The Breast Pathology specialty area within the Department of Pathology is led by Jorge Novo, MD. The faculty who specialize in Breast Pathology are experts in the evaluation of common and rare benign and malignant conditions of the breast and are recognized at the local, national and international levels. Breast Pathology plays a central role in the multidisciplinary care of patients with diseases of the breast, and an accurate diagnosis is the cornerstone of any further evaluation and therapeutic management of the patients.
Education
The Breast Pathology program offers comprehensive services, including state-of-the-art diagnosis, immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostics. Breast Pathology faculty are committed to the academic mission of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Didactics, Unknown Slide Reviews and Fellows' Journal Club are offered to residents and fellows year-round. Two multidisciplinary conferences (Breast Tumor Board and Breast Pathology/Breast Radiology Conference) are offered weekly.
The Breast Pathology Program also offers two highly competitive and sought-after Breast Pathology fellowship positions. In addition to training the next generation of experts, our specialty offers daily sign-out to pathology residents. We also offer a popular, month-long Breast Pathology elective rotation for Pathology residents. All six Breast and Women's Imaging fellows and the two Breast Surgical Oncology fellows also rotate in Breast Pathology for a multidisciplinary experience. Finally, all Breast Pathology faculty are heavily involved in medical student teaching at the M1 and M2 levels.
Research
Members of the Breast Pathology faculty are actively involved in several funded basic science, translational and clinical research studies at Northwestern University, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and at the national level.
Patient Care
Working closely with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center at Prentice Women's Hospital is one of the largest referral centers in the Midwest for patients with breast diseases. Expert breast cancer care is one of the areas of excellence of the institution. Breast Pathology faculty annually evaluate nearly 1,000 breast pathology second-opinion consult cases, as well as more than 5,500 in-house specimens that consist of all breast needle core biopsies performed at the Lynn Sage Breast Imaging Center, all large breast specimens generated by our breast surgeons and all frozen sections (on breast and gynecologic specimens) requested by the surgeons at Prentice Women's Hospital. Immunohistochemistry and molecular breast tumor marker studies are routinely integrated into everyday practice.
Contact Us
Jorge E Novo
Associate Professor, Pathology (Breast Pathology), Pathology (Gynecologic Pathology)
Medical Director, BREAST
Valerie M Brostrom
Instructor, Pathology (Breast Pathology)
Carissa LaBoy
Assistant Professor, Pathology (Breast Pathology)
Steven H Smith
Assistant Professor, Pathology (Breast Pathology), Pathology (Gynecologic Pathology)