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MISSION STATEMENT
Pediatric Pathology Professionals is a privately owned and operated pathology laboratory focused on Perinatal Pathology with the following mission:
1. to provide high quality examinations of products of conception to include spontaneously passed and evacuated conceptions. Areas of emphasis include first trimester loss, molar pregnancy, repeat pregnancy loss, documentation of anomalies in the embryo and fetus (intact or not), cause of intrauterine demise, and study of the placenta at any gestational age. Both primary examinations and consultations are offered. A standardized user friendly system of specimen transport and electronic reporting of results is provided.
2. To perpetuate such high quality examinations by training and certifying others.
3. To propagate models of physician owned and managed practices that offer quality medicine, avoiding high volume, low reimbursement models that inherently compromise quality.
What is Pathology?
The word "pathology" means the study of disease. The medical specialty "Pathology" focuses on making diagnoses via the study of specimens in a laboratory. The pathologist is a medical practitioner (M.D. or D.O.)who is usually in a group practice with other pathologists, doctoral and graduate staff (PhD, PA, MBA), managers, technologists (MT, ASCP), and secretarial staff. The practice of pathology is divided into two major branches, anatomic pathology and clinical pathology, and a pathologist may receive board certification in either or both. Anatomic pathology primarily involves the study of solid specimens (biopsies, organs removed during surgery, and autopsies), and clinical pathology involves the study of fluid specimens (chemistry studies and culture of urine, blood, and other bodily fluids).
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What is Perinatal Pathology?
Perinatal pathology is a subspecialization within "Pediatric Pathology" a pathology subspecialty that is recognized by the American Board of Pathology and within which one can get subspecialty board certification. Pediatric Pathology encompasses both anatomic and clinical pathology. There is no separate certification in anatomic and clinical pediatric pathology; however, the certification is primarily centered in anatomic pathology. Pediatric pathology involves the study of specimens from conception to adulthood, and perinatal pathology centers on the study of specimens from conception to birth and the time immediately after birth. Outside of Pediatric Pathology fellowships (an extra year or two after residency), training in pediatric and perinatal pathology is highly variable with specific expertise in perinatal pathology being claimed by a very small number of practitioners.
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My professional experience:
I received an MD in 1985 at Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans. I completed a residency training in Anatomic Pathology (1985-89) at Barnes Hospital in the Washington University School of Medicine, and did a Pediatric Pathology fellowship (1989-91) at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. I have practiced and taught Pediatric and Perinatal Pathology for 15 years (1991-present), and I am board certified in Anatomic Pathology (1990) and Pediatric Pathology (1993).
My residency training at Washington University in St. Louis, MO (Barnes Hospital) included postdoctoral basic science training, and my experience in basic science pursuits includes building 2 labs from scratch (TX, 1991; OH, 1993). I have also custom designed imaging and computer network systems, sourceing in excess of $260,000 of parts. Most recently, I have designed an encrypted video network for remote viewing of microscopes, in conjunction with Cisco Systems, http://www.Cisco.com (provider of demo gear) and a Dublin based company, Resolution Technology, Inc, http://www.restechimage.com/ (business sponsor for demo gear). Proof of concept has been done, and a live demo will involve an installation in a core switching facility in Columbus, courtesy of Time Warner Telecom, http://www.twtelecom.com/ . Implementation of this system for consultative purposes is a pending project.
My practice has also included some forensic pathology and medical legal review. In this capacity, I have reviewed medical documents and microscope slides from criminal and civil litigations and subsequently testified in depositions and trials. I testified in three criminal trials when I was a deputy medical examiner in Galveston, TX resulting in convictions for felony abuse to a child (shaken baby - resulting in death).
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