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Nigar Anjuman Khurram, MD

Assistant Professor of Pathology, Native Hepatic, Renal and Transplant Organ Pathology, Director UPMC School of Histology, Associate Director, Surgical Pathology Fellowship

Clinical Expertise

Nigar Anjuman Khurram, MD, is a academic pathologist specializing in liver, transplant, and gastrointestinal pathology, with particular expertise in native and transplant liver disease.

Dr. Khurram is fellowship trained in surgical pathology at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by subspecialty training in gastrointestinal and liver pathology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Specialties

Native liver, Hepatobiliary, Native renal, Gastrointestinal and Transplant organ pathology, Machine Perfusion, Spatial Transcriptomics and Multiplex immunohistochemistry

Distinctions

  • University of Pittsburgh Medical Student Research Mentoring Merit Award 2025
  • ASCP Resident Trainee Travel Award 2017

Invited Lectures and Educational Talks

May 2027 — International Liver Transplantation Society Annual Congress, Montreal, Canada (upcoming)
March 2027 — United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) Annual Meeting, short course director, Vancouver, Canada (upcoming)
October 2026 — International Academy of Pathology (IAP) Congress, Japan (upcoming)
September 29, 2026 — National Society for Histotechnology (NSH), short course director (upcoming)
November 19, 2025 — American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), short course director
September 15, 2025 — College of American Pathologists (CAP), short course director
May 2025 — International Liver Transplantation Society Annual Congress, Singapore
December 20, 2024 — Digital Pathology Association Grand Rounds
October 2024 — International Academy of Pathology (IAP) Congress, Mexico

Research Interests

Dr. Khurram’s research focuses on translational liver and transplant pathology, integrating histomorphology with spatial transcriptomics, immunophenotyping, and clinicopathologic data to better characterize liver disease and allograft injury. Her work includes spatial molecular profiling of hepatocarcinogenesis and precursor hepatocellular lesions; antibody-mediated and cellular rejection in liver allografts; and molecular and immunophenotypic characterization of cholangiopathies. A major focus of her research is the application of emerging technologies, including NanoString GeoMx spatial transcriptomics and multiplex tissue analysis. Her work seeks to translate these molecular findings into practical diagnostic tools and more standardized approaches to liver and transplant pathology.

