Kimberly W. Sanford, MD, MASCP, MT(ASCP) Installed as 2020-2021 President of ASCP

Kimberly W. Sanford, MD, MASCP, MT(ASCP) was installed as the 2020-2021 President of ASCP during the Society’s Annual Meeting held virtually, September 9-12.

A distinguished educator and expert in transfusion medicine, Dr. Sanford serves as medical director of the laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Stony Point Medical Center, Richmond, VA, and director of undergraduate education for VCU’s Department of Pathology. 

A longtime volunteer with ASCP, she has served on the Board of Directors for 5 years and has held leadership positions with the Society that focused on developing educational content at national meetings and ongoing education of all laboratory professionals. Dr. Sanford has served on the Editorial Board of Laboratory Medicine, ASCP’s bi-monthly magazine for laboratory professionals; and as a member of the Association of Pathology Chairs Honor Society. Dr. Sanford joined ASCP in 1991 after passing her certification examination as a medical laboratory scientist and began volunteering with the Society when she entered pathology practice in 2008.

Dr. Sanford has received numerous recognitions, including the ASCP H. P. Smith Award for Distinguished Pathology Educator in 2015 and the ASCP Mastership in 2011. She was inducted into the VCU Alumni Hall of Fame for the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences in 2012, and recognized as Outstanding Teacher Award in the pathology introduction course for VCU medical students for eight consecutive years. In 2018, she received the Outstanding Pre-Clinical Division Director for the Scientific Foundations of Medicine Course.

“I am honored to work with ASCP volunteers and staff who are so committed to improving the quality of patient care,” she said. “Over the past year, in particular, our members have clearly demonstrated the critical role that pathologists and medical laboratory professionals play in saving the lives of patients who have COVID-19. As someone with a background in both laboratory medicine and pathology, I appreciate that ASCP brings together the diverse members of the medical laboratory team.”

Dr. Sanford graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science in medical technology from VCU. After working in the Department of Pathology at VCU for several years, she entered medical school and then completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at VCU. In 2008, she became associate medical director of Transfusion Medicine and medical director of Stony Point Laboratory. She also completed a fellowship in Transfusion Medicine at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.