Maria A. Proytcheva, MD

Vice Chair, Laboratory Medicine
Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics
Division Chief, Clinical Pathology
Medical Director, Banner University Medical Center-Tucson Laboratories

Dr. Proytcheva is responsible for the medical leadership and overall operations of the laboratories at the Banner-University Medical Center (B-UMC) Tucson.  She serves as hematopathologist at the Division of Hematology at B-UMC Tucson.  In her roles, Dr. Proytcheva is actively involved in the training of pathology residents, hematopathology fellows and medical students. 

Prior to her current position, Dr. Proytcheva was the Medical Director of the Hematology Laboratory at Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, and Associate Professor of Pathology at the Northwestern University, Chicago.  She is the editor and main author of Diagnostic Pediatric Hematopathology, published by Cambridge University Press in 2011, to be updated in 2021.

Dr. Proytcheva served as Chair of the Scientific Committee on Hematopathology and Clinical Laboratory Hematology of the American Society of Hematology; two terms as elected member of the Board of the International Society of Laboratory Hematology; a Vice-Chair of the International Council for Standardization in Hematology.  Dr. Proytcheva is Program Director of People’s Laboratory Medicine Grand Rounds at the Arizona Telemedicine Program.

On a personal note, Dr. Proytcheva enjoys T’ai Chi and Qi Gong, running, skiing, traveling, and gardening.  She is interested in current news, politics, economics, and world events.  She grew up in Bulgaria and was a vice champion of Bulgaria in downhill skiing.

Research Interests: 
  • Leukemia and lymphoma
  • Pediatric hematopathology
  • Bone marrow failure
  • Bone marrow transplantation
Degrees
  • MD: Higher Medical Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1983
Honors and Awards
  • Guest Editor, Special Pediatric Hematopathology Issue of the Journal of Hematopathology (2014-15).
  • Guest Editor, International Journal of Laboratory Hematology, 2015 Annual Meeting Educational Proceedings.
  • Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Medical Students – Leo M. Davidoff Society of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
  • The John R. Davis, MD Outstanding Residency Teaching Award, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Department of Pathology.
Residency
  • Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center,Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology, 1999-2001
  • Chief Resident for Clinical Pathology, 1999-2001
Fellowship
  • Weill Medical College at Cornell University, New York, NY, Hematopathology, 2001-2002
  • Yale University Medical School, New Haven, CT,Blood Bank/Transfusion Medicine, 2002-2003
Board Certifications
  • Diplomate of American Board of Pathology in combined Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, 2002
  • Diplomate of American Board of Pathology in Hematology, 2002
  • Diplomate of American Board of Pathology in Blood Bank/ Transfusion Medicine, 2003