Pathology at Sibley Memorial Hospital

Department of Pathology Team

While most people won't have reason to meet with their pathologist, their expertise is crucial to providing the most effective care possible. Sibley Hospital offers some of the area's most seasoned pathologists, whose expert interpretation of samples informs diagnosis and staging and drives treatment. The Sibley Department of Pathology offers consultations and second opinions for complex and ambiguous biopsies, including:

  • Breast pathology
  • Challenging tumors
  • Dermatologic neoplasms
  • Gastrointestinal pathology
  • Genitourinary pathology
  • Gynecologic pathology
  • Head and neck tumors
  • Oral and maxillofacial pathology
  • Orthopedic pathology (requires preoperative imaging)
  • Pediatric tumors
  • Pulmonary neoplasms
  • Soft tissue pathology
  • Tumors/neoplasia

The Department of Pathology, led by Dr. Andrea Richardson, also offers preoperative pathology consultations in conjunction with surgery, especially in the following multidisciplinary areas:

Pathology Team Viewing Slides
  • Breast Center
  • Cancer Center
  • Gynecologic oncology
  • Head and neck and oral oncology
  • Melanoma re-excision
  • Sarcoma Center
  • Thoracic oncology
  • Urologic neoplasms

Accreditation

The Sibley Department of Pathology is accredited by:

  • College of American Pathologists
  • American Association for Blood Banks

Phone Numbers

General information: 202-537-4651
Fax: 202-537-4459

Address:

Sibley Memorial Hospital
Department of Pathology
5255 Loughboro Road N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016

Form

Outpatients are registered by the Admissions Department and have orders placed and specimens collected in the Pre-surgical Testing Center.

Our Team

Meet our pathologists

Andrea Richardson, M.D., Ph.D., pathologist

Medical School and Ph.D: University of Texas Southwestern Medical and Graduate Schools 
Residency: Anatomic Pathology, Breast Pathology and Cytopathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

Dr. Richardson joins the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as director of pathology, community practice division and director of breast pathology, community practice division. Her clinical practice is based at Sibley as the director of anatomic pathology, and she will continue her translational breast cancer research with collaborators at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Her research interests have focused on molecular pathology of breast cancer and development of predictive biomarkers of treatment response. 

Andrea Richardson

Christine Berkley, M.D., anatomic and clinical pathologist

Medical School: University of Minnesota Medical School
Residency: Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Hennepin County Medical Center and George Washington University Medical Center

Expert in general surgical pathology, Dr. Christine Berkley has been practicing anatomic and clinical pathology at Sibley Memorial Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine for 24 years.

Dr. Berkley has medical publications in the field of hematopathology. Dr. Berkley works closely with the departments of General Surgery and all SMH/JHM departments, including the breast, cancer and sarcoma centers. She is an active member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

Christine Berkley

Margaret Shaffer, M.D., anatomic and clinical pathologist, cytopathologist

Medical School: George Washington University 
Residency: Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, George Washington University School
Fellowship: Surgical Pathology and Cytology, George Washington University

Named a top pathologist by Consumer’s Research Corporations of America, Dr. Margaret Shaffer has been practicing surgical pathology in a busy practice at Sibley Memorial Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine for 20 years. Dr. Shaffer’s expertise is in general surgical pathology, with special interest in state-of-the-art-breast pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology. Fellowship trained in cytology, she also performs fine-needle aspirations of palpable lesions, with a special interest in thyroid nodules. She has published in peer-reviewed medical journals on research involving breast cancer, lung cancer and thyroid cytology.

Together with her colleagues, she commenced the SMH/JHM Pathology Consultation Practice. Dr. Shaffer works closely with the departments of General Surgery and all SMH/JHM departments, including the breast, cancer and sarcoma centers. She is an active member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology

Margaret Shaffer

Ema Veras, M.D., pathologist

Medical School: Federal University of Ceara, Brazil 
Residency: Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical School at Houston 
Fellowship: Gynecologic Pathology Division, The Johns Hopkins Hospital; Oncologic Pathology and Gastrointestinal Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Cornell University 

Dr. Veras joined Sibley in September 2015. Prior to that, she was in a community practice in South Carolina and was an assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center where she focused in the areas of gynecologic, gastrointestinal and pancreatic pathology. Her interests include teaching and working on clinico-pathologic studies. 

Ema Veras