Over the past 10 years, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson has emerged as one of the leaders in the field of translational research involving molecular and systems biologic approaches for analysis of malignant lymphoma. His contributions have also included the development of novel molecular biotechnologic advancements to facilitate the molecular diagnosis and investigation of hematologic malignancies. Remarkably, he has made important scientific contributions while also maintaining active participation in diagnostic hematopathology and molecular pathology. He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in combined anatomic and clinical pathology, with subspecialty certification in hematology and molecular genetic pathology. Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson is currently an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Utah, and serves as the Director of Molecular Hematopathology at the Associated Regional and University Pathologists (ARUP) Laboratory of the University of Utah. He is the Director of the Molecular Genetic Pathology fellowship training program at the University of Utah and the Director of the Proteomics Unit at ARUP. His accomplishments highlight the ideals of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, emphasizing clinical, scientific, and educational distinction and achievement.

Dr. Kojo S. J. Elenitoba-Johnson received his M.D. in 1988 from the University Of Lagos College Of Medicine, in Lagos, Nigeria. His career in pathology began at Brown University, where he completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology. He was selected as Chief Resident in his second year of residency in recognition of his remarkable abilities and leadership skills. During those early days as a resident at Brown University, his interest in hematopathology was cultivated by Drs. Jila Khorsand and L. Jeffrey Medeiros. Also during residency, he sought and acquired expertise in molecular biology in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas C. King, and began his investigations of the pathogenesis of malignant lymphomas.

Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson received his subspecialty training in hematopathology under the supervision of Dr. Elaine Jaffe at the National Cancer Institute, at the National Institutes of Health from 1995-1997. Under the guidance of Dr. Mark Raffeld at the NCI, he became interested in the critical molecular events underlying follicular lymphoma transformation. He subsequently published a landmark study that was the first to implicate alterations involving the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p16 in the pathogenesis of follicular lymphoma transformation. For this work, he was recognized with the Society for Hematopathology Pathologist-in-Training Award in 1998.

However, his measure as a scientist and clinician is best seen since establishing his own research laboratory at the University of Utah where he was recruited by Dr. Carl R. Kjeldsberg. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 1997 and rapidly made important contributions to molecular diagnostics by advancing the application of novel molecular biotechnology approaches to facilitate the detection of chromosomal translocations. In a series of successive publications, he introduced the concept of utilization of amplicon melting curve analysis for the facile detection of chromosomal translocation products.

Further in the realm of contributions using novel approaches for the detection of genetic aberrations, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson's laboratory also pioneered the utilization of multicolor fluorimetry and melting curve analysis for the multiplex detection of point mutations in oncogenes implicated in the pathogenesis of human hematopoietic malignancies.

Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson's work has expanded our understanding of the complexities of follicular lymphoma transformation. Using gene expression profiling, he and his coworkers demonstrated for the first time that several deregulated growth factors and cytokine receptor genes signaling through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway play a role in the progression of follicular lymphoma to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This study highlighted the complexity of deregulated processes involved in lymphoma progression, and provided evidence for the activity of an autocrine-paracrine feed-back loop involving growth factors, cytokines and their receptors in the pathogenesis of follicular lymphoma transformation.

In 2002, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson established the proteomic mass spectrometry facility at ARUP. His most recent work has capitalized on proteomic technologies to dissect out the aberrant signaling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of malignant lymphoma. While the NPM/ALK translocation has been recognized as a critical event in anaplastic large cell lymphoma, the interacting partners of the aberrantly expressed oncogenic chimeric-ALK tyrosine kinase was uncharacterized. In one of several productive collaborations with his colleague and wife Dr. Megan Lim, they examined NPM/ALK immunocomplexes using tandem mass spectrometry to identify interacting partners of NPM/ALK. This work dramatically expanded the number of known interacting partners of the chimeric NPM-ALK fusion protein, and provided novel insights into mechanisms by which the abnormal fusion protein promotes an oncogenic phenotype in anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Using a similar approach, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson and colleagues also characterized the `interactome' of the BCL6 protein whose expression is critical in the formation of germinal centers and genetic alterations of which represent the most frequent recurrent aberration in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In recent studies, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson described a novel fusion mapping approach providing one of the first reports of a proteomic based approach for the characterization of oncogenic chimeric fusion proteins. Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson also contributed a vital advance to translational research by developing an approach for tandem mass spectrometry-based large-scale identification of proteins in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues.

Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson plays an important role as mentor and teacher to the medical students, graduate students, residents and fellows in the field of pathology. Significantly, Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson's outstanding performance as a professor has been recognized when he was the recipient of the University of Utah's Outstanding Teaching Award in Anatomic Pathology in 1999, and repeated in 2003. Several of his trainees have been recognized with national awards including the Stowell-Orbison Certificate of Merit, the Society of Hematopathology Award, the American Society of Hematology Trainee Research Award and the Association of Molecular Pathology young investigator award among others. Thus, he has played, and continues to play a critical role in molding of future physicians and scientists, embracing another ideal of our Academy.

Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson has been an active member of the USCAP and the AMP since 1997. His publications as lead author or principal investigator have appeared in the most prestigious journals: Nature Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Blood, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, Oncogene, the American Journal of Pathology, and of course, our Academy's journals Laboratory Investigation and Modern Pathology. Support of his research work through continued NIH funding as principal investigator is a further testament to the significance of his research program. Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson has also contributed several chapters in authoritative texts on Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and the molecular diagnosis of hematopoietic malignancies. He has served as a reviewer on a variety of NIH review panels evaluating grant proposals in basic and multidisciplinary research.