Dr. Lewis A. Hassell, M.D.

Expert Publications

• Collaborative networks: helping rural laboratories achieve quality.
• The combined positive impact of Lean methodology and Ventana Symphony autostainer on histology lab workflow.
• Potential response to curcumin in infantile hemangioendothelioma of the liver.
• Digital slides and ACGME resident competencies in anatomic pathology: An altered paradigm for acquisition and assessment.
• Use of mobile high-resolution device for remote frozen section evaluation of whole slide images.
• Carcinoma involving the gallbladder: a retrospective review of 23 cases - pitfalls in diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma.
• Solitary fibrous tumor in solid organs: still a challenging diagnosis.
• The (not yet) willingly adopted tool.
• Performance validation in anatomic pathology: successful integration of a new classification system into the practice setting using the updated lung non-small cell carcinoma recommendations.
• Comparative genomic hybridization in a case of melanoma that loses expression of S100, HMB45, Melan A and tyrosinase in metastasis.
• Communicating diagnostic uncertainty in surgical pathology reports: disparities between sender and receiver.
• Twenty (forward looking) questions.
• Increased expression of melanoma stem cell marker CD271 in metastatic melanoma to the brain.
• Educational Value of Digital Whole Slides Accompanying Published Online Pathology Journal Articles: A Multi-Institutional Study.
• Rare Jejunal Diverticular Bleeding.

Media Releases

Get to know Pathologist Dr. Lewis A. Hassell, who serves patients in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Dr. Hassell, a renowned pathologist, has been the Director of Anatomic Pathology at OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center since 2008.

His current interests include process improvements, error reduction and quality gains in laboratory workflow, as well as structural and organizational alignment for optimization of work teams in a variety of medical environments. Applying modern business theory (such as Lean, Six Sigma, high performance work teams) to laboratory and medical processes has yielded tremendous results among early adopting settings. Dr. Hassell is seeking to find solutions to the human, fiscal and technological challenges that such changes present.

Moreover, he is interested in ways of applying process improvement to enhance access to care, and specifically pathology services, to underserved populations domestically and internationally. The interface of the current status quo with potentially disruptive technology or processes, and how to use these fault lines to open up access rather than restrict it, are challenges he is working on solving.

Educated in the United States, Dr. Hassell graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Brigham Young University in 1978. He then went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1982. 

Furthering his training, he performed his residency in clinical and anatomic pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, serving as chief resident in pathology in 1984. He then completed a visiting fellowship in nuclear medicine at the University of California, San Francisco in 1988. 

Subsequent to his education, Dr. Hassell attained board certification in anatomic and clinical pathology & cytopathology through the American Board of Pathology (ABPath). The mission of the ABPath is to promote the health of the public and advance the practice and science of pathology by establishing voluntary certification standards and assessing the qualifications of those seeking to practice the specialty of pathology.

Teaching medical students, Dr. Hassell serves as a Professor of Pathology and Professor of Excellence in Anatomic Pathology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

Pathology is a branch of medical science that involves the study and diagnosis of disease through the examination of surgically removed organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and in some cases, the whole body. Pathologists are physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and management of diseases by laboratory methods.

Serving others freely and willingly to make the world a better place, Dr. Hassell is the co-author of Pathology Practice Management: A Case-Based Guide. He is also a humanitarian, father and grandfather, and builder of Zion.

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