Meet Our Fellows

Nathan McLamb, MD
Nathan McLamb was born in North Carolina. He first earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Emergency Medical Science from Wake Technical Community College as he was training to become a Paramedic. Shortly after, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from North Carolina State University. He then attended medical school at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University where he earned his Doctor of Medicine degree. After medical school, he completed his Clinical Pathology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. He then began working as a General Clinical Pathologist in Grand Rapids, MI and focused mainly on General Chemistry with some additional work in Point of Care and Blood Banking. Academically, he enjoys teaching and focusing on areas of quality improvement, process optimization, informatics, and novel teaching methods. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, amateur photography, and cooking.

Learn more about the blood banking & transfusion medicine fellowship »

Hannah Brown, PhD
Hannah Brown was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Political Science from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University. Hannah’s graduate research focused on the analysis of brain tumor biopsies using intraoperative mass spectrometry (MS)-based platforms for improved glioma diagnostics based on molecular features. In her spare time, Hannah enjoys sharing meals with friends and family, skiing, traveling, and spending quality time with her dog, Pebbles.

Catherine Omosule, PhD
Cate Omosule was born in Ghana and completed high school in St. Louis, Missouri as part of a Youth Exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Ghanaian government. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri, Columbia. During graduate school, she was under the mentorship of Dr. Charlotte L. Phillips. Cate’s research explored the potential of improving bone strength in a rare bone disorder- osteogenesis imperfecta, using antibodies directed against myostatin (a muscle regulating ligand) and activin A. In her spare time, Cate enjoys reading, trying new recipes, gardening, and exploring St. Louis with her husband and daughter.

Learn more about the clinical chemistry fellowship »

Rabia Zafar, MD
Rabia Zafar was born in Pakistan and completed medical school at Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan. She worked as volunteer research assistant at Howard University hospital where she completed a project of triple negative breast cancer on 202 African American women presenting at Howard University Hospital since 1988. She completed her AP/CP residency from East Tennessee State University and surgical pathology fellowship from Mayo Clinic. During her fellowship, her areas of interests were gynecologic, breast and genitourinary pathology. She completed a number of projects during surgical pathology fellowship including the largest case series published so far on paratesticular lesions with tubulopapillary architecture. Rabia is the current cytopathology fellow at Barnes Jewish Hospital. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her family, cooking and watching movies.

Learn more about the cytopathology fellowship »

Lily Mahapatra, MD, PhD
Lily was born in Trenton, NJ and raised in Port Tobacco, MD. She completed her BA in Sociology and Microbiology at Cornell University followed by a post-baccalaureate research fellowship (IRTA) at the NIH, studying immunoparasitology. She subsequently joined the MD/PhD program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Her research focused on small molecule inhibitors for the RNA-binding protein, IMP-1 in melanomas, and she was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30) from the NCI for these efforts. She recently completed the AP/CP residency program at Washington University and served as a chief resident in her final year of training. Lily is the current Dermatopathology Fellow and her research interests include Merkel Cell Carcinoma and High-Risk HPV Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her family, cooking, and watercoloring. 

Learn more about the dermatopathology fellowship »

Abdullah Almajnooni, MD
Abdullah was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where he completed medical school at Umm Al-Qura University. Before joining WUSTL, Abdullah completed his AP/CP training at RUSH University in Chicago. At work, he enjoys helping junior colleagues in the gross room or at the microscope. Abdullah spends most of his time outside work with his wife and children, exploring local restaurants. In addition, he is a big fan of soccer, hiking, and desert camping.

Hansini Laharwani, MD
Hansini Laharwani will be starting a Women’s health fellowship at Washington University, St.Louis, Missouri, in July 2022. She is a USCAP ambassador and elected Secretary of the College of American Pathologists, Resident Forum Executive Committee. Under her belt, she has written a grossing book and an inspirational blogpost for Match22 and PathMatch22. She enjoys spending time with friends and family outside work, mentoring students and residents, traveling, swimming, playing badminton, dancing, and learning a musical instrument.

Learn more about the gynecologic and breast fellowship »

Sanica Bhele, MD
Sanica Bhele was born and raised in India, where she completed her medical school training. She also completed 3-year combined anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Tata Memorial Center Mumbai, one of the biggest cancer centers in India where she developed her interest in Head and Neck pathology. After residency she served as an attending pathologist for a few years before relocating to the United States with her husband. In the U.S. she pursued her research interests at Cedar Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles California and was involved in several research projects on prostate cancer. She completed AP/CP residency at UMass Chan Medical School – Baystate in Springfield, Massachusetts. Having resided both at west coast and east coast, Sanica is now excited to be at Wash U and to explore St. Louis. Outside of work, Sanica loves to spend time with her family and friends, hiking, cooking, art, yoga and music.

