Dr. Shitabata completed his internship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and completed his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in 1992. He completed a Surgical Pathology Fellowship at Harbor-UCLA in 1993 and a Fellowship in Dermatopathology at Barnes Hospital of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri in 1994. He is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Dermatopathology.

Dr. Shitabata is the President and Medical Director of the Dermatopathology Institute. He has practiced dermatopathology since 1994. Prior to this, he served as the medical director and chief dermatopathologist for Pathology Inc., a physician owned reference laboratory in Torrance, California. He is a former partner and owner of the Affiliated Pathologists Medical Group, working with them from 1994-2008.

He currently serves as the Director of Dermatopathology for the Dermatology Residency Program for the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at UCLA-David Geffen School of Medicine and a Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Shitabata is a member of the Leadership Committee for the College of American Pathologists. He serves as the dermatopathology editor for Logical Images, a software company that develops products to speed visual recognition and clinical decision making. He is a dermatopathology reviewer for Practical Reviews in Dermatology. He was consultant for dermatopathology for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2001-2003) and a member of the Council in Public Affairs for the College of American Pathologists (2002-2003). From 1998-2004, he was a member of the Board of Directors for the Asian American Physicians Association.

Dr. Shitabata is the creator and webmaster for several renown websites. The Doctors Doctor is a website dedicated to helping patients and other physicians understand the surgical pathology report. In 2005, over 6 million users visited the site. The Wall Street Journal recognized the site as an important reference for patients seeking information about their laboratory reports.

Dr. Shitabata grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is married to Evangeline Uy Shitabata, D.D.M., M.D.S, a pediatric dentist who practices in Torrance, CA. They have one daughter, Malia Jaye and one son, Ian George. Dr. Shitabata lists his passions as the Four B's (Bebop, Beer, Burgundy wines, and Beef). He enjoys playing and listening to jazz music (listen to him playing), especially jazz guitar. He is an avid fan of the music of Wes Montgomery and still gets goose bumps whenever he hears his recordings. He is the proud owner of a Gibson L5 Wes Montgomery guitar. He enjoys good beers, especially Belgian brews, and regularly presents new tastings to his colleagues. He enjoys culinary excursions for all types of food and never misses a chance for a good wine pairing, particularly wines from Burgundy.

AWARDS

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center-Volunteer Teacher of the Year 2006-2007

Paul J. Gethner Teaching Award-Presented by the Harbor-UCLA Department of Dermatology-2006

Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare 1998-Present

Who’s Who in America 1998-Present

National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals 2003-2004

America’s Best Physicians (Consumers’ Research Council of America) 2003

Appreciation Award- Presented by the Department of Pathology Residents of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 2003

Appreciation Award- Presented by the Department of Pathology Residents of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 2002

Outstanding Teaching in Dermatopathology-Presented by the Department of Pathology Residents of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 2001

Scholastic All-American 1988

Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society 1987

Cum Laude Graduate, Pomona College 1984

PUBLISHED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Dickinson BP, Debrow T, Schwartz RJ, Ginsburg GT, Muller MP, Wyatt L, Yospur GL, Caputo A, Shitabata PK, Lesavoy MA. P43: Inhibiting Tendon Adhesions Following Surgical Repair. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2007;118(4). Supplement.

Tsai S, Kartono F, and Shitabata, PK. A novel glass slide filing system for pathology slides. Am J Clin Path 2007;128:109-111.

Chia JKS, Shitabata P, Wu J, Chia AY. Enterovirus Infection as a  Possible Cause of Pityriasis Rosea: Demonstration by Immunohistochemical Staining. Arch Dermatol 2006;142:942-843.

Fulton JE Jr, Porumb S, Caruso JC, Shitabata PK. Lip augmentation with liquid silicone.  Dermatol Surg 2005 Nov;31(11 Pt 2):1577-85

Shitabata PK. Pushing glass behind the paraffin curtain: The Doctor’s Doctor Website. Dermanities 2005; January 3; 4(2):a5

Fulton JE, Rahimi AD, Mansoor S, Helton P, Shitabata PK. The treatment of hypopigmentation following skin resurfacing. Dermatol Surg. 2004 Jan;30(1):95-101.

