Almost every patient that comes to Mount Sinai Hospital is served by the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department (PLM), with over 100,000 patients analyzed every year. PLM provides high quality tests to facilitate rapid diagnostic processes and treatment in our Emergency Room, as well as for ambulatory and hospitalized patients. 

PLM receives numerous referrals for cancer diagnostics, musculoskeletal tumours, predictive genetics and fetal neonatal diagnostics from across Ontario.  PLM also serves as a reference centre for specialized cancer diagnostic and genetics testing within Ontario and in other provinces, such as HER2/neu testing that is used to determine therapy for breast cancer patients. 

2008- 2009 Highlights

This year, a new chief of the department was appointed. Dr. Rita Kandel, an expert in musculoskeletal tumour pathology, replaced Dr. Ken Pritzker who stepped down after 22 years of leadership. Dr. Kandel is internationally renowned for her research program in musculoskeletal regenerative medicine, which is focused on developing new treatments for debilitating diseases such as arthritis and back pain.

For the past several years, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has been involved as a reference centre for breast cancer diagnostics for Newfoundland, responding to that province’s request to help solve their technical diagnostic problems. The three Mount Sinai staff who participated in this investigation include: Trish Wegrynowski, MLT, a technical specialist in Pathology with an expertise in immunohistochemistry methodology and troubleshooting; Dr. Brendan Mullen, a superb diagnostic pathologist, and Dr. Frances O’Malley, internationally renowned for her expertise in breast pathology. As a result of their contributions, the Commissioner made seven recommendations regarding training and continuing education of laboratory technologists. Much of the evidence that the Commissioner used to formulate these recommendations came from Ms. Wegrynowski. As well, Mount Sinai staff members were commended for the evidence that they provided, which formed the foundation for many of the other recommendations of the report, verifying PLM as a leader in laboratory quality assurance.

Advances in personalized medicine and state-of-the art diagnostics has allowed for the development of tumour treatments specific for cancers with a specific genetic profile. PLM was identified by the Province as the first site to do K-Ras gene testing, which allows the clinician to decide whether a specific treatment for colon cancer should be given to a patient. This new initiative has been spearheaded by Dr. Aaron Pollett.

The excellence of the members of the department was recognized both inside and beyond the hospital. For example, Dr. Eleftherios Diamandis, a clinical biochemist, was awarded the 2009 International Federation of Clinical Chemistry/Abbott Award for Significant Contributions to Molecular Diagnostics. This award honours an individual who has made significant contributions to the promotion and understanding of molecular biology and its applications in clinical chemistry/laboratory medicine. Alan Wolff, supervisor of Pathology Services, received a Karen McGibbon Award of Excellence – Seymour Schulich Honorarium from the hospital. This award is given in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the department and hospital in customer service, reflecting the values of the hospital.
Dr. Shabin Nanji, a pathologist with expertise in cytopathology, was one of the recipients of a College of American Pathologists (CAP) Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award. This grant will allow her to enhance the infrastructure of medical facilities in Kenya and to begin screening 10,000 Kenyan women for cervical cancer.  Many Kenyan women die from this preventable cancer each year due to insufficient knowledge and the poor equipment in this developing country. Dr. Nanji is particularly interested in cervical cancer screening in resource limited settings and is committed to the improvement of pathology services and infrastructure in the developing world.
After four long days of scrutiny, the laboratory services at Mount Sinai achieved the highest recognition from the Ontario Laboratory Accreditation (OLA) program, receiving a four-year certificate. Laboratory accreditation applies rigorous standards based on ISO requirements, national and provincial laws and best practice documents.