Learn more about the head and neck fellowship »

Mitra Afsharpad, MD
Mitra Afsharpad was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She attended Medical school at Tehran University of Medical Science. She moved to Canada in 2015 and completed her residency in anatomical pathology at the University of Calgary. Mitra’s  primary interest is in Hematopathology and may consider a second fellowship in molecular pathology or GU pathology.  Her main interest is family time (picnics, walks, petting zoos, shopping)! She also enjoys cooking, reading books and watching movies, and dancing.

Cory Gray, DO
Cory was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Due to his father’s job as a chemical engineer, he spent a few years of his childhood in Oslo, Norway. He completed an associate’s degree in surgical technology and then three bachelor’s degrees at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in Biology, Microbiology, and Cell & Molecular Biology. Cory attended medical school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. He then completed residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Chicago NorthShore hospital in Evanston, Illinois. He is now working as a hematopathology fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and has accepted a second fellowship in molecular genetics at Washington University as well, to be completed next year (2023-2024). He has two children with his wife, and is part of the Osage Native American tribe. Cory’s hobbies are drumming, hiking, and watching movies with family.

Learn more about the hematopathology fellowship »

Manli Shen, PhD, CHS (ACHI)
Manli was born and raised in Wuhan, China. She completed medical education in Tongji Medical School and worked four years in the Pediatric Surgery Department in Wuhan Children’s Hospital before going back to Tongji Medical School for graduate education. After earned her PhD in molecular biology, she immigrated to the US to conduct postdoctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine and MD. Anderson Cancer Center on RNA splicing and human diseases. In 2014, she joined the HLA lab in the University of Kentucky as a clinical laboratory scientist. Manli started her HLA director-in-training in 2022. Manli loves to travel and spend time with her family.

Bahareh Adhamimojarad, PhD
Bahareh was born and raised in Iran. She completed her undergraduate and M.Sc. studies in Medical Biotechnology at the University of Tehran, Iran, and earned her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto, Canada. Her PhD was focused on centrosome biology and ciliopathies. After her graduate studies, Bahareh completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, where she investigated the genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders using next-generation sequencing data. She is currently a fellow in Laboratory Genetics and Genomics at Washington University in St. Louis. In her spare time, Bahareh enjoys watching movies, trying new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends.

Reza Ghasemi, PhD
Born and raised in Kazeroon, southern Iran, Reza completed his BS in General Biology at Shiraz University (2003), MS in Human Genetics at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (2007), and PhD in Oncology and Molecular Pathology at Universita G. d’Annunzio of Italy (2013). He moved to WashU to do his first postdoc in tumor immunology (2014-2016 in the Department of Surgery) and second postdoc in cancer genetics and genomics (2016-2019 in the Department of Internal Medicine – Oncology). He then worked as a staff scientist from 2019 to 2022 in the laboratory of Dr. David H. Spencer. He entered the LGG fellowship program in July 2022.

Learn more about the laboratory genetics & genomics fellowship »

Alicia Dessain, MD
Alicia Dessain grew up in Boston, MA but went back to her family’s roots for medical school in Brussels, Belgium. She came back to Boston to complete part of her pathology residency at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA, but transferred to Missouri University in her final year to join her husband. Alicia is passionate about surgical pathology, particularly the gastrointestinal field. Outside of work she loves to travel to far corners of the world, spend time with her family, and be outdoors as much as possible.

Learn more about the liver/GI pathology fellowship »

Rachel Bosserman, PhD
Rachel grew up Thorntown, Indiana and received a BS in Biochemistry from Purdue University.  She then completed her doctoral studies in Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame where her research focused on protein secretion in pathogenic Mycobacteria.  After completing her PhD, she conducted research on E. coli at UTHealth McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas.  She then moved to St. Louis where she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine.  Rachel is currently a medical and public health microbiology fellow at Washington University School of Medicine.  She is passionate about microbiology and has particular interests in antimicrobial resistance, mycobacteria, and molecular diagnostics.  Outside of work, Rachel enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and gardening.

Nicole Tarlton, PhD
Nicole Tarlton grew up in the Bay Area in California. She received a BS in Microbiology, and an MS in Microbiology and Molecular Biology, from San José State University. She earned her PhD in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley, where her research focused on the development of rapid diagnostic tests to detect antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria that cause urinary tract infection and bloodstream infection. She is very passionate about antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, diagnostics, and improving patient care for infectious diseases, and is pursuing this passion as a Fellow in Medical and Public Health Microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Outside of work, Nicole loves to read science fiction and fantasy novels and play board and card games.

Learn more about the medical & public health microbiology fellowship »

Drew Hughes, MD, PhD
Drew Hughes was born in Kansas City, MO, and raised in Fairfax, VA. For his undergraduate degree, Drew studied mathematics at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He then completed an MD/PhD in Molecular Genetics and Genomics at Washington University School of Medicine, where his research focused on understanding how cell-type-specific gene expression is encoded by regulatory DNA. Drew stayed at Washington University for a residency in Clinical Pathology, and he is now a Molecular Genetic Pathology fellow. Drew’s clinical and research interests include next-generation sequencing assay development, cell-free DNA, machine learning, and clinical informatics. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their two-month-old daughter—and sleeping. Drew also enjoys running, weightlifting, learning about wine, and finding great restaurants in St. Louis.