Fulton JE and Shitabata PK. CO2 laser physics and tissue interactions in skin. Lasers Surg Med. 1999;24(2):113-121.

Cutrone J, Yospur LS, Khalkhali I, Tolmos J, DeVito A, Diggles L, Vargas MP, Shitabata PK and French S. Immunohistologic Assessment of Technetium-99m-MIBI uptake in benign and malignant breast lesions. J Nucl Med 1998;39:449-453.

Kibrarian MA, Mallory SB, Keating J, Shitabata PK. Papular umbilicated granuloma annulare in association of Alagille syndrome. Int J Dermatol 1997;36(3):207-209.

Shitabata PK, Crouch E, Fitzgibbon J, Swanson PE, Adesokan PN, Wick MW. Cutaneous Sclerotic Fibroma: Immunohistochemical evidence of a fibroblastic neoplasm with continual processing of type I collage. Am J Dermatopathol 1995;17:339-343.

Shitabata PK, Fitzgibbon J, Dehner LP, Wick MW. Pleomorphic Hamartoma of the subcutis. J Cutan Pathol 1995;22:269-275.

Shitabata PK and Rutgers J. Placental Site Trophoblastic Nodule: An immunohistological study. Hum Pathol 1994;25:1295-1301.

Myhre BA, Jiminez L, Shitabata PK. The correlations of surrogate markers with anti-hepatitis C virus and other disease markers. Ann Clin Lab Sci 1994;Jan-Feb;24(1):76-83.

Shitabata PK and Rutgers JL. The placental site nodule. An immunohistochemical study. (Abstract). Mod Pathol 1993;6:78A.

French SW, Nash J, Shitabata PK, Kachi K, Hara C, Chedid A, Mendenhall CL, and the VA Cooperative Study Group. Pathology of Alcoholic Liver Disease. Semin Liver Dis 1993;13(2):154-169.

Chang C, Dughi J, Shitabata PK, Johnson G, Coel M, McNamara JJ. Air embolism and the radial arterial line. Crit Care Med 1988;16:141-143.

REVIEWS

Subungual Melanoma: A Study of 124 cases Highlighting Features of Early Lesions, Potential Pitfalls in Diagnosis, and Guidelines for Histologic Reporting. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology March 2008.

A Modified Approach to the Histologic Diagnosis of Onychomycosis. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology. February 2008.

Immunohistochemical Staining for CD45R Isoforms in Paraffin Sections to Diagnose Mycosis Fungoides-Type Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology January 2008.

The Spectrum of Histopathologic and Immunohistochemical findings in folliculotropic Mycosis Fungoides. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology November 2007.

Genetically Heterogeneous and Clonally Unrelated Metastases May Arise in Patients with Cutaneous Melanoma. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology, November 2007.

Verruca Vulgaris of the Vulva in Children and Adults: A nonvenereal type of vulvar wart. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology June 2007

Histological evolution of lentiginous melanoma: a report of five new cases.  As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology May 2007

The Cutaneous Lymphoid Proliferations. A Comprehensive Textbook of Lymphocytic Infiltrates of the Skin by CM Magro, AN Crowson, and MC Mihm. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology April 2007.

HMB-45 and Melan-A are Useful in the Differential Diagnosis Between Granular Cell Tumor and Malignant Melanoma. As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology March 2007.

Distinction of benign sebaceous proliferations from sebaceous carcinomas by immunohistochemistry.  As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology February 2007.

Prospective Step Sections for Small Skin Biopsies.  As published in Practical Reviews in Dermatology February 2007.

Review of Dermatopathology by RL Sanchez and SS Raimer. As published in Dermatopathology: Practical and Conceptual. 2003;Volume 9 #2.

ABSTRACTS AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS

PK Shitabata, EF Glassy, RA Moore, AK Lui, ER Heyman, AH Olson and H Lange. Performance comparison of a digital pathology solution for IHC to conventional manual microscopy: A feasibility study using 20 HER2 stained breast specimens. Presented at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting. March 1-7, 2008. Denver, Colorado.

Last Updated June 25, 2008