It is with great sadness that I write of the recent passing of Dr. Danny Ghazarian.
Danny obtained his MBChB. degree from the College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, in 1981. He obtained his PhD in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pathology, University of Toronto, in 1993. He then entered the Anatomical Pathology Residency Program at the University of Toronto and acquired his FRCPC in 1996. He completed a Fellowship in Dermatopathology in the Division of Dermatology with Dr. Lynn From, and attended dermatology clinics at Women’s College Hospital.
Danny was appointed as faculty in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology (LMP) as a dermatopathologist in 1998, becoming a Full Professor in 2015. He was the first pathologist to become the Site Lead of the Melanoma and Skin Oncology Site at Princess Margaret Hospital and was integral to the creation of the Melanoma/Skin Oncology Disease Site at UHN.
Danny was known as an excellent diagnostician and teacher. He received many teaching awards such as the Wightman-Berris Academy Award in 2002/2003, and held the position of Director of Education, Laboratory Medicine Program, at UHN. He loved teaching and would teach at all levels. He was the Director of Education, LMP. The monthly TWH/TGH dermatopathology rounds were opportunities to share clinical dermatology and pathology and we have missed these sessions since they have been on hold due to COVID.
Always a champion for great teaching, Danny created the ‘Best Teacher Award’ as a resident in 1996 to honour the best teachers every year. The first recipient of this award was Dr. Dean Chamberlain, with the latest being Dr. Zaid Saeed Kamil awarded in June this year. This award was renamed the Danny Ghazarian Resident Teaching Award in 2004. In 2020, Danny won the LMP Distinguised Service Award from the UofT.
Danny’s reach was felt widely as he was a member of many societies, including the Canadian Association of Pathologists, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and International Society of Dermatopathology.
Danny was an excellent dermatopathologist, a great colleague and a remarkable friend.
