Vohra
University of California, San Francisco
CURRICULUM VITAE
Position: Assistant Clinical Professor
University of California, San Francisco
Anatomic Pathology
Address: Department of Pathology
SFGH, Room 103, Building 3
1001 Potrero Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94110
Voice: (415) 206-6777
FAX: (415) 206-5988
E-mail: poonam.vohra@ucsfmedctr.org
EDUCATION
1990 – 1996 Govt. Medical College, Patiala, India MBBS
1997 – 1998 Govt. Medical College, Chandigarh, India
Junior resident Transfusion
Medicine
1998 – 2001 Govt. Medical College, Patiala, India Resident Pathology
2001 – 2002 Postgraduate Institute of Medical
Education & Research, Chandigarh, India
Post doctorate Cytopathology
(partial)
2004 – 2005 University of California, San Francisco Research
assistant
Neuropathology
2005 – 2009 University of Massachusetts Medical Resident Anatomic Pathology
Center, Worcester, MA
& Clinical Pathology
2007 Aug Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston,
MA
2007 Dec Brigham and Women's Hospital PTH,
Boston, MA
Elective Gynecological
Pathology
Elective Cytopathology
2009 - 2010 University of California, San Francisco Fellow Cytopathology

LICENSES, CERTIFICATION
1996 Certificate of Registration, Punjab Medical Council, Punjab, India
2004 Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)
2009 Medical licensure California (A107178)
2009 American Board of Pathology Certification, Anatomic Pathology/Clinical Pathology
2010 American Board of Pathology Certification, Cytopathology
2010 Thin Prep Certification, Thin prep Path TM liquid based Pap test
2010 Sure Path Certification, BD Sure Path TM liquid based Pap test
PRINCIPAL POSITIONS HELD
2007 - 2008 Chief Resident, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester MA.
Clinical pathology
2008 - 2009 Chief Resident, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester MA.
Anatomic and Clinical pathology
2011 - 2012 Clinical Instructor, Anatomic Pathology, University of California, San Francisco.
2012 - present Assistant Professor, Anatomic Pathology, University of California, San Francisco.
HONORS and AWARDS
2007 - 2008 Chief Resident, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Clinical Pathology
2008 - 2009 Chief Resident, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Anatomic Pathology
and Clinical Pathology
KEYWORDS/AREAS OF INTEREST
Surgical pathology, Cytopathology, Fine needle aspiration biopsy, Breast pathology,
Immunohistochemistry.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
2005 - present United States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists
2005 - present College of American Pathologists
2005 - present American Society for Clinical Pathology
2007 - present American Medical Association
2010 - present American society of cytopathology
2012 - present Association of Indian Pathologists in North America (AIPNA)
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
NATIONAL
1. United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting; San Diego CA, 2007.
“RNA-binding protein IMP3 expression in neoplasms of the Schneiderian and squamous
mucosa of the head and neck.” (Platform presentation).
2. United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting, San Diego CA 2007.
“p16 protein expression in neoplasms of the Schneiderian and squamous mucosa of the
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head and neck.” (Poster).
3. 77 th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association, Phoenix Arizona 2006.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF-D) In Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Tumors.”
(Platform Presentation).
4. 77 th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA), Phoenix, Arizona 2006.
“KOC (K-Homology-Domain-Containing-Protein Overexpressed in Cancer) (Poster).
5. 51st Annual Conference of Indian Association of Pathologists & Microbiologists, Kolkata
India, 2002. “Clinico histopathological correlation of vesiculobullous lesions.” (Platform
presentation).
REGIONAL
1. Department of Radiology IR staff conference, SFGH San Francisco. July 2011
“Practical and pertinent issues in cytology (IR guided FNA specimens)”.
2. Grand Rounds HIV/AIDS. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma vs. Burkitt’s lymphoma, Sept. 2011
(Platform presentation).
INTERNATIONAL
1. XVII Indo US International CME in surgical pathology, cytology and hematology.
Department of Pathology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences in collaboration with
Association of Indian Pathologists in North America (AIPNA) & Indian college of Pathologist
(ICP); Uttaranchal, India, 3-5 Feb. 2012. “Challenges in fine needle aspiration of superficial
soft tissue lesions (Guest Speaker).
