Anatomic Pathology

[pharmstudent993]

Hey all,
Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me what it's like to be an anatomic pathologist? What is the typical day for them, is it a challenging and fun career, etc? Thank you very much for your replies.😀

 

[DRH09]

Hey all,
Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me what it's like to be an anatomic pathologist? What is the typical day for them, is it a challenging and fun career, etc? Thank you very much for your replies.😀

Well, I considered it during 2nd year vet school, and decided against it. I think path is really interesting and useful, but most of the anatomic pathologists I know spend a great deal of their time behind a microscope, and doing necropsies. If that's your thing, then you'll probably think its great. It is also, in my opinion, the most difficult and lengthy specialization in vet med. I don't know much about human pathologists other than they make serious $$$$, probably for essentially the same work as a vet pathologist(AND for only one species! We have at least 8 common ones, that must be known in intimate detail).

 

[pharmstudent993]

Well, I considered it during 2nd year vet school, and decided against it. I think path is really interesting and useful, but most of the anatomic pathologists I know spend a great deal of their time behind a microscope, and doing necropsies. If that's your thing, then you'll probably think its great. It is also, in my opinion, the most difficult and lengthy specialization in vet med. I don't know much about human pathologists other than they make serious $$$$, probably for essentially the same work as a vet pathologist(AND for only one species! We have at least 8 common ones, that must be known in intimate detail).

Thank you for your reply🙂. I actually find histology and histopathology really fascinating. Is it possible to shadow an anatomic pathologist?

 

[VAgirl]

Thank you for your reply🙂. I actually find histology and histopathology really fascinating. Is it possible to shadow an anatomic pathologist?

It should be. You can also get a job in a pathology lab (depending upon the set up you might have more or less contact with the actual pathologist. I worked in a path lab and it was great experience, though not a ton of vet path interaction due to our set-up. Of course, those vet paths worked mostly reading slides (which is a lot of it) so you might want to also find vet paths to shadow/work with/talk to who can give you a broader view of the specialty.

 

[pharmstudent993]

It should be. You can also get a job in a pathology lab (depending upon the set up you might have more or less contact with the actual pathologist. I worked in a path lab and it was great experience, though not a ton of vet path interaction due to our set-up. Of course, those vet paths worked mostly reading slides (which is a lot of it) so you might want to also find vet paths to shadow/work with/talk to who can give you a broader view of the specialty.

Thanks for the information VAgirl🙂. I'll look that up. Any more information about anatomic pathology is greatly appreciated.

 

[rexosaurus]

another place to get good experience with board certified pathologists is at a biomedical research facility. from experience, there are several at these sorts of places and i'm sure you could do a summer internship or something of the like. the above posters are correct though, the majority of the time is spent doing necropsies and looking under a microscope. although in research the necropsies tend to be kind of fascinating because of the test article and its effects on the body. Hope this helps!

 

[pharmstudent993]

another place to get good experience with board certified pathologists is at a biomedical research facility. from experience, there are several at these sorts of places and i'm sure you could do a summer internship or something of the like. the above posters are correct though, the majority of the time is spent doing necropsies and looking under a microscope. although in research the necropsies tend to be kind of fascinating because of the test article and its effects on the body. Hope this helps!

Thank you very much rexosaurus🙂. Do you happen to know if there is a ceratain age limit for doing an internship?

 

[rexosaurus]

I'm not sure if there is an age requirement, but I assume at least a high school graduate. Where I work much of the work/experience you can get somewhat depends on your level of college or higher education. My best advice is that it depends on the facility, sorry 🙁

 

[pharmstudent993]

I'm not sure if there is an age requirement, but I assume at least a high school graduate. Where I work much of the work/experience you can get somewhat depends on your level of college or higher education. My best advice is that it depends on the facility, sorry 🙁

No problem. Thank you very much🙂.