Wilfrido D. Mojica MD
Wilfrido D. Mojica
MD
Associate Professor
Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Specialty/Research Focus
Anatomic Pathology; Clinical Pathology; Genetic Pathology - Clinical, Molecular, Biochemical; Surgical Pathology
Professional Summary:
Professional Summary:
As the Chief of Pathology at the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, I oversee the operations of both the anatomical and clinical components of the medical laboratory. This facility caters to an inner-city populace that is both underrepresented and underserved. This situation provides for an interesting mix of surgical pathology cases and is well suited to engage in the effort to democratize diagnostic advancements at the community-level setting.
A specified portion of my time is dedicated to the continuous development and delivery of lectures and clinical correlations predominantly to students in the dental school.
In terms of research, work is focused on identifying improvements in clinical specimen procurement and processing that enable the derivation of bioinformatic data beyond traditional morphologic assessment. These investigations center on creating material resources for emerging diagnostic and therapeutic related technologies, the development of new tools that may facilitate sample processing, and the testing of the feasibility of adopting these modifications in the clinical setting. With the realization that clinical biospecimens are an invaluable resource to patient care, the overall goal is to collaborate using methodologies that will lead to the early detection of certain tumors, provide high quality substrates from clinical biospecimens for in-depth characterization, and provide a venue to their overall incorporation in laboratory diagnostics.
Education and Training:
- MD, Medicine, St Louis University School of Medicine (1993)
- MS, Physiology, Georgetown University (1988)
- BS, Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine (1987)
Employment:
- Attending Pathologist, NFMMC (2021-present)
- Chief of Pathology, Department of Pathology, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center (2021-present)
- Associate Professor, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University at Buffalo (2017-present)
- Attending Pathologist, VA WNY (2020)
- Attending Pathologist, UB Pathologist Inc (2001–2019)
- Assistant Professor, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University at Buffalo (2004–2017)
- Staff Pathologist, Eastern Great Lakes Pathology, LLC (2000–2001)
- Staff Pathologist, ACM Laboratories (1999–2000)
Awards and Honors:
- AACR Minority Scholar in Cancer Research (2011)
- Pickren Pathology Award (1997)
Grants and Sponsored Research:
- March 2020–December 2020
Illumina Accelerator Sequencing Grant
Role: Principal Investigator - October 2017–September 2019
High quality, high integrity nucleic acid extraction from FFPE
NIH
Role: Co-Investigator - January 2018–December 2018
Pre-Cell Wrangler: Enabling recovery of informative genomic data with lower numbers but higher quality diagnostic cells
Research for Health in Erie County
Role: Principal Investigator - August 2009–July 2012
Identification of colon cancer protein biomarkers in the blood
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator - June 2005–May 2006
Differential phosphoprofiling by a novel procurement protocol
Kaleida Health Foundation
Role: Co-Investigator
Journal Articles:
- Mojica WD, Oh KW, Lee H, Furlani EP, Sykes D, Sands AM. (2016) Microfluidics enables multiplex evaluation of the same cells for further studies. Cytopathology (Aug), 27(4): 277-283.
- Wilfrido Mojica, Katherine Cwiklinski, Xiaobing Jin, Weiguo Liu, Donald Yergeau. (2021) Core needle biopsy wash as a tool for acquiring additional diagnostic material for laboratory testing. J Clin Pathol (Mar)((epub ahead of print)) doi:10.1136/jclinpath-2020-207318
- Mojica WD, Brandwein-Gensler M, Korangy E. (2017) A case of metastatic lobular carcinoma with over-expression of Trop-2: implications for the consideration of novel therapeutics. The Breast Journal (Sep), 23(6): 757-759. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/tbj.12924
- Tu C, Mojica WD, Straubinger R, Li J, Shen S, Qu M, Nie L, Roberts R, An B, Qu J. (2017) Quantitative proteomic profiling of paired cancerous and normal colon epithelial cells isolated freshly from colorectal cancer patients. Proteomics Clin Appl (Jan).
- Mojica WD, Hou T, Sykes D, Dey-Rao R. (2017) Front end genomics: Using an alternative approach for the recovery of high quality DNA from core needle biopsies. J Clin Pathol (Jan), 70: 488-493.
