Subspecialists Take On New Leadership Roles with Roswell Park Pathology Team

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Pathology Program is expanding with the appointments of two sub-specialists — one new to Roswell Park, one an accomplished team member for many years — to leadership roles.

“As our understanding of cancer deepens and we gain new insights on how best to identify, differentiate and treat the more than 100 distinct cancer types, we recognize how important it is for Roswell Park patients to be able to benefit from team members who are experts not just in their field or discipline but in the growing number of sub-specialties and focuses,” says Roswell Park Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Charles LeVea, MD, PhD.

Dr. Gregory Freund

Gregory Freund, MD, has been named a Chief of Pathology, and Director of Cytopathology. A nationally renowned cytopathologist with over 25 years of experience, Dr. Freund will join the Roswell Park staff in June from the University of Illinois College of Medicine – Urbana, where he was professor and Head of Pathology. Cytopathology examines individual cells extracted from tissues that can help determine the cause of a disease

Dr. Freund received his BA in studio art from Wesleyan University, then attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (URMC). He trained as a resident in pathology at URMC, where he was Chief Resident, Wilmot Cancer Research Fellow and Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists Young Investigator awardee.

He is a physician-scientist who has been a funded investigator of neuroimmune complications of anxiety for almost three decades. His dedication to studying and diagnosing diseases on the cellular level led to the creation of a program and research focused on why illness causes people to behave and feel in a sick way.

In addition, Dr. Freund was the founding Medical Director of the Carle Foundation Hospital School of Cytotechnology and Associate Medical Director at the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center – Urbana. Nationally, he is a founding member of the Leadership, Development and Diversity Committee for the Association of Pathology Chairs.

Dr. Saraswati Pokharel

Saraswati Pokharel, MD, PhD, has been promoted to Chief of Pathology and Director of Thoracic Pathology at Roswell Park. On staff at the center since 2013, she will now lead a basic science research program aimed at preventing and treating cancer therapy-induced cardiopulmonary fibrosis. She’ll work to grow this division of pathology, which takes particular focus on analyzing tissues in the thorax including the lungs, trachea and mediastinum.

Dr. Pokharel is a talented educator and researcher who has earned accolades for her recent investigations in cardio-oncology, a developing field. She received her medical school training at the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, in Kathmandu, Nepal, and subsequently completed doctoral training in cardiovascular pathophysiology at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Dr. Pokharel went on to complete residency training at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Louisville, subspecialty training in cytopathology, with fellowship training in thoracic pathology, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Pokharel is the author of Principles of Pathologic Review for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s small cell lung cancer guidelines and is the local primary investigator for the European Thoracic Oncology Platform’s Lungscape project.

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Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a community united by the drive to eliminate cancer’s grip on humanity by unlocking its secrets through personalized approaches and unleashing the healing power of hope. Founded by Dr. Roswell Park in 1898, it is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. Learn more at www.roswellpark.org, or contact us at 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.