Representative Publications
  1. Nigar Anjuman Khurram, Karlene Stanton, Alexander Miller, Neha Varshney, Adarsh Barwad, Chhagan Bihari Sharma, Ihsan Baroudi, Kora Davis, Nathan McGrath and Paul J.L. Zhang, Impact of Ursodeoxycholic acid on Histologic and Immunophenotypic Features in Primary Biliary Cholangitis, Pathology - Research and Practice, (2026) doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prp.2026.156690
  2. Chua JJ, Wu A, Khurram N, Saeed A, Celaj S. Beyond Rejection: Nivolumab-Induced Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome as a Novel Pattern of Immune-Related Allograft Injury. Clin Transplant. 2026 Jul;40(7):e70626. doi: 10.1111/ctr.70626. PMID: 42479785; PMCID: PMC13387512.
  3. Saleem K, Kamat S, Khurram NA, Hendawy BS, Ito S, Amarapurkar P. Paraneoplastic Minimal Change Disease Signaling Post-Transplant AML Relapse: Two Cases and a Literature Review. Curr Oncol. 2026 Jun 24;33(7):382. doi: 10.3390/curroncol33070382. PMID: 42505184
  4. Xu Q, Khurram NA, Bentlejewski C, Demetris AJ, Zeevi A. The Presence of Non-HLA Antibody with DSA Is Associated with Moderate to Severe T Cell-Mediated Rejection in Liver Transplant Recipients. Clin Transplant. 2026 Feb;40(2):e70480. doi: 10.1111/ctr.70480. PMID: 41691619; PMCID: PMC12906860.
  5. Khurram NA, Kakar S, Balitzer D. Gastric biopsies with prominent eosinophils: Clinicopathologic features and response to therapy. Histopathology. 2025 Dec;87(6):880-893. doi: 10.1111/his.15549. Epub 2025 Sep 3. PMID: 40903418; PMCID: PMC12605692.
  6. Brown E, Schoedel K, Barwad A, Furlan A, Zhang PJL, Khurram NA. Clinicopathologic and radio-genomic insights into hepatic epithelioid hemangioma: An illustrated review. Hum Pathol. 2025 Oct 14:105955. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2025.105955. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41101391.
  7. Johnson SE, Haney CR, Spann AN, Khurram N, Obeidin F, Lee J, Zhao M. An in vivo imaging approach for simultaneously assessing tumor response and cytotoxicity-induced tissue response in chemotherapy. Apoptosis. 2025 Jun;30(5-6):1515-1524. doi: 10.1007/s10495-025-02118-9. Epub 2025 Apr 26. PMID: 40281308; PMCID: PMC12167287.
  8. Khurram, N.A. (2025). Transplant Liver Pathology. In: Li, H., Zhang, X. (eds) Practical Liver Pathology. Practical Anatomic Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97506-6_15
  9. Khurram, N.A. (2025). Post-transplant Liver Pathology. In: Eghtesad, B., Berenguer, M., Selzner, N., Hashimoto, K. (eds) Liver Transplantation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-07072-2_22
  10. Saravanan N, Demetris A, Khurram N, Fiel MI, et al. Serum and tissue biomarkers of plasma cell-rich rejection in liver transplant recipients. Am J Transplant. Published online October 9, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2024.10.006
  11. Bellamy COC, O'Leary JG, Khurram NA, Adeyi O, Baddour N, Batal I, Bucuvalas J, Del Bello A, El Hag M, El-Monayeri M, Farris AB 3rd, Feng S, Fiel MI, Fischer SE, Fung J, Grzyb K, Guimei M, Haga H, Hart J, Jackson AM, Jaeckel E, Knechtle SJ, Lesniak D, Levitsky J, McCaughan G, McKenzie C, Mescoli C, Miquel R, Minervini MI, Nasser IA, Neil D, O'Neil MF, Pappo O, Randhawa P, Ruiz P, Fueyo AS, Schady D, Schiano T, Sebagh M, Smith M, Stevenson HL, Taner T, Taubert R, Thung S, Trunecka P, Wang HL, Wood-Trageser M, Yilmaz F, Zen Y, Zeevi A, Demetris AJ. Banff 2022 Liver Group Meeting report: Monitoring long-term allograft health. Am J Transplant. 2024 Jun;24(6):905-917. doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2024.03.008. Epub 2024 Mar 9. PMID: 38461883.
  12. Gopalakrishna H, Mironova M, Malik S, Faust A, Khurram N, Koh C, Kleiner DE, Heller T. Porto-Sinusoidal Vascular Disease in Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria Needing Liver Transplantation. ACG Case Rep J. 2024 Apr 26;11(5): e01336. doi: 10.14309/crj.0000000000001336. PMID: 38682079; PMCID: PMC11049708.
  13. Hassler L, Khurram N, Wysocki J, Ahrendsen JT, Ye M, Gelarden I, Nicolaescu V, Tomatsidou A, Gula H, Cianfarini C, Forster P, Singer BD, Randall G, Missiakas D, Henkin J, Batlle D. Intranasal soluble ACE2 improves survival and prevents brain SARS-CoV-2 infection. Life Sci Alliance. 2023 Apr 11;6(7):e202301969. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202301969. PMID: 37041017; PMCID: PMC10098141.
  14. Chornenkyy Y, Gama AP, Felicelli C, Khurram N, Booth AL, Leventhal JR, Ramsey GE, Yang GY. Alloimmunization Against RBC Antigens Is Not Associated With Decreased Survival in Liver Transplant Recipients. Am J Clin Pathol. 2023 Mar 13;159(3):255-262. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqac150. PMID: 36626677.
  15. Yang W, Cerier EJ, Nunez-Santana FL, Wu Q, Yan Y, Kurihara C, Liu X, Yeldandi A, Khurram N, Avella-Patino D, Sun H, Budinger GRS, Kreisel D, Mohanakumar T, Lecuona E, Bharat A. IL-1β-dependent extravasation of preexisting lung-restricted autoantibodies during lung transplantation activates complement and mediates primary graft dysfunction. J Clin Invest. 2022 Oct 17;132(20):e157975. doi: 10.1172/JCI157975. PMID: 36250462; PMCID: PMC9566897.
