Pathological diagnosis is very important part of medical treatment. Observerbation of histopathological morphology and based on the results of chemical, immunohistochemical and molecular biological examinations, the pathologists provide accurate diagnosis for clinical doctors.
When the Army medical School, the predecessor of the National Defense Medical Center was established in 1919, Dr. Hui Chen was sent under orders to Japan to learn pathology. In 1978, the Department of Pathology and Institute of Pathology and Parasitology were established. Former chairs of both sections included Professor Yen-chang Tu, and Doctor Ming-chang Zhang, Professor Fur-jiang Leu, Associate Professor Hui-hwa Tseng, Professor Wei-hwa Lee, Professor Ann Chen, Professor Lai-fa Sheu and Professor Heng-Sheng Li. Currently, Associate Professor Tai-Kuang Chao chairs this department and the institute. The facilities at our institute include a microarray-analyzer, an electromicroscope, a laser-guided microscopy dissection, a real time PCR, an automatic DNA sequencer, and other general molecular biology equipment. The areas of research at this institute include: EB virus associated malignancies such as NPC and gastric carcinoma molecular renal pathology, brain tumor pathology, bacteria and virus pathology and drug resistance, molecular pathology of cervix cancer and breast cancer, signal transduction in chondrocyte of osteoarthritis, and oral cancer pathology.