- Mojica WD, Mojica GW. (2017) An iOS app to expedite the evaluation of immunohistochemistry control tissue. Applied Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology (Jan).
- Mojica WD Mojica P Sykes D. (2016) Critical ligand binding sequences of the ESR1 gene: What role in the treatment of ER( ) breast cancers?. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 9(3): 88-95.
- Mojica WD, Frisch NK, Paterson JK. (2015) Core Needle Biopsy Wash Optimization: Enabling Specimen Integrity for both Cytological and Histological Evaluation. Anticancer Res (Nov), 35(11): 5905-5913.
- Mojica WD, Bassey R. (2015) An evaluation of synthetic and natural supravital stains for the cytological examination of dissociated cells in a microfluidic channel. Cytopathology (Jun), 26(3): 167-171.
- Mojica WD, Chen F. (2015) Comparable cytological features between cells processed as either wet mount or conventional cytospins. Cytopathology (Jun), 26(3): 172-177.
- Mojica WD, Chen F. (2015) Comparable cytological features between cells processed as either wet ount or conventional cytospines. Cytopathology (Jan), 26: 167-171.
- Wang M Chen S Mojica WD Chen F. (2015) Cavernous hemangioma of the uvula: report of a rare case with literature review. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 8(1): 56-58.
- Mojica WD Bassey R Chen F hannahow B Sauer P Hard R Furlani EF. (2014) Conditional prerequisites for microchannel cytologic analysis on wet mount (fluid-based) biopsies. Cancer Cytopathology (Jan), 122(1): 59-69.
- Hawthorn L Lan L Mojica WD . (2014) Evidence for field effect cancerization in colorectal cancer. Genomics (Jan), 103: 211-221.
- Khoury T, Mojica WD, Hicks D, Starostik P, Ademuyima F, Janarthan B, Cheney RT. (2011) ERBB2 juxtamembrane domain (trastuzumab binding site) gene mutation is a rare event in invasive breast cancers over-expressing the ERBB2 gene. Mod Pathol. (Jan), 24: 1055-1059.
- Mojica WD, Rein D. (2011) Considerations in the examination of normal human tissue biospecimens for microarray studies. European Journal Clinical Medical Oncology (Jan), 3: 71-76.
- Vezzalini M, Aletta JM, Beghelli S, Moratti E, Della Peruta M, Mafficini A, Mojica WD, Mombello A, Scarpa A, Sorio C. (2010) Immunohistochemical detection of arginine methylated proteins (MeRP) in archival tissues. Histopathology (Nov), 57(5): 725-733.
- Liang Y Mojica WD Chen F. (2010) Water-clear cell adenoma of parathyroid gland, a case report and literature review. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 3(4): 194-198.
- Khoury T, Kanehira K, Wang D, Adeuyiwa F, Mojica WD, Cheney R, Morrison C, Conroy J, Nowak N, Liu S. (2010) Breast carcinoma with amplified HER2: a gene expression signature specific for trastuzumab resistance and poor prognosis. Mod Pathol (Jan), 23(10): 1364-1378.
- Vezzalini M, Aletta J, Beghelli S, Moratti E, Peruta MD, Mafficini A, Mojica WD, Mombello A, Scarpa A, Sorio C. (2010) Immunohistochemical detection of arginine methylated proteins (MeRP) in archival tissues. Histopathology (Jan), 57(5): 725-733.
- Mojica WD, Hawthorn LA. (2010) Normal Colon Epithelium: A dataset for the analysis of gene expression and alternative splicing events in colon disease. BMC Genomics (Jan), 11(5).
- Sun J Sands A Chen F Mojica WD. (2009) Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor: Immunohistochemical evidence supporting a fallopian tube origin for serous papillary carcinoma. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 2(2): 4-5.
- Liu W Nahkla H Mojica WD Chen F. (2009) The expressioin of TTF-1 in small cell carcinoma of urinary bladder. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 2(3): 21-23.
- Syriac S Mojica WD Chen F Zhang S. (2009) Cystic Renal OncocytomaL A case report with review of the literature. North American Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan), 2(3): 24-26.
