Welcome Pathology Department New Hires
Joel Henderson, MD, PhD, is the new Director of Renal Pathology and a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Program in Biomedical Engineering. He completed his residency in anatomic pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, serving as Chief Resident, followed by fellowship training in renal pathology with Dr. Helmut Rennke, and post-doctoral research in familial glomerular disease with Dr. Martin Pollak. He was recruited to join the faculty of Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, to establish and direct a new renal pathology service at Boston Medical Center.
During his tenure at BU/BMC, in addition to his clinical role, he directed his research program in glomerular mechanobiology, served as Laboratory Director for the Framingham Heart Study, and was pathology residency program director at BMC. He also co-founded and directed the Path 2 Path Graduate Certificate program at Boston University, which prepares physicians for a pathology residency. Current research efforts include work as co-investigator for the NIDDK Kidney Precision Medicine Project, which is a human research kidney biopsy study that aims to reveal new approaches to kidney disease diagnosis and treatment; and industry collaborations aimed toward discovery of novel therapeutics in chronic kidney disease.
Marisa Nucci, MD, will join our department as Vice Chair for Women’s Health as of March 1, 2026. Dr. Nucci is currently a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Vice Chair and Director of Women’s and Perinatal Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Nucci is a highly accomplished academic pathologist specializing in gynecologic and perinatal pathology. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she completed her residency and fellowship training at BWH and HMS, where she has served on the faculty since 1996, rising to the rank of Professor of Pathology. Over her career, Dr. Nucci has held numerous leadership roles, including Vice Chair and Director of Women’s and Perinatal Pathology, Director of the Pathology Residency Training Program, and Director/Associate Director of the Women’s and Perinatal Fellowship Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Internationally recognized for her expertise, Dr. Nucci has contributed extensively to the WHO Classification of Tumours and has served in key leadership positions within major professional societies such as the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and the International Society of Gynecologic Pathologists. Her prolific scholarship includes hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters, and she is a frequent invited speaker at national and international pathology conferences.
At BIDMC, Dr. Nucci will have important roles in developing a program in women’s health, strengthening our ongoing collaboration with Dana-Farber, and signing out gynecologic pathology.
Emily Rosenzweig, MD, graduated from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed a pathology student fellowship, AP training and GYN fellowship at Stanford Health Care. She stayed on at Stanford for a year as a clinical instructor, then re-entered the match and spent a year in Fresno, California as an intern in OB/GYN at UCSF-Fresno. She delivered many babies and loved OB/GYN, but after having her own baby, she made the decision to transition back to pathology and to move to Boston to be closer to family. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband Andrew and their 6-month-old, Homer. Emily is passionate about obstetric pathology and education and is excited to be back in New England.
Stuart J. Schnitt, MD, is the Chief of a new Division of Cancer Pathology within the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and will also serve as Chief of Oncologic Pathology at Dana-Farber. He is an internationally recognized expert in breast pathology and an accomplished clinician, researcher and teacher. He currently serves as Chief of Breast Oncologic Pathology for the Dana-Farber/Brigham Cancer Center and Chief of the Breast Pathology Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Schnitt is the author of more than 400 original articles, review articles, editorials, commentaries, and book chapters, primarily in the area of breast diseases. He has also authored a popular breast pathology textbook entitled Biopsy Interpretation of the Breast, now its 4th edition, and is also an editor of the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Breast.
He is the past president of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP). He gave the Maude Abbot Lecture at the USCAP Annual Meeting in 2016 and is the recipient of the Academy’s F.K. Mostofi Distinguished Service Award (2018) and Harvey Goldman Teaching Award (2019). Dr. Schnitt’s other notable honors include the Arthur Purdy Stout Society of Surgical Pathologists Annual Prize (1999); the Albany Medical College’s Distinguished Alumnus Award (2014); Lynn Sage Distinguished Lecturer (2014); the International Society of Breast Pathology-Breast Cancer Research Foundation Larry Norton, MD Award (2019); and the Brigham Health Distinguished Clinician Award (2020). He is proud to have been involved in the training of 50 breast pathology fellows since 1995.
Dr. Schnitt earned his undergraduate degree in biology summa cum laude from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and his medical degree from Albany Medical College. He completed his residency and surgical pathology fellowship training at what was then called Beth Israel Hospital (now BIDMC), after which he spent 33 years on the faculty, including 11 years as Director/Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology. Dr. Schnitt is board-certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology.
Dr. Zhang, MD, PhD, earned her medical degree from Shanxi Medical University in China and her PhD from the University of California, Irvine. She completed her residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, followed by subspecialty fellowships in cardiovascular and pulmonary pathology (2023–2024) and cytopathology(2024–2025) at the UCLA Department of Pathology.
At BIDMC, Dr. Zhang joins the faculty as a staff pathologist on the cardiothoracic pathology and cytopathology teams. She will also contribute to the head and neck pathology service as well as the autopsy service. Dr. Zhang is passionate about the vital role of pathology in patient care and is dedicated to delivering accurate diagnoses, providing high-quality services, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to improve patient outcomes.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Zhang enjoys traveling, exploring new places, and spending quality time with her family.
