Prabodh Kumar Gupta, an emeritus professor in Penn Medicine’s department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, passed away on December 23, 2020. He was 83.

Born in India, Dr. Gupta earned an undergratuate degree from the Premedical University of Delhi in 1955. Afterwards, he studied at the Medical College in Amritsar and Panjab University in Chandigarh, India, obtaining an MB, MS (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery) from the latter in 1960. Five years later, Dr. Gupta earned an MD from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He then came to the U.S., where he did a clinical fellowship and training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Afterwards, Dr. Gupta returned to India and established a cytopathology laboratory in New Delhi, but later returned to join the faculty at Johns Hopkins University.

In 1988, Dr. Gupta arrived at Penn Medicine. He started his career as a Professor and Director of Cytopathology and Cytometry, and stayed in the department for over two decades. His leadership of the department put it among top 10 cytopathology departments in the country on multiple occasions. Dr. Gupta established the Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and was active on Penn Faculty Senate committees. Notably, he served as a member of the Executive Board, Vice President and President of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC). The ASC gave him its Papanicolaou Award in 2001 and an Excellence in Education Award in 2011 to recognize him for his service. In addition, Dr. Gupta was on the editorial boards of many journals; he published over 270 scientific papers and the textbook The Fundamentals and Basic Concepts of Cytopathology.

Dr. Gupta’s teaching and research won many awards. He received the 2012 Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology L.C. Tao Educator of the Year Award in recognition of his contributions to the field (Almanac March 20, 2012). The International Academy of Cytology awarded Dr. Gupta its 2011 Maurice Goldblatt Award, and in 2005, Penn recognized him with the Peter C. Nowell Award for outstanding teaching. Dr. Gupta was listed several times among the top 1% pathologists in the country by US News and World Report and as an America’s Top Physician. Dr. Gupta became a member of Penn’s 25-Year Club in 2013 and retired in 2016, taking emeritus status.

“Deeply committed to the education of trainees and staff, he created a line of multiple generations of world class pathologists, cytopathologists, and cytotechnologists,” said members of the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in a eulogy for Dr. Gupta. “In light of his dedication and longstanding service to the Department, the HUP Cytopathology signout room was renamed in honor of Prabodh K. Gupta in 2015.”

Dr. Gupta is survived by his daughter Anjali; two grandchildren; two brothers; two sisters; and many nieces and nephews.