- Mojica WD, Sykes DE, Conroy J, Gaile D, Fang X, Nowak N. (2008) A comparative analysis of two tissue procurement approaches for the genomic profiling of clinical colorectal cancer samples. Int J Colorectal Dis (Nov), 23(11): 1089-1098.
- Mojica WD, Stein L, Hawthorn L. (2008) Universal Reference RNA is not a representative normal sample for oligonucleotide microarray studies. Pathology Oncology Reseach (Sep), 14(3): 243-251.
- Mojica WD, Stein L, Hawthorn L. (2007) An exfoliation and enrichment strategy results in improved transcriptional profiles when compared to matched formalin fixed samples. BMC Clin Pathol (Aug), 7: 7-7.
- Mojica WD, Khoury T. (2006) Presence of the BRAF V600E point mutation in morphologically benign appearing thyroid inclusions of cervical lymph nodes. Endocr Pathol (Jan), 17(2): 183-189.
- Mojica WD, Arshad AM, Sharma Sanjay, Brooks Steven P. (2006) Manual Exfoliation Plus Immunomagnetic Bead Separation as an Initial Step Toward Translational Research. Archives of Pathology (Jan), 130(1): 74-79.
- Mojica WD, Arshad A, Sharma S, Brooks SP, Arshad A. (2006) Manual exfoliation plus immunomagnetic bead separation as an initial step toward translational research. Arch Pathol Lab Med (Jan), 130(1): 74-79.
- Mojica WD, Rapkiewicz AV, Liotta LA, Espina V. (2005) Manual exfoliation of fresh tissue obviates the need for frozen sections for molecular profiling. Cancer (Dec), 105(6): 483-491.
- Mojica WD, Saxena R, Starostik P, Cheney RT. (2005) CD117+ small cell lung cancer lacks the asp 816-->val point mutation in exon 17. Histopathology (Nov), 47(5): 517-522.
- Mojica WD, Kuntzman T. (2000) Elastofibroma dorsi: elaboration of cytologic features and review of its pathogenesis. Diagn Cytopathol (Dec), 23(6): 393-396.
- Mojica WD, Jovanoska S, Bernacki EG. (2000) Epithelioid angiomyolipoma: appearance on fine-needle aspiration report of a case. Diagn Cytopathol (Sep), 23(3): 192-195.
- Mojica WD Hou T Sykes D Dey-Rao R. (1900) Using an alternative approach for the recovery of high quality DNA from core needle biopsies. Journal of Clinical Pathology (Jan).
- Mojica WD Mojica GW. (1900) An iOS app to expedite the evaluation of immunohistochemistry control tissue. Applied Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology (Jan).
Abstracts:
- B Yang, L Liu, F Chen, D Troyer, W Liu, C D'Angelis, R Kozielski, T Wood, A Lzydorczak. (2022) Can tissue specimens also be used for metabolomic profiling without influencing morphological interpretation. College of American Pathologists annual meeting - Advancing Medicine Today and Tomorrow. New Orleans, Louisiana (Sep) Poster
- Yun Wu, Troy Wood, Natesh Parashurama, Supriya Mahajan. (2022) Enabling all four facets of P4 Medicine from the standpoint of the pathology tissue specimen. Advances in Genome Biology and Technology Precision Health. San Diego, California (Sep), (180) Poster
- Izydorczak A, Wood TD. (2022) Metabolomic profiling of methanol extracts from pathology specimens using LC-MS/MS. American Society for Mass Spectrometry’s 70th annual meeting. Minneapolis, Minnesota (Jun), (310203) Poster
- Arshad A, Bard J, Yergeau D. (2022) Cellular material from core needle biopsy washes are molecularly representative of the corresponding parent tissue that is formalin fixed and paraffin embedded. United States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists. Los Angeles, California (Mar), (582) Poster
- Katherine Mojica, Elizabeth Barrie, Rafal Kozielski. (2022) Uncovering Genetic Abnormalities by Optical Genome Mapping Missed by Microarray Analysis in Stillbirth Placental Tissue. Unites States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists 111th annual meeting. Los Angeles, California (Mar) Oral
- W Liu, X Jin, K Cwiklinski. (2019) The core needle biopsy wash: assessing cellular adequacy for ancillary studies. College of American Pathologists annual meeting. Orlando, Florida (Sep) Poster
