Rouba Ali-Fehmi
Office Address
University of Michigan
Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories
Faculty Suite Rm. 36-1221-45
2800 Plymouth Rd., Building 35
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2800
Position Title
Professor, Breast Pathology, Gynecologic Pathology
Medical Director of Breast Pathology
Director of the Breast Pathology Fellowship
Anatomic Pathology
Biography
Dr. Ali-Fehmi is a professor of pathology and the Director of Breast Pathology and Breast Pathology Fellowship at the University of Michigan. She also holds a clinical professor appointment at Wayne State University. She is also a member of Global Reach at Michigan Medicine and a member of the Center of Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan. She previously acted as Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University, where she also served as the Surgical Pathology Fellowship Director. Dr. Ali-Fehmi serves as a UNICEF USA Midwest board member and is an active member of multiple national and international professional societies. She is also the former president of the Michigan Society of Pathologists (2012-2014).
Dr. Ali-Fehmi is very interested and dedicated to teaching and research. Throughout her career, she has mentored many gynecologic oncology and pathology fellows, which ultimately led to more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and presentations, both at national and international meetings. Her research has received many NIH grants in breast and GYN pathology.
She is also very active in the International Academy of Pathology – Arab Division, where she gives interactive lectures and workshops in most Arab countries. Dr. Ali-Fehmi has served as the liaison to the Middle East at the Global Health Research Collaborative at Wayne State University, where in 2010, she established a Clinical Training Research Associate (CTRA) program, which empowers selected IMGs from predominantly middle and lower-income Middle Eastern countries by spending 1-2 years focusing on clinical scientific research. This CTRA program has helped over 36 young doctors match into residency programs, all of whom went on to subsequently work and specialize in different locations around the country and overseas.
Dr. Ali-Fehmi is also the former president of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA) and the founder and current chair of NAAMA NextGen. She has also pioneered many research studies to investigate medical and health-related topics in the Arab American population, including obesity in the Arab American population, the rate of HPV in Arab American women, and COVID-19 vaccine attitudes among Arab Americans which was presented at the White House. Dr. Ali-Fehmi together with NextGen students has supported Syrian refugees’ education, highlighted by the “Keys for Syrian Kids” project.
Education Training
M.D. (1989)
Damascus University School of Medicine
Damascus, Syria
Fellowship in Obstetric-Gynecological Pathology (1998-2000)
Detroit Medical Center - Hutzel
Detroit, MI, USA
Fellowship in Cytopathology (2000 to 2001)
Detroit Medical Center - Hutzel Hospital
Detroit, MI, USA
Certification
Board Certified in Anatomic Pathology
Medical Education Responsibilities
Undergraduate Program:
Director of the Endocrine Pathophysiology unit in the medical school second year course
Lab instructor for the medical school second year Pathophysiology and Pathophysiology unit
Residency/Fellowships:
Teaching and mentoring the pathology residents at Harper University Hospital.
Others:
Director of WSU Department of Pathology Annual Course (a full day CME program),
Director of Pathology Education, GYN Pathology Translational Research, Department of OB/GYN
Mentor of the Gynecology Oncology fellows
Areas of Interest
Gynecologic Pathology, Breast Pathology, Surgical Pathology, and Molecular Markers
Research
Dr. Ali-Fehmi has been interested in the histopathology and biological characteristics of ovarian and uterine malignancy. Dr. Ali has been actively involved in multiple clinical trials as an expert pathologist. Dr. Ali-Fehmi is also interested in genetic changes and expression profiling of markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian carcinoma. Dr. Ali-Fehmi is currently an investigator on several funded research projects that involve underlying molecular mechanisms of ovarian tumor progression and metastasis.
Research Interests
Tumor markers of ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer and breast cancer.
Residency
Anatomic Pathology (1995-1998)
Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Publications
1. Ali-Fehmi R, Che M, Khalifeh I, Malone JM, Morris R, Lawrence WD, and Munkarah AR, 2003, The effect of cyclooxygenase-2 expression on tumor vascularity in advanced stage ovarian serous carcinoma, Cancer, 98: 1423-9.
2. Ali-Fehmi R, Qureshi F, Lawrence WD, and Jacques S, 2004, Apoptosis, proliferation, and expression of P53 and BCL-2 in endocervical intraepithelial glandular lesions and invasive endocervical adenocarcinoma, Int J Gynecol Pathol, 2: 1-6.
3. Ali-Fehmi R, Khalifeh I, Bandyopadhyay S, Lawrence WD, Silva EG, Liao J, Sarkar F, and Munkarah AR, 2006, Patterns of loss of hetrozygosity (LOH) at 10q123.3 and microsatellite instability (MSI) in ovarian endometriosis, atypical endometriosis and epithelial carcinoma arising in a background of endometriosis, Int J Gynecol Pathol, 25: 223-9.
4. Chatterjee M, Mohapatra S, Ionan A, Bawa G, Ali-Fehmi R, Wang X, Nowak J, Ye B, Nahhas FA, Lu K, Witkin SS, Fishman D, Munkarah A, Morris R, Levin NK, Shirley NN, Tromp G, Abrams J, Draghici S, and Tainsky MA, 2006, Diagnostic markers of ovarian cancer by high-throughput antigen cloning and detection on arrays, Cancer Res, 66: 1181-90.
5. Arabi H, Guan H, Kumar S, Cote M, Bandyopadhyay S, Bryant C, Shah J, Abdul-Karim FW, Munkarah AR, and Ali-Fehmi R, 2009, Impact of microsatellite instability (MSI) on survival in high grade endometrial carcinoma, Gynecol Oncol, 113: 153-8.