Dr. Stephen Heifetz dies; served on faculty nine years

Stephen A. Heifetz, MD, director of pediatric surgical pathology and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, died Oct. 18 of lung cancer. He was 50.

Prior to joining the IUSM faculty in 1988, Dr. Heifetz held pediatric pathology and laboratory medicine positions at Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children and Grace Maternity Hospital, both in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

While serving with the Army from 1978 to 1985, he was chairman of the Department of Pediatric Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, registrar of pediatric pathology at the American Registry of Pathology, assistant chief of the departments of pathology at the U.S. Army Hospital in Nurenberg, Germany, and at 2nd General Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He also served as a consultant in pediatric pathology to the U.S. surgeon general.

When Dr. Heifetz left the military he had achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Dr. Heifetz was a 1967 graduate of Swarthmore College and received his medical degree in 1971 from State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center.

He was internationally known for his expertise in placental pathology and pediatric germ cell tumors. He served on several national and local professional panels dedicated to the study of childhood cancer, fetal and infant mortality, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. His publications and presentations, for which he received many awards, were numerous.

In 1996, Dr. Heifetz was the recipient of the Gold Medal Caffey Award, presented by the Society for Pediatric Radiology. He also was honored in July by the Marion County Health Department for his contributions to the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program.

Dr. Heifetz is survived by his companion, Dr. J. Isaac Bateman; two children, Jennifer Ruth Wullkotte and Joshua Barnett Heifetz; his mother, Gertrude Levine Heifetz, and his sister, Joan Heifetz Hollinger.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Riley Memorial Association’s Dr. Stephen A. Heifetz Children’s Cancer Research Fund.

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