• Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)

Dr. Ling Zhang is an Associate Member in the Department of Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of the Hematopathology Fellowship Program, and Associate Professor, USF Oncologic Sciences. Dr. Ling Zhang obtained her MD and MS degree and completed her residency and fellowship in China.

When she arrived in the United States in 1994 she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at MD Anderson Cancer Center. During working in the well-known cancer institute (1994-2001) she gained a great deal of research experience in cancer biology, immunology and therapeutic experiences. She then completed a residency in pathology and clinical medicine at the University of Louisville, Kentucky in 2005 followed by a two-year fellowship in hematopathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

She initially took a position as a Medical Associate Director in a commercial laboratory (U.S. Labs/LabCorp) in Irvine, California for one year, and came to Moffitt in June 2008 as an Assistant Member. During the first 4-5 years, she has exceeded the pre-set goals for clinical service, education and research and was appointed program director of the ACGME accredited hematopathology fellowship in 2011 and successfully promoted to the rank of Associate Member with Tenure in 2013.

Dr. Zhang is an outstanding and dedicated clinician educator who continues to take an active role in clinical translational research, utilizing her skills as a hematopathologist along with her knowledge of immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostics to bring value to both basic science investigations and clinical trials, which were evident by over 20 translational research projects that she proposed (as principle investigator) or has been involved (as co-PI), of which several are industry, state or nationally sponsored. In addition, her experts in diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes as well as other myeloid neoplasms made her grow and become one of the key faculty members in multiple phase I-III clinical trials during the past years.

She currently has effort as an investigator on the NIHBI National MDS Study, where she oversees the national MDS Tissue Repository and aim to explore potential mechanisms of MDS and its related precursor neoplasms. She has been the Director of the Hematopathology fellowship program and has successfully overseen extended ACGME accreditation and the successful matriculation of each of our fellows. She is an excellent mentor and is sought by fellows and residents for clinical research activities and awarded outstanding clinical faculty by USF in 2013. Several fellows she mentored have received awards issued by institution or national society, e.g., AOA. She has also been highly productive in publishing, and has gained an international reputation, being asked to present diagnostically challenging cases at international workshops. She has also been involved in editions of books and contributed >10 book chapters to expert edited books in the field.