Directors-In-Training & Fellows

Alek obtained his MD degree in 2009 at the Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia; and his PhD degree in 2020 at KU Leuven, Belgium. His PhD thesis “innovative approaches for HLA-matching and immune risk stratification in kidney transplantation” led to multiple publications, leading to his impressive list of over 30 manuscript, and numerous invited presentations at national and international conferences.

Alek is a fellow of the European Board of Transplant Immunology and his long-term goal is to contribute to understanding of allograft rejection processes and identifying means to prolong graft survival

After completing his training in 2024, he became the HLA Laboratory Associate Director, Researcher Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. 

Ruby brought a wealth of HLA experience to her Director-In-Training fellowship. She worked for 15 years as a histocompatibility specialist at Inland Northwest Blood Center (now Vitalant) in Spokane, WA, followed by 1.5 years as general supervisor at Stanford Blood Center, in Palo Alto, CA, before pursuing her doctorate. She was honored to serve on the quality assurance and standards committee, proficiency testing committee, and board of directors of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. She recently completed her PhD in pharmaceutical science and molecular medicine, where she cultivated a keen interest in inflammatory cytokine signaling and immunosuppressive therapeutics. Ruby has a heart for education and professional development of non-doctoral laboratory members, whom she hopes to inspire by becoming a laboratory director after 20 years in the field.

After completing her training in 2024, she became the Histocompatibility Laboratory Associate Director, Autoimmunity Researcher at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. 

Nida is a Clinical Pathologist, specialized in the field of Clinical Immunology. After completing her Fellowship in Immunology, she has served at various Histocompatibility and Immunogenetic Laboratories in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in different roles including leading the Immunology department at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI).

After completing her training in 2023, she became the HLA Lab Assistant Director at Loyola Medical University. 

Dr. Das is a Clinical Pathologist with extensive experience in translational research. He got trained in India, Nepal, UAE and Australia. Before joining Northwestern University, Raj worked as a research fellow at the University of California San Francisco.

After completing his training in 2022, Raj became the Histocompatibility/Immunogenetics HLA Lab Assistant Director at UH Cleveland Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Garcia-Sanchez is a Transplant Nephrologist, and Internist graduated from the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran in Mexico City.

After completing her training in 2021, she joined the Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University as an Assistant Director

Penn completed his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2017 and a clinical chemistry fellowship in 2019 from the University of Louisville. 

After completing his training in 2021, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. 

Dr. Usenko spent one year as a director-in-training in the lab before moving to San Antonio, Texas to continue her training with a former trainee – Dr. Kelley Haarberg 

Dr. Hod Dvorai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at SUNY Upstate Medical University and the director of the Histocompatibility laboratory at SUNY Upstate University Hospital. She serves as a member of ASHI’s Proficiency Testing (PT) and ASHI’s Education Committees and was recently appointed as the Region 9 representative to UNOS Histocompatibility Committee. She enjoys teaching, sharing her knowledge and experience, and collaborating with her peers.

Director, HLA laboratory. Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI

Dr. Hitchman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas in San Antonio, and is the Section Chief, Director and Clinical Consulting Scientist of the Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics laboratory at University Hospital in San Antonio.

Dr. Hitchman’s research interests include non-HLA antibody contributions to solid organ transplant outcomes, assay optimization, pediatric solid organ transplant outcomes and staffing retention in high complexity testing and on-call environments.

Regional Executive Medical Science Liaison at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Immunoscience Therapeutic

Dr. Zitzner is an Advanced Lecturer in the Department of Biology at Loyola University Chicago

She has left the field of HLA to follow her desire to teach and has indeed proved to be absolutely excellent in doing that

Dr. Daniel Ramon is a faculty member and the Histocompatibility Laboratory Associate Director in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He has been working in the field of Histocompatibility since 1994. Most of his work and peer-review publication are focused on the detection and functional characterization of alloantibodies in the setting of clinical organ transplantation.