ACM-Pivotal Attracts Top Talent to Expand its Pathology Services.

Clients Benefit from Consistent and Efficient Testing Expertise from a Single Location

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- ACM-Pivotal, the global central laboratory that continually defines the customer-service standard with its inherently flexible approach, today announced the expansion of its Pathology Services for clinical trials with the addition of three board-certified pathologists: Kathy Bruner, MD FCAP, Randi Alterman LaPoint, MD, and Rana Samuel, MD FCAP. ACM-Pivotal now boasts eight board-certified pathologists and 12 support professionals in its Pathology Services department as part of its central facility to more consistently and cost-efficiently respond to all testing needs.

Unlike most central labs, ACM-Pivotal performs pathology services for clinical trials in house. The organization's esteemed team of professionals handles the specimen preparation and management, project management, data management and adjudicated slide interpretation. In addition, the organization has developed a unique approach to electronic reporting that standardizes and streamlines the data management component and expedites output of results. Combining safety and pathology testing from a single lab ensures clients receive consistent, analyzable test results with faster and cleaner reporting - saving time, money and manpower.

"Over the past nine years, we have assembled an impressive list of experts who bring a broad range of pathology capabilities to ACM-Pivotal," said Elena Logan, VP, Clinical Trials, ACM-Pivotal. "We recognized a need for comprehensive pathology services to support the increased demand from our clients. Our clients benefit by having their safety testing and pathology testing performed by one organization. This expanded service underscores ACM-Pivotal as a premier, customer-centric, global central lab with world-class testing capabilities."

The new pathology experts were selected due to their extensive academic experience and additional subspecialty training. Collectively, the department members total more than 120 publications in a number of respected journals.

Kathy Bruner was named director of cytopathology and is board-certified in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology and cytopathology. Her residency and fellowship training in cytopathology was conducted at the University of Kentucky under Diane Davey, MD. Bruner, whose areas of special interest include cytopathology and hematopathology, is a laboratory inspector for the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Randi Alterman LaPoint is board-certified in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, and cytopathology. She underwent her residency and fellowship training in cytopathology at the University of Rochester under Thomas Bonfiglio, MD. Her areas of special interest include gynecologic pathology and cytopathology.

Rana Samuel is board-certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. Her residency and fellowship training focused on dermatopathology and surgical pathology at SUNY-Buffalo. Previously, she held a faculty position in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester. Her areas of special interest include quality management, laboratory management, dermatopathology, breast pathology, and gastrointestinal pathology. Samuel is currently a laboratory inspector and team leader, as well as a spokesperson, for CAP.

ACM-Pivotal Pathology Services offer a full range of modern diagnostic aids, such as flow cytometry, in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, in order for its experts to provide interpretation of nearly every type of tissue or fluid specimen encountered in research or clinical practice. The pathology experts are frequently asked to provide advice about study design and test selection to ensure specific testing requirements are met. Areas of clinical trial and clinical practice expertise include tissue pathology, cytopathology, which uses the ThinPrep[TM] specimen preparation, autopsy pathology and toxicology. For more information, visit the website at http://www.acm-pivotal.com/analytical_path.html

About ACM-Pivotal

ACM-Pivotal is the global central laboratory with an inherently flexible approach and a focus on precision to keep clinical research studies on schedule. The organization sets itself apart by its single focus on global central lab services. ACM-Pivotal is defining the industry standard by continually developing customer-centric processes and services. With a staff of 360 laboratory science and clinical research experts, ACM-Pivotal's global operations extend to more than 60 countries and offer a broad and customized menu of safety and specialty services for clinical trials. The organization's research team performs 12 million tests each year, featuring more than 1,500 individual tests spanning all medical disciplines, including Pathology, Microbiology and Pharmacogenomics. For more information, visit www.acm-pivotal.com.