2. Department of Pathology Govt. Medical College Patiala, India. 7 Feb. 2012. “Challenges in
in fine needle aspiration of superficial soft tissue lesions (Guest Speaker).
CME COURSES ATTENDED
2000 Indo-US Symposium and Slide Seminar, Endocrine Surgical Pathology, Lucknow,
India
2010 13 th Annual UCSF Current issues in Anatomic Pathology, San Francisco
2011 United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX
2011 CAP inter laboratory comparison in Non-Gynecologic cytopathology education NGC-A,
SFGH
2011 CAP inter laboratory performance improvement program in surgical pathology PIP-
D, SFGH
2011 CAP inter laboratory performance improvement program in surgical pathology PIP-A,
SFGH
2011 14 th Annual UCSF Current issues in Anatomic Pathology, San Francisco
2012 15 th Annual UCSF Current issues in Anatomic Pathology, San Francisco
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
2007 - 2009 Resident representative, Graduate Medical Education Council, UMASS
2007 - 2009 UMASS Multidisciplinary Gynecology Tumor Board
2009 - 2010 SFGH Multidisciplinary Gynecology Tumor Board
2009-2010 SFGH Multidisciplinary Breast Interdisciplinary Departmental Conference
2011-present SFGH Multidisciplinary Surgical Tumor Board
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
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CLINICAL ACTIVITIES
1998 - 2001 Anatomic Pathology Resident, India: Performed all resident responsibilities on
various clinical services including; general surgical pathology, cytopathology,
renal/transplant pathology, hematopathology. After my pathology board
certification in India, I did post doctoral fellowship in cytology at the Post Graduate
Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) in Chandigarh, India. There,
my responsibilities were to conduct 30-40 fine needle aspirations every day in
outpatient clinics and support image-guided aspirations.
2005 - 2009 Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Resident, UMASS: Performed all resident
responsibilities on various clinical services including general surgical pathology,
cytopathology, renal/transplant pathology, hematopathology, autopsy, and
forensic pathology.
2007 - 2009 Chief Resident, UMASS: Performed responsibilities including general surgical
pathology, renal pathology, UMASS surgical pathology consult services,
organizing call schedules for residents; facilitating core curriculum lectures,
weekly unknown and gross conference and various other talks; supervising and
mentoring residents and students; providing a forum for resident\ fellow feedback
to faculty; and fostering social and “team-building” activities for residents, and
fellows. I have tried to get as much experience as possible during my studies and
have completed a rotation at Massachusetts General Hospital under Dr. Young in
gynecologic pathology and at Brigham and Women’s hospital in cytopathology.
2009 - 2010 Cytopathology Fellow, UCSF: Performed all fellow responsibilities including
performance of FNA biopsies, assisting with image-guided biopsies, interpretation
of aspiration specimens, analysis of exfoliative cytologic specimens, evaluation of
cytology consult cases, journal club presentations. I presented cases in
multidisciplinary gynecologic tumor board (once a month) and breast
interdisciplinary conferences. I review all pathologic material (surgical and
2011 -
Present
2011 -
Present
2011 -
Present
2011 -
Present
2011 -
Present
cytologic specimens) and present these cases at the weekly tumor board.
Attending physician, Surgical pathology: My clinical service (50%) includes sign-
out of general in-house surgical pathology cases and biopsies. In addition, I
regularly review intraoperative frozen sections, including night and weekend call
at SFGH.
Attending physician, Cytopathology service: My clinical service (50%) includes
performing and interpreting fine needle aspirations (FNA). I give rapid
interpretations on image-guided Fine needle aspirations obtained via CT,
ultrasound, EUS. I have a significant role in the Gynecologic pathology service
and do cytologic-histologic correlation reviewing both pap specimens and
concurrent cervical biopsies.
Attending physician, SFGH: Multidisciplinary Surgical tumor board (once/twice a
month). I review all pathologic material (surgical and cytologic specimens) and
present these cases at the weekly tumor board. I also regularly present relevant
pathology at SFGH Grand Rounds.
Attending Physician, SFGH Immunohistochemistry Laboratory: I serve as one of
three pathologists providing daily quality assurance review for our
immunohistochemistry lab.
