Biography

I spent my early years in Toronto and attended McGill University to complete my undergraduate degree. I completed medical school at the University of Toronto, and during this time developed an interest in pursuing pathology as a specialty. My love of the west coast combined with my desire to become a pathologist led me to complete my medical residency in Vancouver. During residency I was exposed to renal pathology and decided to explore it further through completing a one year fellowship at Foothills Hospital in Calgary. I returned to Vancouver in 2017 to become a member of the pathology staff at St. Paul's Hospital.

Academic Background

• B.Sc., Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University, Montreal QC 2007

• MD, University of Toronto, Toronto ON, 2011

• Anatomical Pathology Residency, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, 2016

• FRCPC (Anatomical Pathology), 2016

• Renal Pathology Fellowship, University of Calgary, Calgary AB, 2017

Expertise / Research Interests

• Renal Pathology

Teaching Interests

• Renal Pathology

• Anatomical Pathology

Selected Publications

• McRae SA, Sporinova B, Nasr SH, Benediktsson H. Atypical anti-GBM disease with negative serology, a case report. Poster presented at CAP-ACP Annual Meeting; 2017, June 10-13; Charlottetown, PEI.

• Zachara-Szczakowski S, Verdun T and Churg A. Accuracy of classifying poorly differentiated non-small cell lung carcinoma biopsies with commonly used lung carcinoma markers. Human Pathology. 2015 May; 46 (5):776-82.

• Sheffield BS, Fulton R, Kalloger SE, Milne K, Geller G, Jones M, Jacquemont J, Zachara S, Zhao E, Pleasance E, Laskin J, Jones SJM, Marra MA, Yip S, Nelson BH, Gown AM, Ho C and Ionescu DN. Investigation of PD-L1 biomarker testing methods for PD-1 axis inhibition in non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. J Histochem Cytochem. 2016 Sept 2.

• Zachara S and Webber D. ‘Gestalt’ assessment of intraepithelial lymphocytosis in duodenal biopsies overcalls normal as abnormal, falsely raising the possibility of Celiac Disease. Poster presented at United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting; 2015, Mar 21-27; Boston, MA.

• Hoang LN, Zachara S, Soma A, Köbel M, Lee CH, McAlpine J, Huntsman D, Thomson T, van Niekerk D, Singh N, Gilks CB. Diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma histotype based on limited sampling: a prospective study comparing cytology, frozen section, and core biopsies to full pathologic examination. Int J Bynecol Pathol. 2015 Nov;34(6):517-27.