• Anatomic and Clinical Pathology

Specialty Areas of Expertise

• Hepatic Pathology
• Gastrointestinal Pathology

Born in Manhattan New York and raised in Long Branch New Jersey, Dr. Murakata began her professional career after a four-year enlistment in the United States Air Force.  She attended college under the GI Bill and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Montclair State University, Upper Montclair N.J.  Then after four years of medical school at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark N.J. she received a degree in Medicine. Having finished a one-year Internship in Internal Medicine at Monmouth Medical Center, N.J., she continued on to complete a four-year residency program in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, serving as Chief Resident of Pathology in the final year.

Before joining Wilmington Pathology Associates, Dr. Murakata practiced pathology for sixteen years at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, D.C., where she completed two-one year Fellowships in Hepatic Pathology and Gastrointestinal Pathology.  She spent the next twelve years as a Liver and GI Pathologist in the Departments of Hepatic and Gastrointestinal Pathology under the Chairmanships of Drs. Kamal G. Ishak and Leslie H. Sobin.  During this time she provided expert consultations on difficult cases submitted from practicing pathologists worldwide, she taught and lectured pathologists and clinicians at various meetings and Annual Pathology Courses, and published extensively in various peer-reviewed journals and provided book chapters for several professional pathology books.  In addition, Dr. Murakata held the positions of Staff Pathologist in the Department of Environmental and Toxicologic Pathogy and Associate Editor/Acting Director for the AFIP Tumor Fascicles in the Center for Scientific Publications, AFIP, Washington DC. 

Having served in several branches of the U.S. Military throughout her career, Dr. Murakata retired from the Medical Corps of the US Air Force in 2007 as a Lieutenant Colonel (0-5).  With family roots in North Carolina, she moved to Brunswick County after her retirement and has embarked upon restoring a historical ancestral home.

Selected publications of interest:

Murakata LA, Lewin-Smith MR, Specht CS, Kalasinsky VF, McEvoy P, Vinh TN, Rabin L, Mullick FG. Characterization of acrylic polyamide plastic embolization particles in-vitro and in human tissue sections by light microscopy, infrared microspectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Mod Pathol 19(7):922-930, 2006.
 
Baydur A, Koss, MN, Sharma OP, Dalgleish GE, Nguyen DV, Mullick FG, Murakata LA, Centeno JA. Microscopic Pulmonary Embolization of an Indwelling Central Venous Catheter with Granulomatous Inflammatory Response. Eur Respir J. 26(2):351-2, 2005.
 
Hoang MP, Murakata LA, Katabi N, Henson DE, Albores-Saavedra J. Invasive papillary carcinomas of the extrahepatic bile ducts: a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 13 cases. Mod Pathol 15(12):1251-1258, 2002.

Levy AD, Rohrmann CA Jr, Murakata LA, Lonergan GJ. Caroli’s disease: radiologic spectrum with pathologic correlation. AJR Am J Roentgenol 179(4):1053-1057, 2002.