Cancers Treated:
Specializing In:
- Upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsy pathology
- Barrett's esophagus and Barrett's-associated dysplasia
- Eosinophilic esophagitis and other inflammatory disorders of the esophagus
- Gastritis, including Helicobacter pylori gastritis and autoimmune gastritis
- Celiac sprue, peptic duodenitis, dysplasia and other small-bowel disorders
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Rare and diagnostically challenging GI and pancreatobiliary diseases
- Ancillary diagnostic testing, including immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, special stains and clinically relevant tumor biomarkers
Research Interests:
- Barrett's esophagus and progression to esophageal adenocarcinoma
- Gastrointestinal cancer pathology and tumor biomarkers
- Colorectal, pancreatic and hepatobiliary neoplasia
- Neuroendocrine neoplasms
- Translational and molecular pathology of gastrointestinal malignancies
Biography
I am a surgical pathologist specializing in gastrointestinal pathology, with more than 23 years of post-residency and fellowship experience. My early practice encompassed general oncologic pathology, including biopsies, surgical resections, frozen sections and cytopathology across organ systems. Over time, my clinical practice became increasingly focused on gastrointestinal disease, and from 2013 I practiced fully subspecialized GI pathology and served as Clinical Chief of the Gastrointestinal Pathology Section at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. I also presented pathologic findings at multidisciplinary GI tumor boards for more than two decades.
Since May 2025, my practice through RPCI Laboratories has focused on community-based GI pathology. I routinely evaluate a high volume of upper and lower GI endoscopic specimens encompassing inflammatory, autoimmune, premalignant and malignant disease. My practice also includes consultation on liver and pancreatic biopsies and diagnostically challenging or uncommon gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary diseases.
I believe pathology is most valuable when it is integrated with the patient's clinical and endoscopic findings. I work closely with gastroenterologists and surgeons and encourage direct communication, particularly when a diagnosis is difficult, findings are unexpected, or results may require prompt clinical intervention. My goal is to provide community physicians with subspecialty GI pathology expertise, clinically useful diagnoses and responsive service in a high-volume practice setting.
Positions
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Professor of Oncology
- Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
State University of New York at Buffalo
- Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Background
Education and Training
- 1996 - MD - State University of New York at Stony Brook, Brookhaven, NY
- 1992 - PhD - Experimental Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- 1987 - MS - University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Residency
- 1996-2000 - Anatomic & Clinical Pathology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Fellowship
- 2000-2003 - Wilmot Fellowship, EGFR Signaling & Surgical Pathology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Board Certification
- American Board of Pathology – Anatomic and Clinical Pathology
Professional Memberships
- Association of Pathology Chairs
- College of American Pathologists
- United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology
- American Society for Clinical Pathology
- Western New York Society of Surgical Pathologists
Honors & Awards
- 2021-2026 - Top Doctor, Buffalo Spree Magazine
- 2007-2012, 2013-2026 - University at Buffalo Outstanding ACGME Accreditation Award
- 2007-2012; 2013-2026 - University at Buffalo Outstanding ACGME Accreditation Award
- 2012 - Outstanding Leadership Award, North American Journal of Medicine and Science
- 2010 - Dr. Edith E. Sproul Teaching Award for outstanding commitment and dedication to fellow education
- Leadership Development for Physicians in Academic Health Centers, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston Massachusetts (Eoin W. Trevelyan, D.B.A.)
- Executive Development RV Rhodes
- Pathology Leadership Academy by Association of Pathology Chairs
Research Overview
RPCI Laboratories provides community gastroenterologists and surgeons with access to subspecialty pathology expertise in a community-based laboratory setting. The GI pathology practice evaluates a high volume of upper and lower endoscopic specimens. A comprehensive menu of ancillary testing is available, including immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, special stains and clinically relevant biomarkers. The practice emphasizes rapid turnaround, responsive service and direct physician-to-pathologist communication when findings are difficult, unexpected or clinically urgent. The laboratory was established to make this level of pathology expertise more accessible and affordable to community physicians and their patients, with broad insurance participation and self-pay options.
Featured on CancerTalk
Publications
• LeVea CM. Pathogenesis of Esophageal Cancer. In: Minimally Invasive Foregut Surgery for Malignancy. Springer International Publishing; 2015.
• Nurkin SJ, Nava HR, Yendamuri S, LeVea CM, et al. Outcomes of Endoscopic Resection for High-Grade Dysplasia and Esophageal Cancer. Surgical Endoscopy. 2014;28(4):1090-1095.
• Singla S, LeVea CM, Pokuri VK, et al. Ki67 score as a potential predictor in the selection of liver-directed therapies for metastatic neuroendocrine tumors: a single institutional experience. Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology. 2016;7(3):441-448.
• Nakanishi Y, LeVea CM, Dibaj S, et al. Reappraisal of Serosal Invasion in Patients With T3 Colorectal Cancer by Elastic Stain. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 2016;140:81-85.
• Al-Sukhni E, LeVea CM, Kane J, Skitzki J, Francescutti V. Key Gaps in Pathologic Reporting for Appendiceal Mucinous Neoplasms: Time for Universal Synoptic Reporting? Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. 2016.