Breast Pathology

We are dedicated to providing our patients expert breast pathology interpretation and, through our teaching and research, the brightest future.

With a long tradition of excellence and innovation in breast pathology diagnosis and research, we strive to provide every patient accurate, timely, complete, and personalized service. Our approach is to integrate classical pathology with cutting edge molecular techniques in a multidisciplinary way.

We provide our expertise to the New York Metropolitan Registry of Breast Cancer Families, which is a cooperative, multinational, interdisciplinary National Cancer Institute funded infrastructure for studying the genetics and epidemiology of breast cancer. We also participate in the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project (LIBCSP), a multi-study research initiative examining the role of environmental factors in breast cancer in Suffolk, Nassau, and Schoharie counties in New York and Tolland County in Connecticut, where breast cancer incidence rates are high. This project also is supported by the National Cancer Institute.

Our research efforts in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology and more broadly in Columbia University Medical Center have led to the discovery and or characterization of a number of key genetic events in breast cancer and other medical conditions. They have implications to diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. They include the discovery of a number of tumor suppressor genes such as PTEN, BAF180, Protocadherin-8, and Beclin-1. These discoveries enhance our understanding of the biological processes underlying cancer and advance the march toward prevention, treatment and cure.

Through our collaboration with the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center of Columbia University we have developed a world class Breast Tumor Macromolecule Bank. Avon Foundation supported Breast Macromolecule Bank is a research platform ("operating system") designed to facilitate, Columbia University wide and beyond, breast cancer research, by reducing barriers to research and by fostering collaboration. This is done by providing a set of thoroughly characterized breast tumors and normal breast tissue along with corresponding DNA/RNA, corresponding FFPE tissue micro- arrays, frozen tissue for Western blots, database with linked clinical/pathological and basic science characteristics and molecular and pathological expertise. The bank utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to maximize value by integrating the work of pathologists, molecular biologists, clinicians and statisticians. Through its open non-proprietary architecture, multidisciplinary approach, large scale, "off the shelf" nature, highly characterized/annotated tumor set, HIPAA compliant coded information, discovery and collaboration are enabled and accelerated and barriers to research are reduced/eliminated.

The Avon Foundation supported Breast macromolecule Bank is a "one stop shop" from biomarker analysis to clinical/pathological/primary research data correlation.

Our trainees are providing breast pathology expertise throughout the country and beyond, including in Cedars-Sinai/UCLA, Baylor College of Medicine, N.Y.U, and the Mediterranean Institute of Oncology in Catania, Italy.

Our focus is your well-being, now, and in the future. Let us help you.

Contact Us

Breast Pathology
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center

Specimen Shipping/Drop-Off

Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
630 W. 168th Street, Vanderbilt Clinic Building
14th Floor, VC14-224
New York, NY 10032

Phone: (212) 305-6719
Fax: (212) 305-2301

Slide Send Out Service

Phone: (212) 305-0958
Email: SlideSendoutreq@cumc.columbia.edu

Pathology Client Services

Phone: (800) 653-8200
Fax: (646) 426-0080
​Email: pathcustomerservice@cumc.columbia.edu