Attending Physician, SFGH lab process improvement: I have a particular interest
in improving patient safety. I have initiated expanding patient identification during
processing and pathology review. I have also improved lab processing by
implementation of online ordering of immunohistochemical stains. I have
introduced monthly cytotechnologist conference for continuing education and
quality assurance purposes.
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SUMMARY OF CLINICAL ACTIVITIES
My clinical mission is to provide diagnostic cytopathology and surgical pathology service to San
Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). I contribute to both general surgical pathology and
cytology, including performing fine needle aspiration. I also participate in and present cases at
numerous SFGH multidisciplinary tumor boards; this role draws upon my expertise in both
surgical pathology and cytopathology. My clinical interest is mainly in cytopathology including
exfoliative and aspiration cytology.
TEACHING AND MENTORING
FORMAL SCHEDULED CLASSES
2005 - 2009 Teaching assistant for Tissue Histology Lab Series
Lab instructor, University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
INFORMAL TEACHING
2007 - 2009 Chief Resident
Special Gross Conferences: I reviewed interesting and classic gross
presentations of disease entities (monthly presentation)
Unknown Conferences: I presented challenging unknown cases of the week, a
conference geared towards teaching residents an organized approach to
diagnosis (Bi-weekly presentation)
2009 - 2010 Cytology Fellow
Tutorials for medical students (monthly at Moffitt Hospital)
Tumor board presentation (monthly at SFGH)
2011 -
present
Thyroid cytology interdepartmental conference (monthly at SFGH)
Clinical Instructor
Cytology unknown slide conferences (weekly at SFGH)
Interesting cases in cytology conferences (weekly at SFGH)
Monthly cytotechnologist conference (at SFGH)
Daily teaching during sign out sessions with fellows and residents rotating on
surgical pathology and cytopathology services
Informal teaching and supervision of pathology residents/fellow performing and
interpreting FNA biopsies
TEACHING NARRATIVE
I am involved in the teaching of anatomic pathology residents, cytopathology residents and
fellows training in surgical pathology and cytopathology. I participate in one on one microscope
-based teaching of pathology residents who rotate through surgical pathology and cytopathology
at SFGH. As an attending physician on the surgical pathology service, I teach residents as I
review the gross specimens and microscopic slides of clinical cases as part of routine clinical
signout. In addition, as an attending physician on the cytology service, I teach residents and
fellows how to perform fine needle aspiration biopsies and prepare and interpret all types of
cytology samples.
I have recently initiated weekly conference of interesting cases in cytology for residents. These
conferences will provide understanding of how pathologists arrive at diagnosis. In addition, I
introduced a new cytology schedule and laid out a plan to reach a new ACGME requirement for
cytology for residents at SFGH. I am also assisting in introducing multiheaded scope during
frozen section diagnosis.
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I have the primary responsibility for the newly instituted medical student rotation at SFGH which
serves as a part of the UCSF Pathology Clerkship. My involvement is to interact directly with
the students. And to make sure they spend considerable time on the cytology and surgical
pathology services to give them complete UCSF experience
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS DIRECTLY SUPERVISED AND MENTORED
Dates Name Fellow Faculty Role Current position
2011 - 2011 Maria Serrano
Correa
Cytopathology Mentor -
2011 - 2011 Rena Yu Cytopathology Mentor Staff pathologist
Sacramento
2011present
Khaing Soe Win Cytopathology Mentor Current fellow
2011 -
present
Nancy Ciau Cytopathology Mentor Current fellow
SUMMARY OF TEACHING AND MENTORING HOURS:
Jan 2011 –
June 2012
Total anticipated hours of teaching: 1550 hours
Formal class or course teaching hours: 10 hours.
Informal class or course teaching hours: 1540 hours.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
2004-2005 Research Assistant, Department of Neuropathology
University of California, San Francisco
Adviser: Dr.Tarik Tihan
Project: Diagnostic implications of gemistocytic astrocytomas
2011- Consultant pathologist for AIDS Cancer Specimen Resource.
present
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PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATION
1. Maureen P. Kohi, Natasha Brasic, Poonam Vohra, Elissa Price, C. Belinda Chang, Dorota
J. Wisner, Edward Sickles, Bonnie N. Joe. 2012. Breast metastasis from testicular
leiomyosarcoma: a case report. The Breast Journal (in press).
