Aliyah Sohani

Dr. Sohani is a board-certified pathologist in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Hematology and her clinical areas of focus include Hematopathology, Laboratory Hematology and Surgical Pathology. She currently serves as the Director of Surgical Pathology, providing medical oversight for the surgical pathology processing and histopathology laboratories and asset management of archived tissue specimens. She previously served as the Medical Director of the Hematology section of the Core Laboratory in which role her efforts resulted in improved operations and clinical care in a number of areas, including enhanced detection of morphologic abnormalities in peripheral blood and body fluid specimens. She also oversees the Hematology Rotation, which constitutes part of the Clinical Pathology core training curriculum. In recognition of her teaching skills, she has received several awards from Mass General Hospital pathology residents, including the 2008 and 2012 Clinical Pathology Excellence in Teaching Awards. She holds a deep and abiding interest in issues related to delivery of pathology services in resource-challenged settings and serves as a mentor to pathologists in low/middle-income countries in establishing research programs and in bringing new diagnostic tests into the clinical realm.

Research

Dr. Sohani's major research interest is in the identification of novel pathologic, immunophenotypic and molecular markers in lymphoma that may help to define new clinicopathologic entities and predict tumor behavior and response to therapy. These efforts have led to the contribution of new knowledge and several key innovations to the field of lymphoma diagnosis and classification, including the first description of unusual, non-neoplastic T-cell populations in nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma; improved methods of screening for and diagnosing aggressive high-grade B-cell lymphomas with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements (double-hit lymphoma); improved diagnostic guidelines related to recognition by pathologists of rare cases of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma with deceptively bland cytomorphology; immunophenotypic and genetic evidence supporting the distinct pathogenesis of EBV-negative vs. EBV+ monomorphic post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder; and development of an immunohistochemistry-based biologic risk score in primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. In addition to her research interests in lymphoma, Dr. Sohani is involved in developing guidelines for lymphoma diagnosis and prognosis in regions of the world with limited testing resources and exploring ways that telemedicine and web-based learning can be used to enhance the delivery of pathology services in resource-limited settings and provide educational support to pathologists practicing in low/middle-income countries.

Clinical Interests:

• Hematopathology
• Hemoglobin Electrophoresis
• Surgical pathology

Medical Education

• MD, Harvard Medical School
• Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital

American Board Certifications

• Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology, American Board of Pathology
• Hematopathology, American Board of Pathology