David Klimstra

David Klimstra, MD, is a Professor of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine. He holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Pathology and is affiliated with the Gastrointestinal (GI) & Liver Pathology division. Previously, he served as Chair of Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2012–2021) and Chief Medical Officer at Paige AI (2021–2024). His expertise lies in cancer pathology, particularly tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, liver, and neuroendocrine systems. Dr. Klimstra’s research focuses on the molecular and proteomic characterization of tumors, integrating computational pathology tools with traditional diagnostic methods.

Education:

• MD from Yale University School of Medicine (1988)
• Anatomic Pathology Residency at Yale
• Fellowship in Oncologic Surgical Pathology at MSKCC

Research Interests:

• Pancreatic tumor biology, including precursors to pancreatic cancer
• Neuroendocrine tumor classification and genomics
• Application of AI in pathology diagnostics (e.g., lymph node metastases detection)
• Proteogenomic analysis of gastrointestinal and liver tumors

Professional Contributions:

• Co-founder of Paige AI to advance computational pathology
• Editor of WHO tumor classification series for gastrointestinal and endocrine organs
• Mentored dozens of pathology fellows and junior faculty

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams in Yale’s Pathology department and computational pathology initiatives.