During a career spanning nearly 35 years, Richard Vander Heide, MD, PhD, MBA, has amassed a wealth of experience as a cardiovascular pathologist, researcher, and leader in academic medicine.
That expertise, Dr. Vander Heide said, will serve him and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) well as he takes the helm of the medical school’s Department of Pathology. He began his new role as department chair on July 1.
“I’m very excited to be here,” Dr. Vander Heide said. “It’s a great opportunity at this point in my career to do something unique.”
His arrival to WMed is a return home of sorts for Dr. Vander Heide. He is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and during the early part of his career he was a professor and director of the pathology residency program at Wayne State University School of Medicine. More recently, Dr. Vander Heide served as professor of pathology at Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans.
Dr. Vander Heide is an alumnus of Calvin University in Grand Rapids and earned his PhD and MD degrees from Northwestern University in 1986 and 1989, respectively. In 1993, he completed his residency training in pathology, as well as a three-year clinical fellowship and research fellowship in cardiovascular pathology, at Duke University Medical Center. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 2016.
At WMed, Dr. Vander Heide will lead a department that boasts six forensic pathologists, two forensic anthropologists, and a pathology assistant. The department also has two fellowship programs in forensic pathology and forensic anthropology. The Department of Pathology is also led by Amanda Fisher-Hubbard, MD, who serves as vice chair and chief of the Division of Neuropathology.
Dr. Vander Heide said the unique setup of the Department of Pathology at WMed was a draw for him when he decided to seek out the leadership role. Specifically, the forensic pathologists under his charge serve as department faculty and as deputy medical examiners for the Office of the Medical Examiner and Forensic Services, which is housed at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus and currently provides services for 13 counties in Michigan.
“The setup is very unique,” Dr. Vander Heide said. “I’ve never seen an academic pathology department that is the center of the medical examiner’s office. It’s very different and it’s also a huge strength for this department. I’m very impressed with the people who work here, their expertise, and the organization and passion they exhibit.”
During his time as a member of the faculty at Wayne State University School of Medicine from 1994 to 2009, Dr. Vander Heide also served as director of Autopsy Services at DMC Harper University Hospital and chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service (PALMS) at the John D. Dingell Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. At LSU, he served from 2009 to 2018 as the chair of Pathology and held the Jack Perry Strong Endowed Professorship of Pathology. Outside of his work at the medical school in New Orleans, Dr. Vander Heide also served as the director of Laboratory Services for several local hospitals and he was a staff pathologist for the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans from 2009 to 2021. Most recently, before returning to Michigan, he served as the service line medical director (chief) of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology for the Marshfield Clinic Health System in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
“Over any substantial career, you experience successes as well as failures,” Dr. Vander Heide said. “ Part of being an effective leader is to learn from those experiences. Doing so brings a great deal of benefit for me as I embark on this new role.”
As he looks ahead, Dr. Vander Heide has several goals and initiatives he plans to pursue at WMed, most notably his desire to launch a pathology residency program in Kalamazoo. The work to do so will take time, he said, and he wants to work with Kalamazoo’s two teaching hospitals – Beacon Health Kalamazoo and Bronson Methodist Hospital – to put in place a clinical operation to support what would be the only pathology residency program in Michigan west of Ann Arbor.
Additionally, Dr. Vander Heide wants to sustain and build upon the department’s research efforts and use his extensive experience in research to serve as a resource for grant applications and reviews. Outside of research, Dr. Vander Heide said he also wants help the medical school’s Research Histology Lab grow and raise awareness about the great work being done there and the services the lab provides.
“We’ve got expertise here like nowhere else,” he said.
Dr. Vander Heide is board certified in anatomic pathology and a diplomate of the National Board of Pathology. He’s also the recipient of several teaching awards and has published numerous research articles. He is a member of several professional societies, including the American Heart Association; the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology; the College of American Pathology, and the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology. He is also a lifetime member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.