2009 Award for Outstanding Clinical Laboratory Contributions to Improving Patient Safety
Dr. Howanitz is professor of pathology and vice chair of the department of pathology at the State University of New York at Brooklyn, director of clinical laboratories at State University Hospital, and associate director of laboratories at Kings County Hospital Center. As chair of the Quality Assurance Service for the College of American Pathologists, he developed the concept of and implemented the quality improvement programs, Q-Probes and Q-Tracks. During the past 20 years, more than 5000 clinical laboratories have participated in these programs, and more than 115 peer-reviewed studies on clinical laboratory quality improvement have originated from them based on data collected worldwide. Dr. Howanitz has published more than 300 scientific articles, abstracts, book chapters, and books, including co-authoring with his wife, Joan, the book, Laboratory Quality Assurance, and the clinical pathology textbook, Laboratory Test Selection. Dr. Howanitz has been an active member of the committees of a number of professional societies, including the the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC) and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. He has received many awards, including the President’s Award from the College of American Pathologists, the Lansky Award from the CAP Foundation, the Chaney Award from the the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) Southern California Section, and the First Award for Excellence in Practice from the Institute for Quality in Laboratory Medicine of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.