Medical students have the opportunity to have formal clinical exposure to the field of Pathology as second year students. Approximately 20 second year medical students per year participate in a half-day Pathology Career Exploration offered in September and February. During this experience an overview of Pathology is provided. Students have clinical mini-rotations in Breast Pathology and Transfusion Medicine, to demonstrate the 2 primary boarded specialties of Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology. These clinical mini-rotations were implemented in 2015 to give students exposure to clinical practice in pathology. Past years have included mini-rotations in cytopathology, hematopathology and the gross room.

For students who are enrolled in Pathology Career Exploration, our programming is as follows:

• Breakfast and welcome for medical student attendees.
• Dr. Zynger presents an “Overview of Pathology” lecture explaining what pathology is and showing statistics about the field of pathology as compared to other medicinal fields, including information on salary, job satisfaction, hours worked per week and call.
• Dr. Zynger moderates a panel discussion with faculty and trainees that covers each individual’s journey to become a pathologist, what they like about their jobs, and recommendations for choosing a career path.
• Medical students go to our multiheaded microscope room with Dr. Tozbikian or another surgical pathologist for an introduction to surgical pathology, reading slides, and learning how a surgical pathology diagnosis guides patient treatment.
• Medical students participate in a tour of blood bank and apheresis, accompanied by a discussion of clinical pathology by Dr. Goodhue or another transfusion medicine physician.