Elizabeth N Pavlisko

Dr. Pavlisko holds an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Clemson University and received her Doctor of Medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina. She completed her residency and is board certified in both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. She trained as a pulmonary/thoracic pathology fellow at Duke University Medical Center under the mentorship of Drs. Victor Roggli and Thomas Sporn, two of the world’s leading Pulmonary Pathologist with expertise in pneumoconiosis and mesothelioma. She joined the faculty at Duke in 2011 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology, and her work is focused in thoracic, cardiovascular and transplant pathology as well as postmortem examination. Since starting her independent position, Dr. Pavlisko has developed expertise in neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases of the lung and mediastinum with a special interest in lung transplantation and diseases of the pleura for which she is widely recognized as an authority. She currently serves as Chief of the Pulmonary/Thoracic Pathology Section.  

Dr. Pavlisko’s clinical activities encompass pulmonary/thoracic and cardiovascular pathology, including transplantation, biomarker testing and autopsy pathology. Her primary research focus has centered on malignant mesothelioma and chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). She has published over 65 manuscripts and has 6 book chapters, the latter all centered on occupational diseases of the lungs and pleura. Since 2017, Dr. Pavlisko has co-chaired the lung steering committee for the Banff Foundation for Allograft Pathology. She is also an active member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Dr. Pavlisko has collaborations with the Departments of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery.

In addition to her clinical and research activities, Dr. Pavlisko is active in Duke University Hospital’s Clinical Laboratories and currently serves as the Medical Director of the Division of Anatomic Pathology and Digital Analytics (DAPDA) Laboratory, which includes Histology, Immunohistochemistry, FISH, and Image Analysis.