The Department’s residency, fellowship and post doctoral fellowship programs continue to shine, reflective of our commitment to education. Telepathology has a central role in our teaching, patient care, research, and outreach serving rural Arizona. With a strong commitment to tertiary patient care, we provide diagnostic support in transplantation pathology and provide advanced diagnostic services for cancer prevention and treatment.
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The ANCHOR Biorepository and the Pathology Core Laboratory (CPCL) Laboratory in the Department of Pathology Receives Accreditation from the College of American Pathologists
The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has awarded Accreditation to the ANCHOR Biorepository and the Pathology Core Laboratory (CPCL), both directed by Dr. Monika Schmelz, based on the results of a recent rigorous on-site inspection.
The ANCHOR Biorepository is the central biorepository for one of the largest NIH-funded clinical trials on anal cancer prevention with 22 participating sites, 4,535 enrolled participants, and ~ 600,000 specimens in its inventory. The Pathology Core Laboratory (CPCL), located in the Department of Pathology, provides expert histology, immunohistochemistry, and whole slide image scanning (brightfield and fluorescence) services for researchers of University of Arizona and for external researchers.
The CAP inspection team included practicing pathology and laboratory medicine professionals. Recognized for rigorous and robust standards, CAP accreditation elevates quality and mitigates risk, an important way that laboratories can contribute to research outcomes.
During the CAP accreditation process, designed to ensure the highest standard of performance for laboratories and biorepositories, inspectors examine the laboratory’s records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and records, and overall management.
The accreditation was granted on May 18, and the next on-site inspection for continued accreditation will take place in 2025.
The CAP advised Monika Schmelz, PhD, of this global recognition and congratulated the laboratory for its excellence in the services being provided:
“The CAP is pleased to recognize the Schmelz Lab (ANCHOR Biorepository and Pathology Core Laboratory-CPCL) as meeting the high standard of excellence set as part of the CAP’s Laboratory & Biorepository Accreditation Program,” said Richard M. Scanlan, MD, FCAP, chair of the CAP’s Council on Accreditation. “The Schmelz Lab joins the thousands of others that are committed to raising the quality of laboratory and biorepository services nationally and internationally.”
The NIH/NCI-OHAM (Office of HIV and AIDS Malignancy) Program Directors and the Office of Chairs of the ACSR (AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource) and the AMC (Aids Malignancy Consortium) Programs, as the oversight committee of the ANCHOR Biorepository, congratulated Dr. Schmelz for receiving CAP Accreditation and the excellence of services being provided.
The Schmelz Lab accreditation can be verified through the CAP’s Accredited Laboratory and Biorepository Directory.
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Stands Against All Forms of Discrimination and Inequality
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is deeply committed to realizing the vision of social justice and equality for all, both nationally and globally. We stand in solidarity in denouncing the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others before them whose lives that have been taken because of racism. We also recognize the unfair deaths in Native American, Black, and Hispanic communities due to lack of access to adequate health care in the time of COVID. We stand with our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, trainees, colleagues and patients. We condemn all forms of discrimination and inequality and will work with the faculty at the University of Arizona to help create a welcoming, supportive and inclusive environment for all students, residents, fellows, faculty and staff at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.
Our department is focused on health care delivery, research and teaching. We strive to continuously adapt to the medical needs of the patients we serve in our unique, multicultural southwest environment. By bridging basic science and clinical medicine, the Department of Pathology is distinctively situated to address important unmet clinical needs and to influence patient care and health care policies in Arizona and beyond. As an example, we recently developed innovative COVID-19 testing platforms for the students, faculty, and employees of the University of Arizona as well as the people of the State of Arizona. We are committed to continue to support and encourage the work of our faculty, residents, and fellows who are working to eradicate health disparities and improve the health and wellness of diverse communities.