PATHOLOGY BIOGRAPHIES
Tammy Battaglia, M.D.
Dr. Battaglia is currently Laboratory Director of Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center
and Regional Medical Laboratory of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Dr. Battaglia joined PLA in July 2001. After growing up in Girard, Kansas, she attended
Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, where she received a bachelor’s degree
in pre-medical biology. She then went on to receive her M.D. from the University of Kansas
Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas. She completed her Anatomic and Clinical Pathology
Residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center, also in Kansas City, Kansas. Her
primary interest is in general surgical pathology. Dr. Battaglia is currently working at
the Pathology Laboratory Associates office in Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Brian Bock, M.D.
Dr. Bock is the Department Chairman and Laboratory Director at Muskogee Regional
Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Dr. Bock joined our staff in July 2000. He is a
graduate of Creighton Medical School in Omaha, Nebraska. He completed his Anatomic and
Clinical Pathology Residency, as well as a Surgical Pathology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota. His primary interest is in general surgical pathology with a
special interest in genitourinary pathology. Dr. Bock maintains a faculty appointment
at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa a Clinical Assistant Professor
with the Department of Surgery and Clinical Instructor for the Department of Pathology.
Steve Casner, M.D.
Dr. Casner is the Department Chairman and Laboratory Director at Jane Phillips Medical
Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Dr. Casner joined the RML team in July 1996. He came
from Baylor University Medical Center, where he completed a four year residency in
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. He also completed internships in Internal Medicine and
Diagnostic Radiology at the same institution prior to beginning his pathology residency.
Dr. Casner is a native of Lubbock, Texas, and did his undergraduate training at Texas Tech
University, where he majored in biology.
A. Neil Crowson, M.D., FCAP, FRCPC
Dr Crowson is currently Chairman of the Anatomic Pathology Department at our core
laboratory at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Crowson joined PLA in
April 1999, coming from Winnipeg, Canada. He has directed the dermatopathology unit of
the University of Oklahoma since September 2000, and is a Clinical Associate Professor
of Dermatology and Pathology. He attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and
attended medical school at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1980. He did his
postgraduate training at the University of Toronto and spent fourteen years in Winnipeg
directing the laboratory department at the Misericordia General Hospital and Central
Medical Laboratories. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and maintains active
research interests in the molecular biology of skin cancer, the inflammatory dermatoses,
and the application of biospectroscopy to skin and breast disease. Dr. Crowson is a
co-editor with Dr. Raymond Barnhill and Dr. Alvin Solomon of Textbook of Dermatopathology
(McGraw Hill, 1998), now in its 3rd edition. His book, The Melanocytic Proliferations
(John Wiley and Sons, 2001), won the American Association of Publishers Award for
excellence in the category of medical and scientific texts. His most recent book,
Cutaneous Lymphoid Proliferation was published in 2007 by Wiley & Sons. Dr. Crowson
directed the long course in Dermatopathology at the USCAP annual meeting in 2006, only
the 3rd time in the 110 year history of the academy, that skin disease was the subject
of the long course.
Terrence Dolan, M.D., FCAP, FCRP(Ire.)
Dr. Dolan joined St. John Medical Center as the Director of Pathology Laboratories
in 1980. In 1981, Regional Medical Laboratory was formed to take advantage of outreach
laboratory markets in Tulsa and the surrounding area. Dr. Dolan has served as the
President of Regional Medical Laboratory since that time as well as Chairman of the
Department of Pathology. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of
Regional Medical Laboratory as well as Utica Services, the parent company of RML.
He was the President and a member of the Board of Directors of Infometrics Systems
Corporation. Dr. Dolan was a member of the Board of Directors of ValuMed, the St.
John Independent Practice Association. He is a Clinical Professor of Pathology at
the University of Oklahoma Medical School and a past-president of the Oklahoma State
Association of Pathologists.
Dr. Dolan received his medical degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska,
graduating first in his class. He received his Pathology specialty education at the
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Following completion of his training, he became
a staff physician at the Mayo Clinic as well as an instructor at the Mayo Clinic Medical
School. He is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology as well as in Medical
Microbiology. He is a past member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of
Clinical Pathology. He has served on numerous committees for the College of American
Pathologists since 1969 and is currently a member of the Laboratory Fiscal Management
and Management Resources Committees.
Over the last twenty-five years, Dr. Dolan has been interested in using informatics to
leverage medical and management decisions in the clinical laboratory. During this time,
he has developed extensive methods of measuring laboratory performance.
William Fitter, M.D., FCAP, FCRP(Ire.)
Dr Fitter is Chief of Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology at Regional Medical Laboratory
at St Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Fitter graduated in medicine in 1973 from
the National University of Ireland. Following completion of a general internship and
residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at McMaster University Medical School,
Ontario, Canada, he undertook additional fellowship training in Clinical Chemistry at
the same location. Before moving to St. John Medical Center in 1987, he served as
Associate Pathologist and Vice-Chief of Pathology at Harper Hospital, Detroit Medical Center.
