Dr. Pillappa earned his M.B.B.S (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) from Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, India in 2001 followed by a postgraduate degree in Pathology, M.D (Doctor of Medicine) from Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, India in 2007 during which he secured the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi University of health sciences “Gold medal” for scoring highest marks in the University Pathology Examination. After his education, he worked as an Assistant professor in Pathology at Sri MVJ medical college and research hospital, India (2008) following which he moved to International American University, Saint Lucia (2008-12). After completing his AP/CP residency at the University of Tennessee health science center in 2016, Dr. Pillappa went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for two fellowships; General Surgical pathology (2017) and Pulmonary Pathology (2018) with a special interest in Breast Pathology. Additionally, he has a special interest in interstitial lung diseases reading a large number of surgical lung biopsies at Mayo Clinic during his fellowship training. As a full-time Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, he will use his expertise in surgical/pulmonary pathology to serve a large and diverse patient population. His recent addition of role as a director of immunohistochemistry further aids in contribution towards the patient care.
