Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH, FASCP, DLM(ASCP), was installed as the new ASCP president at the Society’s Annual Business Meeting on Thursday, October 18, in New Orleans, LA. He has served in various capacities for the ASCP, including Vice President and Member-At-Large on the Board of Directors.

Hilborne is deputy director of the Global Health Program at the RAND Corporation and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Known for his travels around the world on behalf of laboratory medicine and AIDS relief, Hilborne has helped improve patient safety and quality of care in countries such as Qatar and Taiwan. "It makes you realize that people half way around the world have the same challenges we do," he observed. "I’m in a laboratory in Qatar and they face the same issues we do at home: providing timely service, making sure people are qualified, assuring adequate space requirements, and so on. It gives you an appreciation of the similarities among all the peoples of the world, rather than the differences we hear about every day in the news."

In addition to professional and postgraduate education, Hilborne is committed to excellence in undergraduate medical education. He teaches both first and second year UCLA medical students in several courses, taking every opportunity to "infuse" a culture consistent with excellence and safe medical care. Hilborne was the first chair of the ASCP’s Resident Physician Section, formed in 1986 (now known as the Resident’s Council).

He recently served as chair of the ASCP Task Force on the Future of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and is currently a member of the ASCP Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. As a member of the ASCP Institute Advisory Committee, he is actively involved in the ASCP’s efforts to fight AIDS in Africa and South America.

He also serves as the Director of the Strategic Alliance for Error Reduction in California Healthcare (SAFER). In this capacity, Hilborne lectures and consults statewide, nationally, and internationally on patient safety and quality-of-care issues.

Hilborne is a member of the California Institute for Medical Quality and the AMA’s CPT Editorial Panel. He serves on a number of editorial boards and has published many articles related to quality of care, medical appropriateness, and patient safety.

He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego, and did his pathology internship and residency at UCLA School of Medicine.