Although experienced in a variety of areas in Clinical Pathology, his principal areas of
interest remain Clinical Chemistry, Toxicology and Informatics. Dr. Fitter maintains a
faculty appointment at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa as Clinical
Professor with the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pathology.
Paul Gelven, M.D.
Dr. Gelven is the Department Chairman and Laboratory Director for Ponca City Hospital
in Ponca City, Oklahoma. He served at the president of the Ponca City Hospital Medical
Staff in 2007. Dr. Gelven graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.A.
in chemistry in 1988. He graduated from their medical school in 1992. Dr. Gelven performed
his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the Medical University of South
Carolina-Charleston from 1992-1996, and did a flexible fifth year fellowship at St. Louis
University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1996-1997 in Anatomic Pathology. He has practiced
pathology since July 1997, in Ponca City, Oklahoma and joined PLA in 2004.
Brent Hartsell, M.D.
Dr. Hartsell is President of Pathology Laboratory Associates (PLA), Vice President of
Regional Medical Laboratory (RML), and Chief of Blood Bank at St. John Medical Center.
He has been a member of PLA since 1994. After graduating from University of Texas at
Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Dr. Hartsell received his Doctor of
Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He received
the Hemphill-Gojer Scholarship and was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical
Society. Dr. Hartsell completed an internship in Internal Medicine and then completed
his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Veterans
Administration Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. He is a diplomat
of the American board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology. In 2000 he was
president of the Oklahoma State Association of Pathologists and has held the position of
vice chair of Utica Physicians’ Association since 2002. He was a board member at the Oklahoma
Blood Institute for 3 years, and chairman of the board of directors at ValueMed, an IPA for
2 years. Dr. Hartsell holds a special interest in laboratory management, clinical pathology
and coagulation.
Michael Harvey, M.D.
Dr. Harvey completed a fellowship in cytopathology at the University of Vermont. He
completed his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Harvey attended medical school at the Medical College of Georgia. Prior to medical school
he majored in chemistry at the University of Georgia. His areas of special interest include
fine needle aspiration and gynecologic cytology. Dr. Harvey is board certified in Anatomic
and Clinical Pathology, with sub specialty board certification in Cytopathology as well.
He joined PLA in 2008.
Henry Haskell, M.D.
Dr. Haskell joined PLA in July, 2006. He earned his undergraduate degree at Haverford
College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He then went on to
complete a masters’ degree in medieval history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
In 2002 he received his medical degree from The University of Alabama School of Medicine in
Birmingham, Alabama, where he was chosen for the Lupton Fellowship in pathology. His
residency training, in anatomic pathology, was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard
teaching affiliate, where he was taught by Dr. Christopher Fletcher. He completed a
fellowship in Dermatopathology at Weill Cornell Medical Center/Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center under the mentorship of Drs. N. Scott McNutt and Klaus J. Busam. He is
board certified in Anatomic pathology and Dermatopathology. Dr. Haskell’s research
interests include soft tissue lesions and the pathology of the oral cavity.
Ryan Hendren, M.D.
Dr. Hendren joined PLA in 2008. He received his BS from Georgetown University in 1992,
and his MD from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 2001. He completed a
residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of North Carolina in 2006,
followed by a fellowship in Cytopathology, completed in 2007. He is a diplomate of the
American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, and is also board certified
in Cytopathology.
Stephanie Holt, M.D.
Dr. Holt is current Chief of Cytopathology at St John Medical Center and Regional Medical
Laboratory. Dr. Holt joined PLA in 2005. Dr. Holt received her B.S. from George Washington
University in 1976, and her M.D. from University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine in
1980. She completed a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of
Chicago in 1984, and a fellowship in Surgical Pathology/Cytopathology at M. D. Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston in 1986. She was in practice in the Chicago area for two years,
followed by seventeen years of practice in Boca Raton, Florida. At Boca Raton Community
Hospital, she served as medical director of the Transfusion Service, in addition to
practicing surgical pathology and cytopathology. She also served on the board of directors
of a large regional blood center, Community Blood Centers of South Florida, from 1989 to 2005,
including three years as Chairman. Her special interests include fine needle aspiration cytology,
gynecologic pathology, and transfusion medicine. She is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical
Pathology, with subspecialty board certification in Cytopathology and Transfusion Medicine/Blood Banking.
She was chosen by the Consumer Research Council of America as one of America’s Top Doctors in 2003-2004,
and 2004-2005.
Lawrence R. Johnson, M.D.
Dr. Johnson is the Chief of Hematology, Coagulation, Flow Cytometry, and Urinalysis
at St John Medical Center and Regional Medical Laboratory. A graduate of Dartmouth College
in Hanover, New Hampshire, he Dr. Johnson is the current Chief of Hematology and Coagulation
at St John Medical Center and Regional Medical Laboratory. Dr. Johnson joined PLA in 2004.
A graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, he completed his Doctor of Medicine
from Dartmouth Medical School in 1995. He completed his anatomic and clinical pathology
residency at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri where he trained
with Louis P Dehner, M.D. and Mark Wick, M.D. He then went on to complete a surgical pathology
fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with Drs. E. Leon Barnes and
Samuel Yousem. This was followed by a hematopathology fellowship under the direction of Dr.
