The F. Stephen Vogel Award was established by contributions to a fund created by his family and friends. It is to be awarded in recognition of an outstanding paper by a resident or fellow published in one of the Academy journals, Modern Pathology or Laboratory Investigation, during the twelve months preceding the application deadline.

The awardee must:

(1) be a USCAP member, in good standing, at least one year prior to receiving the award;

(2) possess an MD, or international equivalent, degree; and

(3) be a pathologist-in-training (resident or fellow) in a program accredited for training at the time the scientific investigation on which the article is based was initiated and substantially completed. Applicants should be the first author or submit documentation of a significant contribution to the paper.

On papers with multiple authors, only one author is eligible, and only one paper per author may be submitted. The prize will consist of a check for $1,000 and a certificate. Applicants should complete the application form online and electronically submit the form along with a PDF reprint (or preprint) of their manuscript and a PDF of the signed VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM, AVAILABLE HERE. The Vogel Award Committee will select the awardee.

Funds for travel are not included and the awardee does not have to present at the meeting.

Application must be submitted by: Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

Yeon Bi Han, MD

2022 F. Stephen Vogel Award

Yeon Bi Han graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine in Seoul.

After graduation, she worked as an intern at the Seoul National University Hospital. When she was young, she wanted to be a doctor, but she says that the actual clinical situation in the hospital frightened her. After much deliberation, she decided to become a pathologist because she believes that pathology is fundamental to medicine and that her practice can be an important factor for other doctors and patients. After that, she received resident training in the Department of Pathology at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

Dr. Han was a trainee in the department for 4 years and served as a chief resident for 1 year. During her residency, she started a translational clinical study focusing on pulmonary pathology. She investigated the clinical impact of the tumor spread through air spaces (STAS) in lung adenocarcinoma with mentors Dr. Chung and Dr. Kim. Through analysis of prospectively collected STAS grade data, she found that grade II STAS (when any of the tumor clusters were found to be more than 2500 μm away from the tumor edge) was an independent poor prognostic factor for stage IA non- mucinous adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, interestingly, recurrence free survival of patients with stage IA with STAS II were similar to those of patients with stage IB. Although further studies are needed, she thought that these results suggested that grade II STAS could be a potential T-staging factor for lung adenocarcinoma.

After completing residency, she is now working as a one-year fellow at the same university hospital. Following previous studies, research to confirm the three-dimensional structure of STAS is ongoing. In addition, she is working with mentor Dr. Chung to identify intra-tumoral heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment using transcriptional spatial profiling techniques to understand tumor invasiveness in early lung adenocarcinoma and apply the pathological diagnosis of invasiveness.

Previous Award Recipients

2021 Chen Yang
2020 David B. Chapel
2019 Kwun Wah Wen
2018 Anjelica Hodgson
2017 Matthew W. Rosenbaum
2016 Charlotte (C.F.) Kweldam
2015 Patrick J. Cimino
2014 Ghassan Allo
2013 Bojana Djordjevic
2012 Elizabeth Demicco
2011 Jose Gaal
2010 Ibrahim Batal
2009 Samantha L. Butler
2008 Jeremy Wallentine
2007 Donna E. Hansel
2006 Rohit Bhargava
2005 Dylan V. Miller
2004 Robert Pu
2003 Dinesh Rakheja
2002 Ilene B. Bayer-Garner
2001 Pei Hui
2000 Julie Teruya-Feldstei