Lifetime Achievement Award

Established in 2006, the CAP Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes and honors a CAP member who has made a broad and positive impact on the pathology profession through contributions to one or more areas of the organization over an extended period.

The College of American Pathologists presents Kenneth M. Klein, MD, FCAP, with a 2019 CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions and service to the CAP’s Laboratory Improvement Programs over the years.

Dr. Klein continues to support and contribute to the CAP and its Laboratory Accreditation Program, filling many roles, including New Jersey state commissioner (1998–2001), Middle Atlantic regional commissioner (2001–2018), member of the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation (2002–2007), vice chair of the Complaints and Investigations Committee (2006–2013), member of the Accreditation Education Committee (2014–2018), and current member of the Accreditation Committee.

Since 1984, Dr. Klein has also made significant contributions as an accreditation inspector, performing 94 lifetime inspections worldwide, with his record for total number of inspections over a five-year period tallying at 41. He educated hundreds of laboratory professionals and pathologists on best practices in laboratory medicine through his inspections.

Dr. Klein is an active and distinguished educator, having received numerous awards from the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in recognition of his excellence in teaching. In addition, Dr. Klein has served as faculty for many inspector training seminars, helping to educate thousands of pathologists and laboratory professionals through these events. He used his experience and knowledge, gleaned from his time developing curricula for medical students and residents, to develop and improve the CAP’s online inspector training course and to develop and review Fast Focus on Compliance webinars and training vignettes. This dedication to education and quality laboratory practices to improve patient care has been at the cornerstone of Dr. Klein’s career. It demonstrates his commitment to the CAP’s mission to foster and advocate for excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide.

Dr. Klein is emeritus professor of pathology, immunology, and laboratory medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark.

The College of American Pathologists presents Christopher Mark Lehman, MD, FCAP, with a 2019 CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to the specialty of pathology and the CAP.

Contributing to his profession and the future of pathology through teaching, Dr. Lehman is a clinical professor of pathology at the University of Utah College of Medicine and medical director of the University of Utah Hospital Clinical Laboratory. Dr. Lehman has been active in clinical laboratory organizations, including the CAP, American Association for Clinical Chemistry, and AABB. The CAP nominated Dr. Lehman in a successful bid to serve on the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) board, and in this capacity he received CLSI’s Excellence in Consensus Management Award in 2009.

Dr. Lehman joined the CAP’s Standards Committee in 2011 and became the committee chair in 2017, when he also was serving as the Council on Scientific Affair’s Laboratory General Cluster chair. Dr. Lehman also served on the CAP 15189 Committee, the Checklist Committee, and the Quality Practices Committee; he currently represents the CAP on the ISO TC 212 Working Group 1. He has been a prolific contributor to the Quality Management Tools Program, resulting in eight articles published in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.

Dr. Lehman is currently a clinical professor of pathology and co-medical director at the University of Utah Hospital Laboratory in Salt Lake City.

The College of American Pathologists presents Ritu Nayar, MD, FCAP, with a 2019 CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the specialty of pathology and improved patient care.

Dr. Nayar’s primary interests are gynecologic cytology, fine-needle aspiration of head and neck/thyroid, and general cytopathology. A board-certified pathologist with subspecialty certification in cytopathology, she is widely published in these areas, with more than 180 journal articles and books. One of her major contributions was the co‐editorship of the Bethesda system for reporting cervical cytology atlas, which is used internationally for Pap test results. The methods used for developing and disseminating this terminology have served as the prototype for the subsequent development of standardized reporting terminology in many other areas of cytopathology.

Dr. Nayar has been an active volunteer in organized pathology since she was a first-year pathology resident in 1991 and has served in various leadership positions in many national and international professional organizations. She is past president of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) and a current executive council member of the International Academy of Cytology (IAC). Passionate about education, she frequently organizes, moderates, and speaks at medical conferences around the world and has served as scientific program/education chair for both the ASC and IAC. Dr. Nayar is an associate editor/advisory board member for eight peer reviewed pathology journals. In 2016, she was elected as an American Board of Pathology (ABPath) trustee, and in this capacity she currently chairs the ABPath cytopathology test development and continuing certification committees, co-chairs the AP CertLink test development committee, and serves on the Pathology Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Dr. Nayar was the recipient of the ASC’s prestigious Papanicolaou Award for meritorious contributions to the field of cytopathology in 2018 and the IAC’s Maurice Goldblatt Award in 2019 for her efforts in establishing standardized reporting terminology for cytopathology and efficient international continuing education events. She was also presented with the Mexican Academy of Cytopathology’s inaugural Patricia Alonso Award for Contributions to Women's Health in 2016.