Steven H. Swerdlow, also at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His clinical
duties as a hematopathology fellow included evaluation of lymphoid lesions using morphology
together with flow cytometric immunophenotyping, cytogenetic, and molecular genotypic studies.
His research interests as a fellow centered on microarray analysis using Affymetrix gene chips
of post transplant lymphoproliferative disorders. Dr. Johnson has published over 20 articles
most recently in the area of lymphoproliferative diseases. He is a member of: Tulsa County
Medical Society, Oklahoma State Medical Association, American Society of Clinical Pathologists,
Society for Hematopathology, American Association of Clinical Chemists, College of American
Pathologists, and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. Dr Johnson is board
certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Hematolpathology.
Walter L. LaMar, M.D.
Dr. LaMar, a native of Oklahoma, attended undergraduate and medical school at the
University of Oklahoma. He completed residencies in internal medicine at University
Hospital/VA Medical Center, Oklahoma City and in anatomic and clinical pathology at
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He completed a fellowship in surgical
pathology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, followed by a fellowship
in dermatopathology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School under the
tutelage of Dr. Martin Mihm. Dr. LaMar’s board certifications include general surgical
pathology as well as dermatopathology. He has been a pathologist at St. John Medical Center
since 1980 and a member of PLA since its inception.
Gerald Miller, Ph.D.
Dr. Miller joined Regional Medical Laboratory and Pathology Laboratory Associates
in 1994 as Chief of Immunology, flow Cytometry and Microbiology following 12 years of
operating Immuno-Diagnostics Laboratory. He is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the
Department of Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Tulsa and
Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the OSU School of
Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Miller received a Ph.D. degree in virology from Kansas State
University in 1972 with subsequent training as a Mayo Research Fellow in the fields of
virology and immunology. He is a board certified by the American Board of Medical
Laboratory Immunology. Other professional activities include serving on the editorial
boards of Clinical and Vaccine Immunology and Journal of Rheumatology as well as being
the secretary of the Association of Medical Laboratory Immunology.
Jim Palmer, M.D.
Dr. Palmer is currently Chief of Surgical Pathology at St John Medical Center and
Regional Medical Laboratory and has been with PLA since 1989. Dr. Palmer received both
his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine from Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee.
After completing his surgical pathology residency and fellowship at the Washington
University School of Medicine in 1983, he remained at WU as an instructor and as a
pathologist at Barnes Hospital and Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri before moving to
Tulsa. He maintains a special interest and expertise in breast pathology.
Igor Shendrik, M.D.
Dr. Shendrik joined PLA in August, 2004. He served as Assistant Professor and Director
of the Dermatopathology Section at Creighton University Medical Center. Dr Shendrik
graduated with an MD degree with honors from the Kharkov Medical Institute in Kharkov,
Ukraine, followed by postdoctoral training in Pediatrics, and a residency program in
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
in New York. He completed a Fellowship in Hematopathology at Columbia University, followed
by a Fellowship in Dermatopathology at Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio). Dr Shendrik
is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Dermatopathology. His
sub-specialty board certifications also include Hematopathology. His research subspecialty
interests include atypical melanocytic lesions and cutaneous lymphocytic dyscrasias.
Cindi Starkey, M.D.
Dr. Starkey is the current Chief of Molecular Pathology at St John Medical Center and
Regional Medical Laboratory. Dr. Starkey joined PLA in August, 2006. She completed a
Hematopathology Fellowship under the direction of Dr. Kathryn Foucar at the University
of New Mexico. During her fellowship, her research interests were focused on prognostic
indicators in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She completed her residency training in
pathology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and she is board
certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, and Hematopathology. Prior to initiation
of her pathology residency training, she completed an internship in pediatrics at Louisiana
State University, New Orleans, Louisiana. She earned her medical degree from Louisiana
State University, New Orleans, Louisiana, where she was a member of the national honor
medical society Alpha Omega Alpha. Prior to initiation of medical training, she completed
her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, where
she examined molecular determinants of leukemogenesis. She earned her undergraduate degree
in Biochemistry at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she graduated
with Distinction in University Honors. She has several publications stemming from her work
as a fellow in hematopathology, as a resident, and as doctoral student.
James Taylor, M.D.
Dr. Taylor was raised in Wichita, Kansas, and attended the University of Notre Dame
where he received an undergraduate degree in Biology. He received his M.D. degree at the
University of Chicago in 1982 and remained there for three additional years for his pathology
training. He spent the academic year of 1985-6 as an instructor in surgical pathology,
diagnostic electron microscopy and renal pathology. In the summer of 1986 he moved to Tulsa,
Oklahoma, to practice pathology at Saint Francis Hospital Laboratory specializing
immunohistochemistry as well as surgical pathology, renal pathology, and fine needle aspiration
cytology. In April of 2000, Dr. Taylor joined Pathology Laboratory Associates at St. John Medical
Center. Dr. Taylor is board certified in Anatomic Pathology.