The University of the West Indies (UWI) is pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Dipak J. Shah, Senior lecturer in the Department of Pathology to the rank of Professor of (Anatomical) Pathology effective May 20, 2004.
Born in Jambusar, India, Professor Shah graduated from the M.S. University, Vadodara, India in 1969, with the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery degree. He then received a Diploma in Clinical Pathology in 1972, also from M.S. University and the Doctor of Medicine in Anatomical Pathology from the UWI in 1978.
Professor Shah was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI in 1979 and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1988. He has served as Head of the Surgical Pathology and Electron Microscopy Units in the Department since 1996 and also as a Senior Consultant Pathologist and Renal Pathologist at the University Hospital of the West Indies since 1979.
Professor Shah is recognized as one of very few experts in the field of renal pathology in the Caribbean. This has been an area of intense research and development over the last three decades, particularly in Jamaica due to the high prevalence of autoimmune renal disease (e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus, a common illness affecting young women in the childbearing age group) and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. He has been supervising the renal biopsy service since 1979 and the department now boasts an extensive archive of renal pathology indicative of renal diseases in Jamaica. This has supported his research into various aspects of renal pathology particularly sickle cell disease and lupus nephritis.