2. Poonam Vohra, Britt-Marie Ljung, Theodore Miller, Shelley Hwang, Annemieke VanZante.
2011. Paget’s disease of the breast masquerading as squamous cell carcinoma on
cytology: A case report. Diagnostic Cytopathology. In press (available online).
3. Slosar M, Poonam Vohra, Prasad M, Fischer A, Quinlan R, Khan A. 2009. Insulin-like
growth factor mRNA binding protein 3 (IMP3) is differentially expressed in benign and
malignant follicular patterned thyroid tumors. Endocr Pathol. 20:149-57.
4. Di Lu, Poonam Vohra, Peigou G. Chu, Bruce Woda, Kenneth L. Rock, Zhong Jiang 2009.
An Oncofetal Protein IMP3, A New Molecular Marker for the Detection of Esophageal
Adenocarcinoma and High Grade Dysplasia. American journal of Surgical Pathology. 33:
521-5.
5. Ashraf Khan, Poonam Vohra, Robert F. Quinlan. 2007. The Role Sentinel Lymph Node
Biopsy in the Management of Breast Cancer. A review article. Journal of Indian association
of pathologists and microbiologists.50:261-9.
6. Tarik Tihan, Poonam Vohra, Mitchel S Berger and G Evren Keles. 2006. Definition and
diagnostic implications of gemistocytic astrocytomas: a pathological perspective. J
Neurooncol. 76:175-83.
BOOKS AND CHAPTERS
Contributed to Chapters on Adrenal, Thyroid and Breast Pathology in Path Consult project.
www.pathconsultddx.com/pathcon/home 2006.
ABSTRACTS
1. Poonam Vohra, C Li, K Dresser, M Zona and ML Prasad. RNA-binding protein IMP3
expression in neoplasms of the schneiderian and squamous mucosa of the head and neck.
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting, San Diego 2007.
2. Poonam Vohra, C Li and Manju Prasad. p16 protein expression in neoplasms of the
schneiderian and squamous mucosa of the head and neck. United States and Canadian
Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting, San Diego 2007.
3. Poonam Vohra, Manju Prasad, Magdalena Slosar, Andrew Fischer, Robert Quinlan,
Marjorie Safran and Ashraf Khan. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF-D) In
Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Tumors. 77 th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid
Association (ATA), Phoenix, Arizona 2006.
4. Magdalena Slosar, Manju Prasad, Poonam Vohra, Marjorie Safran, Kenneth L. KOC (K-
Homology-Domain-Containing-Protein Overexpressed in Cancer) Expression in Thyroid
Neoplasms. 77 th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA), Phoenix,
Arizona 2006.
5. Poonam Saigal (Maiden name), Manjit S Bal, RR Mittal, K Jindal, Kanwal Surinder. Clinico
histopathological correlation of vesiculobullous lesions. 51st Annual Conference of Indian
Association of Pathologists & Microbiologists, Kolkata India 2002.
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MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATION THESIS
“Clinico histopathological correlation of vesiculobullous lesions”. Study of 50 cases.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests include the areas of cytology and breast pathology. I am performing a
large retrospective study which includes reviewing all fine needle aspiration biopsies and
corresponding surgical pathology specimens of breast performed in the last 8 years at UCSF.
(“Comparison of ER, PR and HER2 expression between breast carcinoma fine needle
aspiration samples and corresponding surgical pathology specimens at UCSF”; not yet
published). The main aim of this study is to assess and compare ER, PR and HER2 expression
between fine needle aspiration samples (cell block) and corresponding surgical pathology
specimens.
Currently, I am part of West Coast AIDS Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) staff and work as
consultant pathologist for ASCR organization. The purpose of ASCR is to support translational
research of HIV-related malignancies and to acquire, store and distribute tumor tissues and
biological fluids with associated clinical, pathological, diagnostic and demographic data from
patients with HIV-associated malignancies. The mission of ASCR is to meet the emerging
needs of the HIV research community by contributing to the acceleration of drug development
timelines and facilitate the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to HIV
associated malignancies. My role is to supervise tissue microarray and validate diagnostic
material submitted to ACSR. I also provide technical oversight for pathology related procedures.
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