Section Director: Holly Harper, M.D.
The Autopsy Pathology service is comprised of attending pathologists, pathology residents, and a dedicated team of morticians who are responsible for expedient and thorough post mortem examination of deceased patients of the University Hospitals system. Approximately 200 autopsies per year are performed, lending a vital tool for providing clarity of a decedent’s clinical course for both patients’ families and clinical care teams. Autopsy acts as 1) a means of instruction for not just the specialty of pathology but for the medical field as a whole, 2) a mechanism for correction by allowing insight into the pathogenesis of a given disease process and interplay with medical intervention, and 3) as a pathway to discovery and investigation of both established and novel disease entities. The Autopsy Pathology service is an invaluable asset that will act upon the above mentioned points in a dignified and dutiful manner, and above all with the upmost reverence for the decedents who have been placed in its care for examination.