New Appointment

Dr. Nancy Joste Named to Head UNM Department of Pathology

Nancy E. Joste, MD, MS, has been named the next chair of The University of New Mexico School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology following a competitive search.

“I congratulate Dr. Joste on this next adventure in her career and thank her for her incredible service and devotion to our state, our mission, our patients and our learners,” said Michael E. Richards, MD, MPA, the School of Medicine’s interim dean.

“I am honored by this appointment and the opportunity to lead the department that has been my professional home for many years,” Joste said. “It is an exciting time, with lots of challenges as we look forward to growth from the New Hospital Tower, planned growth of our research mission and exploring how to expand our medical laboratory sciences program.”

Joste has been serving as the department’s interim chair since 2019. Her work at UNM has combined clinical service through diagnostic general surgical pathology and cytopathology, education of medical students, pathology residents and fellows and research, with a focus largely in gynecologic malignancies.

She is a board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with subspecialty boards in cytopathology and a subspecialty fellowship in gynecologic pathology. She has a broad expertise in most areas of surgical pathology, having practiced as a general surgical pathologist for more than 20 years.

Joste also has an enduring interest in global health and has provided pathology services and education to underserved populations in Central and South America, Africa and Central Asia.

She was recruited to the Department of Pathology in 1995 and has been on the faculty since that time. For the past 17 years, she has served as the director of Anatomic Pathology, overseeing all aspects of surgical pathology and cytopathology.

Joste’s numerous accolades include the Department of Pathology’s Outstanding Professional award and the UNM School of Medicine’s 2017 Leonard M. Napolitano, PhD, award. She was also a 2017 Fulbright Scholar to Peru.

Joste earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979. She went on to earn both a master of science degree in biology and her MD from UNM. She completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology and fellowships in cytopathology and gynecologic pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

I am honored by this appointment and the opportunity to lead the department that has been my professional home for many years.

— Nancy Joste, MD, MS