Perinatal and Pediatric Pathology

The Perinatal and Pediatric Pathology lab deals with all aspects of embryonal, fetal, perinatal, infantile, childhood and adolescent pathology.

Pediatric surgery extensively utilizes the surgical pathology service to evaluate pediatric tumors and non-neoplastic processes that occur in children. Pediatric gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, nephrologists, neurologists, and infectious disease experts work closely with the pediatric pathologist to coordinate efficient processing of samples that contribute to patient care.

Obstetricians send placentas from deliveries to evaluate for infection, ischemia or other placental lesions. The Postmortem Medicine service performs autopsies to find the causes of in utero demise and perinatal and childhood deaths. Two board-certified neuropathologists evaluate all pediatric surgical and postmortem neuropathology specimens.

Pediatric clinical pathology services are largely integrated with adult pathology services within the blood bank, clinical chemistry, hematology, microbiology, cytogenetics, and molecular biology laboratories within the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

In addition, pediatric pathology is included in the Pathology Residency Training Program as unique multidisciplinary antenatal and postnatal 2-month rotations in which the residents have integrated clinical and laboratory experiences taught by obstetrics, pediatrics, and pathology faculty members.

Pediatric Pathologists

Philip J. Katzman, M.D., a board-certified pediatric pathologist and associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has 15 years of experience in pediatric and perinatal pathology.

Dr. Katzman graduated from the residency program of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at University of Rochester Medical Center in 1998, then completed a pediatric pathology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2000.

He is currently the institutional pathology Children’s Oncology Group (COG) reviewer of tumors that are sent to the COG as part of research protocols. He has had a research interest in placental pathology and has published several papers investigating lesions specific to the placenta, including the maternal floor infarct, chronic villitis, and maternal and fetal acute inflammatory responses in the placenta.

He was the laboratory director of the Placenta Processing Center as a part of the National Children’s Study, a longitudinal study of pediatric health sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.”

Leon Metlay, M.D., is board-certified in Anatomic, Clinical and Pediatric Pathology. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also did his residency. Dr. Metlay joined the department in 1982.

He currently serves as a Clinical Associate Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine where he pursues his special interests which include: autopsy pathology, pediatric pathology (perinatal and placental) and laboratory computers.