Awards & Recognitions

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) recently awarded a five-year, $2.9 R01 grant to Zhen Lin, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at Tulane University School of Medicine. 

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a known oncogenic virus linked to Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and stomach cancer, as well as autoimmune diseases, especially in people with weakened immune systems. Researchers have found that EBV triggers a unique cellular response involving alpha-satellite RNAs (α-SatRNAs), which appear to help the virus replicate by activating parts of the cell’s DNA damage response. This study aims to better understand how EBV uses these RNAs to support its replication, which could reveal new insights into how EBV causes disease and identify potential targets for treatment. Learn more about the project here. 

The Department congratulates Dr. Shengmin Yan  for a new R21 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), with full support for both direct and indirect costs. The grant will study event of plasma membrane rupture in alcohol-associated hepatitis starts in October 2025.

Dr. Yazan Juma, who joined the Pathology Department this year as the Hematopathology Fellow, has been appointed to the faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor.  He received his terminal degree from the University of Jordan School of Medicine in Amman, Jordan, in 2015. In Amman, he completed a Postgraduate Clinical Internship in 2016 at the Prince Hussein Hospital and received his Permanent General Practitioner License from the Ministry of Health at Amman in 2017.  From 2019—2020, Dr. Juma served as a Hospitalist in Surgery at Istishari Hospital in Amman and later became a resident in Pathology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. for the next four years, where he also served as the Resident Medical Education Director.  Following his residency, Dr. Juma completed a fellowship in Surgical Pathology at Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital Systems and began a Hematopathology Fellowship at Tulane University in 2025.
Board Certified in AP/CP, he is a member of the College of American Pathologists and the American Society for Clinical Pathologists.
 

Welcome to Darryl Duncan, M.H.S., PA(ASCP) as the Program Director of the Pathologists’ Assistant Program, the goal of which is to educate students to achieve cutting-edge proficiency in this vital and emerging field of allied healthcare. He received his B.S. in Medical Technology from LSU Health Sciences Center at New Orleans, and a Master of Health Sciences, Pathologists’ Assistant from West Virginia University at Morgantown, WV. He joins the Department after serving as the Pathologists’ Assistant Program Education Coordinator at the University of Toledo, Toledo OH.

The Pathology Department welcomes Charles Collins, M.D., as a full-time instructor, working in the Pathologists’ Assistant Program.    Dr. Collins brings extensive experience and a strong commitment to advancing the field of pathology.  He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Tulane University where he later completed his residency in Pathology, preceded by a residency in Psychiatry at LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans.  He was a staff pathologist at Ocean Springs Hospital in Ocean Springs, MS and Singing River Hospital, Pascagoula MS.  At Singing River Hospital, he also served as Chair of the Department of Pathology. 

Kamal Baral, a 5th-year PhD student in the Laboratory of Dr. Bilon Khambu, was awarded the LCRC Travel Award to present his research at The Annual Liver Meeting 2025 in Washington, D.C., held November 7–11. His work was selected for an oral presentation: “Transcriptional Regulation of the Hepatic Acetylome by Nrf2 in Autophagy-Impaired Liver” (Recipient of the LCRC Travel Award), and his poster presentation, “Autophagy Zonation and its role in Liver Metabolism.”

Ailar Arasteh, Medical Research Technician in the Research Laboratory of Dr. Xiao-Ming Yin, has been accepted to the University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Jenna Copes, who also works in Dr. Yin’s Lab, has been accepted to Tulane University School of Medicine.  Both Ms. Arasteh and Ms. Copes will begin their studies in 2026.

Ramsey Rohner, a second-year student conducting thesis research under Dr. Bilon Khambu, Assistant Professor of Pathology, was recently accepted into the Class of 2030 at Tulane University School of Medicine.  Ramsey additionally received the 2025 Young Investigator Outstanding Research Honorable Mention Award at the Pathobiology for Investigators, Students and Academicians (PISA) meeting.  The title of his presentation is, Role of DEK as a Cell Death Switch Molecule in Liver Fibrosis.

HONORING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH

Dr. Yi-Ping Li, Endowed Chair Professor of Pathology, was recently honored at Tulane’s annual Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Awards on November 7, 2025 at the Higgins Hotel.  The event recognizes groundbreaking accomplishments of faculty across the university. 

“This year has been one for the records books,” stated President Michael A. Fitts to all in attendance.  “Your achievements are driving historic university-wide initiatives that are growing our impact both locally and worldwide.”

Dr. Li received the 2025 Citation Award that recognizes a Tulane author of a peer-reviewed article that garners the highest number of citations during the prior calendar year.  Meeting the requirements of being the corresponding author at Tulane, Dr. Li, as Dean’s Endowed Chair Professor and director, Division in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Department of Pathology, received the award for the article, “The roles and regulatory mechanisms of TGF- and BMP signaling in bone and cartilage development, homeostasis and disease,” Cell Research, 34, 101-123 (2024).
 

Two Ph.D. students, Ming-Qi Yan (Year 3) and Yiran Song (Year 4), from Drs. Yi-Ping Li and Wei Chen’s lab, have received the prestigious ASBMR Young Investigator Award at the 2025 annual meeting of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) held in Seattle (September 5–8, 2025).

