Breast Pathology
The breast subspecialty service at Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital processes over 1600 breast cases annually, including needle core biopsy cases, partial and total mastectomy cases, sentinel lymph node biopsies and axillary node dissection.
Our breast subspecialty pathology service is also part of the Comprehensive Breast Care Center of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Our pathologists work closely with clinicians of the multidisciplinary team from the Comprehensive Breast Care Center, meeting with them weekly to discuss individual cases as well as the latest developments in surgery, medicine, radio-oncology, plastic surgery, radiology, pathology and other related areas.
As a leading academic center in western New York, we are committed to providing the most accurate, comprehensive, and timely reports in the area. Our high quality IHC analysis includes not only ER, PR, HER2 and Ki-67 for guiding targeted therapy, but also has recently added EGFR and CK5/6 for molecular classification. Because the correct reading of these biomarkers is so important, we have set up a rigorous Quality Assurance program and are using only FDA approved kits for these tests in our laboratory.
Click for HER2 FISH Testing Information
Breast Pathologists
- David Hicks, M.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of the Immunohistochemistry/FISH Laboratory
- Brian Finkelman, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- Linda Schiffhauer, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Associate Director of the Pathology Residency Program, Co-Director of Breast Pathology Fellowship
- Bradley Turner, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Co-Director of Breast Pathology Fellowship
- Xi Wang, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- Huina Zhang, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Expertise in Action
Dr. David Hicks celebrated the release of the second edition of “Diagnostic Pathology: Breast” (Elsevier, 2016) which he co-authored with Dr. Susan C. Lester of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This follows the release of the first edition of the book in 2012. The series provides “real-time diagnostic support” for pathologists diagnosing and developing treatment for breast cancer patients. Many of the high quality images in both books were taken onsite by pathologists' assistants at URMC.
Contact Us
For more information or to request our services, please contact David Hicks at (585) 276-4246.