News Release

Published on: September 15, 2005

College of American Pathologists Names Houston Pathologist CAP Foundation Lansky Award Winner

Northfield, IL.—James Versalovic, MD, PhD, FCAP, was honored with the College of American Pathologists Foundation Lansky Award at CAP ’05—The Pathologists Meeting—in Chicago on Sept 11, 2005. Dr. Versalovic is honored as a conscientious individual who upholds the highest standards of medical practice. He is committed to his work as an outstanding molecular pathologist and as an innovative scientist in this new millennium.

Dr. Versalovic received the Lansky award, which honors Herbert Lansky, MD.  The award is presented to a board-certified pathologist who has demonstrated respected leadership consistent with the goals of the CAP Foundation and who has made significant contributions to the field of pathology.

"I am honored and humbled to receive the Lansky award from the CAP Foundation," said Dr. Versalovic. "The College of American Pathologists has been very important to me as a vehicle for helping to advance molecular pathology, to enhance quality practices in clinical pathology, and ultimately, to benefit the patients whom we serve. I thank the CAP Foundation for this honor and look forward to realizing a dynamic vision for the future of pathology."

Dr. Versalovic is the director of Microbiology Laboratories at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has joint appointment in the Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor. He also serves as co-director of the Medical Scientist (MD-Ph-D) Training Program and as director of the molecular Genetic Pathology Fellowship Program at Baylor College of Medicine.

An editor of peer-reviewed medical journals, he serves as associate editor for the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics and the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is a past member of the editorial board and was recently named associate editor of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for Clinical Pathology, and he has honored many research manuscripts and book chapters. Dr. Versalovic served as associate editor of Clinical Microbiology Procedures Handbook and as editor of Molecular Biology: Diagnostic Principles and Practice for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). He has also presented at professional societies and institutions both nationally and internationally, including at the College's annual meeting, where he developed chaired Molecular Pathology: Principles and Practice in 2003 and 2004.

In addition to his academic positions, Dr. Versalovic has been very involved with the CAP. He is a member of the Molecular Pathology and Microbiology Resource committees, as well as the CAP Foundation Awards Subcommittee. He is also a past Education Committee member and began as a junior member in 1998 on the Microbiology Resource Committee.

Dr. Versalovic holds positions in many professional societies. He served on the Scientific Review Board for Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas and on the Test Development and Advisory Committee on Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, American Board of Pathology, and was also an International Advisory Board member and a reporter, Microbiology and Probiotics Workshop, for the European Helicobacter Study Group back in 2003. Currently, he is chair-elect of the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) Infectious Diseases subdivision.

Dr. Versalovic graduated with a BA with high honors at the University of Texas in Austin. He completed his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology and his MD at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his pathology residency at Harvard Medical School and at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as chief resident of clinical pathology in 1999. He also was a clinical fellow in pathology at Harvard Medial School and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Microbiology, also in 1999.

Named a diplomate in molecular genetic pathology, Dr. Versalovic and is board-certified by both the American Board of Pathology and the American Board of Medical Genetics. He is also an American Board of Pathology diplomate in clinical pathology and a diplomate in molecular diagnostics of the American Board of Clinical Chemistry.

The College of American Pathologists is a medical society that serves nearly 16,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world. It is the world’s largest association composed exclusively of pathologists and is widely considered the leader in laboratory quality assurance. The CAP is an advocate for high-quality and cost-effective patient care.