July 28, 2006

David N. Louis, MD, named chief of MGH Pathology Service

David N. Louis, MD, (right) has been appointed chief of the MGH Pathology Service, effective Sept. 1. A neuropathologist and a pioneer in deciphering the complex molecular structure of tumors, Louis is highly regarded as a leader in both the clinical and research arenas. He has been serving as associate chief of the Pathology Service and director of the Molecular Pathology Unit.

Louis succeeds Robert Colvin, MD, who has led MGH Pathology since 1991. Colvin will continue as a senior faculty member in Pathology.

As associate chief of Pathology, Louis has been overseeing the department's multidimensional research program. His own research has focused on unraveling the genetic basis of brain tumors. Louis and his team were the first to demonstrate that molecular approaches could be used to categorize a type of brain tumor called malignant glioma in a biologically and clinically relevant manner. His laboratory determined the way in which molecular approaches could predict the response particular malignant gliomas will have to a given therapy, which has resulted in a test for patients that now is used worldwide.

"David is the ideal leader for pathology at this time," says Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH. "He is assuming the departmental reins just as molecular profiling of disease appears to be critical in developing treatments tailored to the individual. David embodies the direction that pathology is — and should be — heading."

Louis is known as a thoughtful and creative problem-solver who tackles difficult problems head-on, says David F. Torchiana, MD, CEO and chairman of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. "He is a careful and deliberate listener who can home in on a complex issue and figure out a pathway toward solutions. The consummate collaborator, David inspires those around him to aim high, push hard, ask the right questions and succeed."

Louis says he looks forward to leading a premier department in a field that is undergoing rapid growth and transformation. "We are in the midst of an exciting time in pathology in general, and MGH Pathology in particular is ideally poised to build on its traditional strengths and really push the field forward in important, novel directions," he says. "I am both honored and humbled to have been entrusted to lead the extraordinary staff in Pathology as we work collaboratively to further the clinical and academic mission of the hospital."

The author of or contributor to more than 200 original articles, as well as numerous reviews and chapters, Louis is chairing the 2007 World Health Organization Committee for the Classification of Tumours of the Nervous System. He serves on the scientific advisory panel of the Brain Tumor Society, the board of directors of the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and on the editorial boards of more than 10 national and international journals. He is one of three editors for the eighth edition of Greenfield's Neuropathology, the standard international reference for the field, and is current chair of the Cancer Biomarkers Study Section at the National Institutes of Health.

Louis received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1981 and his medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1985. After training in internal medicine at Albany Medical Center, he came to the MGH as a resident in anatomic pathology and neuropathology and received his post-doctoral training in cancer genetics.