The University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine recently announced the promotions of eight faculty members in the department of pathology. Three of these scholars are women who have been granted tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor.
Liyun Cao has been a UAB faculty member since 2018, when she was hired as an instructor in the division of laboratory medicine. She was promoted to assistant professor three years later. Currently, she serves as section head of clinical chemistry, and holds leadership positions with the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Laboratory, the Critical Care Transport Laboratory, and the Kirklin Clinic Point-of-Care Testing. Her research primarily focuses on biomarkers analytical evaluation and clinical application.
Dr. Cao earned her medical degree from Wuhan University School of Medicine in China and her Ph.D. from Indiana University.
Diana Morlote began her career with UAB in 2017 as a molecular genetic pathology fellow. She completed a second fellowship in hematopathology in 2018 and joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2019. In addition to her faculty appointment, she is director of the hematopathology fellowship program and leads the hematopathology resident rotation. She also serves as chair of the Critical Values Committee, a director for the Hematology-Oncology Module, and director of two outreach service labs in the McDonald Clinic and Urgent Care. In her research, she studies the molecular characterization of hematologic neoplasms and their diagnostic and prognostic implications.
Dr. Morlote holds a medical degree from Florida International University.
Nirupama Singh joined the UAB department of pathology in 2018 as a molecular/genetic pathology fellow, followed by another one-year fellowship in transfusion medicine. In 2020, she joined the faculty full-time as an assistant professor in the division of laboratory medicine. A board certified physician in transfusion medicine, molecular genetic pathology, and anatomic and clinical pathology, she serves as medical director of UAB’s apheresis collection services. Her research interests include the development of next generation precision medicine and its availability to underserved patients, as well as red cell genotyping for patients with sickle disease.
Dr. Singh received her medical degree from Medical College Baroda in India and her Ph.D. in cellular and microbial biology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.



Congratulations to all my colleagues!