Dr. Donna Hansel completed a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at the Johns Hopkins University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.  She subsequently completed the M.D., Ph.D. Medical Scientist Training Program, pathology residency and urologic pathology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Hansel joined the Cleveland Clinic Anatomic Pathology Staff as Assistant Professor in 2006 as a subspecialty genitourinary pathologist. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010. Dr. Hansel was subsequently recruited to the University of California at San Diego as a Professor of Pathology and Chief of the Division of Anatomic Pathology. In 2019, she assumed the role of Chair of Pathology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Hansel has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications, edited or authored 5 textbooks on urologic pathology and biospecimen repositories, and has participated in more than 60 national or international talks on bladder cancer. She has participated in the Kidney-Urinary tract panel for the 8th Edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual and contributed to the 4th edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours of the Urinary System and Male Genital Organs. She is the Deputy Executive Editor for Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and is on the editorial board of American Journal of Surgical Pathology, Advances in Anatomic Pathology, American Journal of Pathology, and Histopathology.  She has mentored over 30 residents, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, while remaining active in genitourinary pathology sign out.  She is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and has received the Ramzi S. Cotran Young Investigator Award from USCAP. She oversees an interdisciplinary laboratory research program in bladder cancer that incorporates advanced –OMICs technologies in the analysis of human bladder cancers and cell signaling pathway analysis to identify new targets for bladder cancer therapeutics development.

Overall, my most important achievement is being able to spend time with my family, despite the busy schedule of running a department, doing clinical sign out, and overseeing a research lab.