Chairman's Message
Welcome to the Department of Pathology at LSU Health Shreveport. As having responsibilities in both basic science and clinical medicine, our department serves as a bridge between the two. Our department has 24 faculty members, 12 residents, three fellows and approximately 200 administrative staff and laboratory workers, including post-docs, research assistants, medical technologists, technicians, and Pathologists' Assistants. For more than 50 years, this department has trained and educated researchers and healthcare professionals who have excelled nationally and internationally in academics, industry, and in the private community setting. We are located in northwest Louisiana in a city that has a vast array of cultural and recreational offerings, good schools, several colleges, and a low cost of living.
The department has a number of world class researchers. Our Research Division brings in over $4.3 million from the NIH and other funding agencies placing our department in the top 75th percentile in the United States. They participate in both basic research, translational research, and clinical trials. They have also been active in the COVID-19 pandemic, participating in the creation of the Emerging Viral Threat (EVT) Laboratory, making LSU Health Shreveport one of the first medical school labs to institute COVID-19 testing in this region. The department’s research leadership was also vital in establishing our Center of Excellence for Cardiovascular Diseases and Science (CCDS) and the NIH-funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for Redox Biology and Cardiovascular Disease.
We participate in medical education at all levels. The Pathology Department is instrumental in teaching medical students the basic sciences and during their clinical clerkships, as well as providing resident and fellowship training. We also assist in the training of medical technology students in our School of Allied Health Professionals Physicians’ Assistant program, Pathologists’ Assistant program and graduate students in our School of Graduate Studies. We are very proud of our resident and fellow training as our residents score exceptionally well, scoring higher than the national mean on the Resident In-Service Exam (RISE). 100% of our residents pass the board exam for certification by The American Board of Pathology on their first attempt. Our residents also secure highly competitive positions in fellowship programs throughout the United States.
Our department has a long history of providing outstanding pathology patient services, both in anatomical pathology and clinical pathology locally, regionally, and nationally. Our clinical laboratories are all accredited by CLIA, CAP and AABB. Recently, our School and our department affiliated with the Ochsner Health System. The Ochsner Health System is an innovative and quality driven healthcare provider in the region. As a team, we will be able to continue the high value of care to our patients and expand our quality services to the region.
As the Chair, I feel very fortunate to have a team of highly skilled, talented, and dedicated pathologists in our department. This invaluable team of pathologists covers all facets of pathology, including general surgical pathology, cytology, forensic pathology, hematopathology, microbiology, transfusion medicine, chemistry, molecular pathology, and informatics. We have boarded subspecialists in cytopathology, hematopathology, neuropathology, forensic pathology, molecular pathology, transfusion medicine, dermatopathology and medical informatics. We also have fellowship-trained pathologists and pathologists with special expertise, all with vast experience in soft tissue and bone pathology, pulmonary pathology, GI-liver pathology, transplant pathology renal pathology, and GU pathology.
What determines excellence in a department of pathology? I believe excellence is rooted in a department's faculty. The faculty at LSU Health Shreveport's Department of Pathology are regarded nationally and internationally as experts in medical education, research, and clinical services. They have a dedication to and passion for timely and innovative research and the highest level of patient care. This faculty promotes an environment supportive of educating and mentoring our future healthcare workers, researchers, and leaders in our profession. Please feel welcome to read our website and visit us, where each day we continue to strive for excellence. If you have any questions or comment, please feel free to contact us.
Byron Crawford, MD
Professor and Chair of Pathology