American Society of Clinical Pathologists Recognizes Incoming UNO Alumni Association President
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) recently recognized incoming University of New Orleans International Alumni Association President Fred Rodriguez for his contributions to the organization and to his field.
Rodriguez, who this month was also named one of three 2013 Alumni of the Year by LSU Health Sciences Center Medical School, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from UNO in 1973. He is a New Orleans pathologist and president-elect of the UNO alumni association.
Rodriguez is also a past president of ASCP, the world's largest professional membership organization for pathologists and laboratory professionals. With more than 100,000 members, the society has guided education, certification and advocacy on behalf of patients, pathologists and laboratory professionals across the globe and strived to lead the application and evolution of the pathology and laboratory medicine specialty since 1922.
Rodriguez became president of the national organization in 2005, a year in which his laboratory at the New Orleans Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA Medical Center) had to be completely rebuilt following Hurricane Katrina. (The VA Medical Center is now being rebuilt as one of two major medical centers expected to anchor a new Bio Medical District in Mid-City New Orleans. The new $1.1 billion Veterans Administration Hospital, a 29-acre complex at South Galvez and Canal Streets, is expected to open in February 2016.)
"Throughout his career, Dr. Rodriguez has juggled two full-time jobs: working in pathology at the VA Medical Center and in the academic world at LSU," said the national association of clinical pathologists in a press release. "His dual roles as Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service at the VA Medical Center and pathology professor at LSU have deepened his enthusiasm and his knowledge about the profession."