Dr. Nayar is currently professor of pathology and medical education and vice chair of education and faculty development in the Department of Pathology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

The College of American Pathologists presents Nilsa C. Ramirez, MD, FCAP, with a 2019 CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her dedication to advancing the practice and art of medicine as a pathologist and serving as an ambassador for pathologists to other physicians, as well as the nonmedical scientific community, both nationally and internationally.

As the first chair of the CAP’s Biorepository Accreditation Committee, she was the driving force in establishing the Biorepository Accreditation Program.

From 2011 to 2012, Dr. Ramirez chaired an advisory group with diverse representatives from industry, academics, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories. The group’s charge was to create a new accreditation program for biorepositories in the United States. Most of the group was unfamiliar with the CAP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program, and many were nonpathologist research scientists. Under Dr. Ramirez’s skillful leadership, the group was able to establish a program modeled on the LAP and the NCI’s Best Practices for Biorepositories.

She has served as the CAP’s national commissioner for biorepositories and as its lead representative to the ISO/TC276 WG2 Biobanks and Bioresources, necessitating extensive international travel, all while maintaining a busy professional and working schedule with several biorepositories, including those of the Children’s Oncology Group and SWOG. Dr. Ramirez served as the director of autopsy pathology and the Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and as professor and mentor to fellows, residents, and medical students at The Ohio State University (OSU). She also has been a valued member on the CAP’s Surgical Pathology Resource Committee and the Checklist Committee.

Her contributions to pathology and her tireless efforts to establish the Biorepository Accreditation Program are monumental and exemplify the highest standards of advancing the practice of pathology in new directions.

Dr. Ramirez currently serves as medical director of the Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and as professor of clinical pathology at OSU in Columbus, Ohio.

The College of American Pathologists presents Bruce McMillan Van Horn, MD, FCAP, with a 2019 CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his lifelong pursuit of excellence in pathology and laboratory medicine.

Dr. Van Horn became a CAP Fellow in 1970. Over the span of nearly five decades, he has distinguished himself as a highly respected clinician and educator. Throughout his career, he has provided exceptional servant leadership as a consulting pathologist to five medical facilities across southern Oklahoma. Dr. Van Horn has been an incredibly valuable resource for maintaining the high standards of CAP accreditation within these facilities.

Dr. Van Horn has served on numerous committees and advisory boards over the years. Specifically, he established and chaired the Tumor and Tissue Board for Valley View Regional Hospital (now Mercy Health System Ada) for more than 40 years and is still an active member to this day. Additionally, he has served in positions on the infectious disease committee for five different medical facilities and as vice chief of staff for Valley View Regional Hospital for more than 30 years.

His commitment to excellence is evident as an educator in pathology and laboratory medicine. He has served as a visiting professor for the Department of Pathology at the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine and has been a valuable teacher and mentor to hundreds of medical technology students over the past 49 years.

Dr. Van Horn has devoted his life to the pursuit of excellence in clinical pathology and laboratory medicine. As medical director of Southern Oklahoma Pathology Associates, he has consistently provided outstanding anatomic and clinical pathology services to the people of southern Oklahoma. As a leader and mentor, Dr. Van Horn has established a legacy of excellence both in private practice and in hospital facilities by advancing the field of pathology and laboratory medicine while maintaining successful CAP accreditation at Valley View/Mercy Hospital for nearly 50 years.

Dr. Van Horn is currently a surgical pathologist at Southern Oklahoma Pathology Associates. He has also chaired the tumor board and cancer committee for 49 years at Valley View/Mercy Hospital in Ada, Oklahoma.

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