The ASBMR Young Investigator Award recognizes young investigators who submit top-ranking abstracts to the ASBMR Meeting. This highly competitive honor is awarded to the top 50 abstracts selected from approximately 1,200 submissions worldwide. Each awardee receives a $1,000 honorarium. The Department congratulates the two students and their mentors for this achievement.

Dr. Chiung-Kuei Huang has been awarded a new five-year R01 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), with full support for both direct and indirect costs. The grant will commence on May 2, 2025. We extend our congratulations to Dr. Huang on this significant achievement.

The Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department congratulates Drs. Tong Wu and Jinqiang Zhang for winning a competitive renewal of an R01 grant, and a new R01 grant, respectively.  Both grants are awarded by NCI and have a term of 5 years with all direct and indirect costs supported, starting this January and April, respectively.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is pleased to welcome Dr. Akannsha Singh, who joined the faculty in October 2024 as an Instructor. Dr. Singh completed her residency training in Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology at Tulane University, where she was honored with the Nina Dhurandhar, M.D. Cytopathology Award in 2021. She went on to complete a Cytopathology Fellowship at Tulane in 2022, gaining extensive experience in diagnostic interpretation and fine needle aspiration biopsies.

Brady Jin-Smith, an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Liya Pi's lab was recently named a recipient for the 2024 Goldwater Scholarship, one of the oldest and most prestigious government awards for research in the sciences. As the only recipient in the state of Louisiana, Brady outshined other candidates with his proven track record for scientific brilliance. He has published three times (one first author) during his two years at Tulane and was awarded the 2023 Histochemical Society Capstone Grant (1 of 5 internationally awarded recipients) for his research in aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme dynamics in liver cancer. During the summer, Brady leads cyclic immunofluorescence research in colorectal cancer at the Knight Cancer Institute of Oregon Health & Science University. After graduating a year early, he plans to pursue an MD/PhD and continue his research endeavors in noninvasive tumor detection modalities.

The Pathology Department congratulates Dr. Chiung-Kuei Huang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, for being awarded a 5-year R01 grant for a total of  $2,114,669  (direct and indirect cost) from the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. His project titled “TET1 in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease development” starts on Feb 1, 2024, where his research focus will be to determine the role of DNA modification through TET1 in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The Pathology Department congratulates Dr. Gang Liu, who became an instructor in July this year, for receiving the 2023 George K. Michalopoulos Junior Faculty Scholar Award from the American Society of Investigative Pathology (ASIP). ASIP is one of the oldest societies devoted to the investigation of the mechanisms of diseases and publishes The American Journal of Pathology. The award will be presented to Dr. Liu in the 2023 ASIP meeting on Oct 23.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is pleased to welcome two new staff members who recently joined us.

Yolanda Jones worked previously in Pathology as a Billing Coordinator from 2008-2020. Ms. Jones has returned to the Department in the capacity of the Grants and Contracts Officer.

Genevieve “Evie” Burguieres holds a Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University, a Masters of Preservation Studies from Tulane, and a Juris Doctorate from degree from New England Law, Boston, MA. Ms. Burguieres joins the Department as Administrative Program Coordinator—Education.

Dr. Mercedes Ficarra, who joins the Department as an Associate Professor, received her medical degree at the Facultad de Medicina of the University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain in 1988. She completed her Pathology residency and Cytopathology fellowship at Tulane. Board certified in Cytopathology, and Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, she worked in various capacities as a pathologist and a director of laboratory within the HCA system before she joined us on September 15th.

Dr. Ibrahim Aburiziq joins the Department as an Assistant Professor on October 2nd. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the American University of Beirut (1993), and MBBS from Jordan University of Science and Technology (2003). He completed his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Baylor University Medical Center (2012), and fellowships in Hematology (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 2014) and in Surgical Pathology (Washington University School of Medicine, 2015). He has provided general pathology services and laboratory directorship in several hospitals in Guam, and Savannah, GA before he joined the Tulane.

Taylor MacGowan, M.S., P.A. (ASCP), received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (2018), and graduated from the Pathologists’ Assistant Program at Tulane University School of Medicine (2022). Ms. MacGowan has worked as a Pathology Technician (Boston Children’s Hospital, 2020), and a Grossing Technician at Quantum Pathology in Waltham, MA (2018-2020). She joins the Pathology faculty on Oct 9th as an Instructor.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is proud to recognize Dr. Di Tian and the COVID Testing Team for receiving the prestigious Tulane Spirit Award, presented by President Michael Fitts. This honor highlights their unwavering dedication and exceptional contributions to Tulane University and the greater New Orleans community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Established by President Fitts, the Tulane Spirit Award celebrates employees who embody the values and character that define the Tulane spirit. Recipients are recognized for their extraordinary generosity, willingness to go above and beyond job requirements, and their strong sense of community. Faculty and staff honored with this award exemplify positivity, collaboration, creativity, and genuine care for others while advancing the mission of Tulane.

Through his leadership and commitment, Dr. Tian has not only strengthened Tulane’s response to the pandemic but also demonstrated the true spirit of service and community that this award represents.