Head & Neck Pathology

The Head and Neck Pathology Service at UCLA is committed to upholding the highest standards in patient care, diagnostic proficiency, and academic training. Members of our subspecialty-trained team, led by Dr. Dipti Sajed, bring a complementary blend of expertise, rich in both breadth and depth. These key faculty members, Drs. Israa Laklouk, Jeffrey Goldstein, and Chana Sachs work together to create a highly collaborative and collegial service.

Services

The UCLA Head and Neck Pathology Team provides surgical pathology services for the high-volume, top-caliber Head and Neck and Endocrine Surgery Departments. The cases we encounter encompass an exceptionally diverse set of organs/tissue types including the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx/hypopharynx, sinonasal tract, salivary glands, thyroid/parathyroid glands, middle/external ear, lymph nodes, skin, soft tissues and bones. We employ state-of-the-art tools in our ever-changing diagnostic landscape including newly-developed immunohistochemical stains and molecular studies to ensure that we are at the forefront of our field.

Our Intraoperative Consultation Service is a general service but is heavily utilized by the Head and Neck Surgery Team at UCLA. Our HN Pathology Team is in regular rotation on call as part of the Frozen Section Faculty Group and is additionally always available for expert second opinion consults when not the primary faculty on call.

The UCLA HN Pathology Team provides consultative diagnostic services to partner hospitals within the UCLA Health System, for our local/national/international patients who travel to UCLA for continuity of care, and broadly for our Southern California colleagues on complex and challenging cases.

Education

Our educational mission is broad and we cater our training to the individual goals of the trainee. We prepare trainees who eventually cover HN as part of their general service, trainees interested in focusing their HN acumen and research endeavors to continue in an academic program, and trainees who subsequently become the HN expert in their professional group. These paths are enhanced by a flexible HN Surgical Pathology Fellowship offered through our program.