  16. Hassler L, Wysocki J, Gelarden I, Sharma I, Tomatsidou A, Ye M, Gula H, Nicoleascu V, Randall G, Pshenychnyi S, Khurram N, Kanwar Y, Missiakas D, Henkin J, Yeldandi A, Batlle D. A Novel Soluble ACE2 Protein Provides Lung and Kidney Protection in Mice Susceptible to Lethal SARS-CoV-2 Infection. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2022 Jul;33(7):1293-1307. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2021091209. Epub 2022 Mar 2. PMID: 35236774; PMCID: PMC9257820.
  17. Acheampong KK, Schaff DL, Emert BL, Lake J, Reffsin S, Shea EK, Comar CE, Litzky LA, Khurram NA, Linn RL, Feldman M, Weiss SR, Montone KT, Cherry S, Shaffer SM. Subcellular Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Human Tissue Reveals Distinct Localization in Alveolar Type 2 Pneumocytes and Alveolar Macrophages. mBio. 2022 Feb 8;13(1):e0375121. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03751-21. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35130722; PMCID: PMC8822351.
  18. Acheampong KK, Schaff DL, Emert BL, Lake J, Reffsin S, Shea EK, Comar CE, Litzky LA, Khurram NA, Linn RL, Feldman M, Weiss SR, Montone KT, Cherry S, Shaffer SM. Multiplexed detection of SARS-CoV-2 genomic and sub-genomic RNA using in situ hybridization. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2021 Aug 11:2021.08.11.455959. doi: 10.1101/2021.08.11.455959. PMID: 34401878; PMCID: PMC8366794.
  19. Abdeen S, Bdeir K, Abu-Fanne R, Maraga E, Higazi M, Khurram N, Feldman M, Deshpande C, Litzky LA, Heyman SN, Montone KT, Cines DB, Higazi AA. Alpha-defensins: risk factor for thrombosis in COVID-19 infection. Br J Haematol. 2021 Jul;194(1):44-52. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17503. Epub 2021 May 30. PMID: 34053084; PMCID: PMC8239944.
  20. Lin J, Bao B, Khurram NA, Halsey K, Choi JW, Wang L, Tran TML, Liao WH, Feldman MD, Zhang PJ, Wu J, Bai HX. Chronic liver disease not a significant comorbid condition for COVID-19. Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 3;11(1):11734. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91238-8. PMID: 34083670; PMCID: PMC8175434.
  21. Mu EW, Khurram NA, Pei Z, Feng H, Cassai N, Meehan SA, Latkowski JA. 55-year-old man with ulcers in inguinal fold and intergluteal cleft found to have systemic Langerhans cell histiocytosis. JAAD Case Rep. 2018 Sep 18;4(8):837-840. doi: 10.1016/j.jdcr.2018.05.016. PMID: 30238052; PMCID: PMC6143693.
  22. Jayakumar R, Cassai N, Laskar D, Khurram NA, LaDoulis C, Wieczorek R, Pincus MR. Can whole slide imaging replace conventional microscopic evaluation? A comparative study over a spectrum of cases. J Appl Clin Pathol 2018;1(1):4. https://doi.org/10.24983/scitemed.jacp.2018.00060
  23. Kelly, Dervla & Khurram, Nigar & Hickman, Richard & Pei, Zhiheng. (2018). Quantitative Approach in Clinical Microbiology: A Paradigm Shift Toward Culture-Free Methods: Volume 2: Applications. 10.1007/978-3-319-95111-9_24. 2).
  24. Reyes F, Singh N, Anjuman-Khurram N, Lee J, Chow L. Strongyloides Hyperinfection Syndrome causing fatal meningitis and septicemia by Citrobacter koseri. IDCases. 2017 Sep 20;10:102-104. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2017.09.005. PMID: 29062711; PMCID: PMC5647512
  25. Su J, Anjuman N, Guarnera MA, Zhang H, Stass SA, Jiang F. Analysis of Lung Flute-collected Sputum for Lung Cancer Diagnosis. Biomark Insights. 2015 Aug 4;10:55-61. doi: 10.4137/BMI.S26883. PMID: 26309391; PMCID: PMC4526230.
  26. Anjuman N, Li N, Guarnera M, Stass SA, Jiang F. Evaluation of lung flute in sputum samples for molecular analysis of lung cancer. Clin Transl Med. 2013 Sep 22;2(1):15. doi: 10.1186/2001-1326-2-15. PMID: 24053570; PMCID: PMC3848735.
  27. Gani N, Saeed K, Minhas FA, Anjuman N, Waleed M, Fatima G. Assessment of patient satisfaction with mental health services in a tertiary care setting. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. 2011 Jan-Mar;23(1):43-6. PMID: 22830144.
  28. Sabrina M. Heman-Ackah MD DPhil, Patricia Zadnik Sullivan MD, Rachel Kolster MD PhD, Nigar Khurram MD, MacLean Nasrallah MD PhD, Sophie YouRong Su MD, Michael Spadola MD, Asad Usman MD, Jacob Gutsche MD, Dmitriy Petrov MD, H. Issac Chen MD, Omar Choudhry MD1, David Kung MD, James Schuster MD PhD, Timothy Lucas MD PhD MCHI. Antecedent Thromboembolic Disease in Central Nervous System Hemorrhage of COVID-19 Patients: A Case Series
  29. Khurram NA. Late T cell mediated (cellular) rejection. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/liverlatetcellrejection.html.
  30. Khurram NA, Vyas M. Glycogen storage diseases. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/liverglycogenstoragedisease

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3666-7252