- H Zhan, A Papanicolau-Sengos, J Conroy. (2018) Obviating tissue exhaustion on core needle biopsies: Inclusion of a simple pre-wash step to generate a matched, second biospecimen for molecular studies. United States Canadian Academy of Pathologist 107th annual meeting. Vancouver, (Mar) Poster
- Tu C, Shen S, Nouri-Nigjeh E, Mojica WD, Qu J. (2013) Large scale comparative proteomic anlaysis of colon cancer cells isolated from multiple patients using extensive ion-current-based approach. ASMS, (Jun)
- Kumparelli A, Mojica WD. (2012) Preclinical evidence DiPeptidase-1 may function as a putative biomarker for colonic adenocarcinoma. CAP, (Sep)
- Huang Y, Mojica WD. (2012) Dipeptidase-1 expression profiles in human normal and tumor tissues. CAP, (Sep)
- Kumparelli A, Marchetti E, Mojica WD. (2012) DPE1, a useful immunohistochemical tool in distinguishing primary from metasttic endometrioid and mucinous ovarian tumors. USCAP, Mod Pathol, (Mar)
Evaluative Studies and Case Reports:
- AD Smith, MS Kappus, MJ Caliendo, C Foote, P Muscarella. (2022) Ruptured granulosa cell tumor of the ovary presenting with catastrophic intra-abdominal hemorrhage. Int J Surg Case Rep (Jul)(96): 107317.
Professional Memberships:
- American Association for Cancer Research; Member
- College of American Pathologists; Member
- United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology; Member
Presentations:
- "Capturing dissociated cells from core needle biopsies: up front triaging enhances comprehensive diagnosis" 2nd International Cancer Study and Thearapy Conference (2017)
- "Facilitating molecular profiling of core needle biopsies via the inclusion of a prefatory step to traditional tissue processing: The value of a simple wash" International Conference on Genomic Medicine (2017)
- "Anticipating and Providing Solutions to Precision Medicine Before They Become Problems" Western New York Society of Pathologists (2015)
- "Core washing of needle biopsy specimens with microfluidics: a novel approach to meet the increasing demands of ancillary testing on small specimens." Cytopathology 2015 (2015)
- "Microfluidics for multiplexing of core needle biopsies." TechConnect World Innovation Conference (2015)
- "Microfluidics in the Diagnosis of Anatomic Pathology Specimens: pipe-dream or pipeline?" University at Buffalo, Department of Pathology Grand Rounds (2014)
Service Activities:
- Pathology Residency Clinical Competency Committee (2021–present)
- Dental School Pathology 600 Course - change in presentations from pure basic science delivery to clinical application and relevance (i.e., more oral-cavity centric).; Modifications of certain labs and lectures (2021–present)
- NFMMC - Medical Executive Committee (2021–present)
- NFMMC - Infectious Disease Prevention Committee (2021–present)
- NFMMC - Transfusion Committee; Transfusion Committee (2021–present)
- North American Journal of Medicine and Science (2020)
- Current Clinical Pharmacology (2020)
- Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry (2019)
- Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry (2019)
- Analytical Cellular Pathology (2018)
- Faculty Council Representative; Faculty Council Representative (2017–2019)
- Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP); Judge, Team 5 (2017)
- BMC Cancer (2017)
- Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management (2016)
- Current Medical Imaging Reviews (2016)
- Secretary, WNYSP (2016–2017)
- Faculty Council Representative (alternate); alternate (2015–2017)
- Advisor, WNYSP (2014–2016)
- PLosOne (2014)
- NIH OMnibus SEP-5: Special emphasis panel/ Scientific Review Group 2014/10 ZCA1 TCRB-5 (02) (2014)
- Treasurer, WNYSP (2013–2014)
- President, WNYSP (2012–2013)
- Secretary, WNYSP (2011–2012)
- Immunological Investigations (2010)
- NIH Stage 1 reviewer, Cell Biology Integrated Review Group (2009)
- Drug Target Insight (2008)
- Experimental and Molecular Pathology (2006)