Priya Skaria, MBBS, MD, FASCP, is a board-certified (anatomic, clinical, hematopathology, and board eligible in pediatric pathology) practicing pathologist at Onvida Health (previously called Yuma Regional Medical Center), in Yuma, Arizona.  Dr. Skaria obtained her bachelor’s degree from Sri Ramachandra University, India, and a master’s degree from University of Missouri in Kansas City (residency) and Washington University in St. Louis (fellowships).   

At Onvida Health, under the leadership of Dr. Bedke (medical director) and Dr. Swapp (chairman of Pathology), Dr. Skaria helped improve the standards of laboratory service and pathology practice by increasing the yield of bone marrow aspirates from 39% to 75% between November 2021 and March 2023; improved the quality of frozen tissue sections by introducing embedding wells; streamlined the workflow during a cyberattack in 2022; and resolved histology quality issues when the histology supervisor was unavailable, among other accomplishments. 

Inquisitiveness and attention to detail were part of how Dr. Skaria achieved the Dr. Gordon F. Vawter pathologist-in-training award for her first cancer research project in children, which hypothesized a probable association between umbilical cord length and pesticides with stillbirths and early onset high grade hematopoietic neoplasms, respectively.   

Dr. Skaria always enjoys the opportunity to educate aspiring younger generations at the training institutions and via platforms like Ace My Path.  She was driven to pursue medicine and cancer research by the challenges of losing a parent at two years of age to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and considers her elective focused on lymphomas with Dr. Elaine Jaffe at the National Cancer Institute the most fulfilling and satisfying experience in this lifetime. Training with Dr. Louis P. Dehner, at Washington University in St. Louis, was also a precious learning experience.   

The various accolades Dr. Skaria has received since childhood, including a bronze medal in the long jump at the national level, taught her that success is attained by character, faith, resilience, hard work, and expertise with practice.