Lucas Named Chair of UC's Pathology Department

CINCINNATI—The University of Cincinnati (UC) Board of Trustees Tuesday approved the naming of Fred Lucas, MD, as chair of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. He also becomes the MacKenzie Chair of Pathology. His appointment is effective July 1, 2012.

Lucas replaces David Witte, MD, who has served as chair since 2007. Witte plans to return to faculty and focus attention on his duties as director of pathology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Lucas is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, Mo. He completed a fellowship in anatomic and clinical pathology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1979 and went on to hold a number of positions within Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University before becoming chairman of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida in 1988.

In 1997, Lucas entered private practice in Cincinnati and then held leadership roles for the medical and transfusion services department at Christ Hospital and Midwest Pathology Group. He joined UC’s faculty in 2007 and in 2011 was named vice chair for clinical services and medical director at the UC Health University Hospital Clinical Laboratory.

"Dr. Lucas has been instrumental in the successful effort aimed at bringing anatomic and clinical pathology services back in house at University Hospital—imperative for training, patient care and clinical trial work,” said College of Medicine Dean Thomas Boat, MD, in a memo to faculty and staff. "He has been actively involved in recruiting new faculty to the department and has made numerous contributions to the education of pathology residents, clinical fellows and second-year medical students.”

Lucas’ interests include clinical laboratory testing, hematopathology and surgical pathology. 

More information about the department of pathology and laboratory medicine can be found at http://www.pathology.uc.edu.