Tomaszewski Named Chair of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences

Tomaszewski comes to Buffalo from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he serves as professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and interim chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

He also serves as the current president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

“Dr. Tomaszewski is optimally qualified to transform the department and bring 21st-century molecular diagnostics to our Academic Health Center,” Cain says.

Tomaszewski's appointment brings to five the number of new chairs and high-level physicians that Cain has hired in the last two years, an effort that he says is critical to his strategic vision for the medical school.

“With these recent hires, the UB medical school is expanding and enriching its expertise both in the basic sciences and in clinical care, which will greatly benefit UB medical students and faculty and, most importantly, the Western New York community,” he says.

Cain said that during a comprehensive national search, it rapidly became apparent that Tomaszewski possessed all the skills needed to advance the UB department and expand its basic and clinical research programs in service of UB 2020’s strategic goals.

Under Tomaszewski, the UB department will enhance its graduate medical education and mentored research training programs and work with Great Lakes Health, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Western New York community to further develop a comprehensive clinical program.

A native of Philadelphia, Tomaszewski received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his residency in pathology and fellowship in surgical pathology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He received specialized training in renal pathology at Columbia University.

Tomaszewski joined the faculty of University of Pennsylvania in 1983 as an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. During his 28-year tenure there, he served in numerous leadership positions, including director of electron microscopy, director of surgical pathology and vice chair anatomic pathology-hospital services.

He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology with added specialty qualifications in immunopathology.

Tomaszewski's long-term research has focused on genitourinary malignancies and immunopathology, with an emphasis on renal transplantation and advanced tissue image analysis.

“John’s research is internationally recognized for having moved these fields forward and for favorably affecting the treatment of patients with bladder and prostate cancers and kidney transplants,” says Cain.

Tomaszewski’s current research centers on the application of quantitative image analysis, computer vision, and machine learning to diagnostic problems in prostate and other cancers.

"He sees the field of 'integrated diagnostics,' with the fusion of large quantitative high-resolution imaging and molecular data sets, as the paradigm for the new 21st century diagnostics," says Cain.

Tomaszewski has received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and holds four patents in novel systems and methods for detecting cancer.

He has published numerous books, chapters and editorials, and more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 40 reviews.

Tomaszewski serves on peer-review study sections of the National Institutes of Health, editorial boards of leading medical and scientific journals in his field and in leadership positions in several professional societies.