Fahad Khan, MD
Fahad Khan was born in Pakistan and finished medical school in Karachi, after finishing the internship he started advanced residency training in Medical Oncology and was able to come to the US as a visiting trainee to work with Dr. Young Chae at the Developmental Therapeutics institute at Lurie Cancer Center. At Lurie, he developed stronger interests in translational sciences revolving around cancer biomarkers and companion diagnostics and therefore he decided to further his training in pathology. With a desire to develop an academic career researching on mucosal immunity, cancer genetics and immunology, Fahad joined Wash U GI/Liver Pathology fellowship after finishing Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at Mount Sinai Health System in Manhattan. He is currently pursuing a fellowship in molecular genetic pathology here at Wash U as well. Fahad is a member at large in the ASCP resident council where he is a member of the awards and honors subcommittee and also holds delegate appointment in the Resident and Fellow section of the American Medical Association. 

Fernando Zazueta Leon-Quintero, MD
Fernando Zazueta Leon-Quintero was raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. He obtained a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. There he concentrated in Health Care Management and policy. He then went back home to Guadalajara Mexico where he obtained his Medical Degree from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara where he discovered a passion for pathology. He has recently completed Anatomic Pathology residency at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas and is currently a Molecular Genetic Pathology fellow at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Outside of work Fernando enjoys sports (basketball and soccer), reading, and spending time with family.  

Learn more about the molecular genetic pathology fellowship »

Kaleigh Roberts, MD, PhD
Kaleigh was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. She attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she majored in Bioengineering with a minor in Chemistry. After undergrad, she spent a year doing research on amyloid-beta efflux from the brain in the Bateman Lab at WashU. For medical school she attended Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, where she was a member of the MSTP. For her PhD, she worked with Tom Meade studying cobalt-based inhibitors of amyloid aggregation and toxicity. Following med school, she matched at WashU for combined AP/NP/PSTP training. After completing her Anatomic Pathology residency, she is now the Clinical Neuropathology Fellow. She plans to rejoin Bateman Lab after fellowship and continue with Alzheimer’s disease-related research. She lives with her husband Steve and daughter Lily. Her hobbies include pets (2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 snakes, 1 lizard), swimming, boating, and board games.

Lakshmi Ramachandran Nair, MD
Lakshmi was born and raised in Kerala, India. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Government medical college Kottayam and is now a board-certified Anatomic and Clinical Pathologist from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Outside of work she loves spending time with her kids (2 & 4-year-old), enjoys cooking and gardening with her husband and is into reading fiction and fantasy novels. ‘If you don’t have a smile, I’ll give you one of mine.’

Learn more about the neuropathology fellowship »

Walid Ali, MD
Walid Ali was born in Sudan (where he is originally from) and grew up in Saudi Arabia. He then moved to Sudan for medical school and graduated from University of Khartoum, Faculty of Medicine. After graduation from medical school, he came to the US and did his residency training in the AP/CP program at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. He has a genuine interest in surgical pathology. Pathology sparked his interest early in residency and he found excitement while reviewing the slides in identifying the morphological features, knowing the different patterns and variants, and differentiating between mimickers. During his free time he enjoys watching and playing soccer, hanging out with friends or family, and exploring new cities.

Paul Friedman, MD
Paul Friedman grew up in El Paso, Texas, and received a BS in Microbiology from the University of Texas at El Paso. He continued his education in West Texas by pursuing his MD at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and completing his clinical years in his home city of El Paso. He completed a combined AP/CP residency and subsequent Genitourinary Pathology fellowship at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Then, for the first time, he lived outside of Texas to train as a Gastrointestinal/Liver Pathology fellow at St. Louis University. During this time, he fell in love with the city of St. Louis and considers it to be his second home. He went on to explore his passion for traveling for a period of time before returning to St. Louis as a Surgical Pathology fellow at Washington University. His interests include evaluation of kidney tumors involved in familial syndromes, particularly Hereditary Leiomyomatosis and Renal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (HLRCC). Outside of medicine, Paul’s other passions include traveling, live music and concerts, watching movies, playing basketball and exercising.

Martin Ongkeko, MD
Martin Salazar Ongkeko was born and raised in the Philippines. He earned his medical degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. He completed his AP/CP residency in Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. (2018) as well as Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (2021). Martin is currently pursuing further training as a selective surgical pathology fellow. His primary interests are gynecologic, genitourinary and head and neck pathology. Outside of work, he enjoys baking, traveling and practicing yoga.

Learn more about the surgical pathology fellowship »