Appointment of Jane F. Emerson, MD, PhD, as chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Jane F. Emerson, MD, PhD as chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the Keck School of Medicine, effective March 1.  Dr. Emerson was selected following a national search.  She has served as interim chair since July 1, 2024, and I look forward to her continued leadership of the department going forward.  She will report directly to me as the dean.

Dr. Emerson will lead the research, clinical care, and education programs of the department.  As chair, she will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations and advancing the department’s prominence and impact, including expansion of digital pathology capabilities and recruitment of outstanding clinical and research faculty.  She will work with Keck School and Keck Medicine leadership to design a sustainable plan for optimizing laboratory medicine, molecular pathology, and anatomical pathology services. I look forward to working with Dr. Emerson to support her strategic vision and leadership during a time of significant opportunity.

Dr. Emerson obtained her medical degree at the University of Virginia and PhD in physics from Brown University.  She performed her residency in clinical pathology at Johns Hopkins and completed fellowships in pharmacology at the University of Virginia and in neuroscience and imaging physics at the University of California, Irvine.  After serving on the faculty and in leadership positions at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, Dr. Emerson joined the Keck School in 2009.  At USC, she has served in multiple leadership roles including chief of clinical pathology and director of laboratories, Keck Medical Center, and associate director of laboratories, Los Angeles General Medical Center.

Dr. Emerson’s NIH-funded research has focused on cancer detection strategies, and she holds over 60 patents related to a hybrid imaging technique and technology for clinical laboratory products.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Emerson on her appointment as chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.  We look forward to her vision, leadership, and impact.

Carolyn C. Meltzer, MD
Dean, Keck School of Medicine of USC