Getting into dermatopath

[Nilf]

Two questions:
1. Which programs should I choose that will help me to get into dermatopathology? I know it is very competitive, and I wonder what kind of credentials I need to have to be a good candidate. I did poorly on Step 1, well on step 2, and my grades are average. I have interviews at a wide variety of programs.

2. Does anybody know anything good/bad about Pennsylvania Hospital program? It is affiliated with Upenn, which basically means that you can take some elective at Upenn. I visited it and really liked it, but it is not a 'university' program, and I am afraid of compromising my chances of getting a good fellowship later on.

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[GreatPumpkin]

Your best bet for getting into a derm path fellowship is to go to a school that has one. Many places will take their own first and if not you will have more opportunities to meet people in the field and do research. Meeting the people in the field is key. Grades and scores are nice, but it is more important that the important people meet you and like you.

Sorry I do not know anything about the Penn programs.

Good luck.

 

[yaah]

Everyone wants dermpath! Is it the $$$? Is it looking at skin? Is it being able to sign out a case in less than 5 seconds? Is it the variety of diseases? I think inflammatory skin diseases are some of the most challenging diagnostic dilemmas I have encountered in my somewhat limited experience. But skin tumors do have a nice look to them under the scope. I know there are lots of dermpath jobs out there, but will that be true in 5 years? I hope you are not basing your career on the future of the job market, because speculation has the tendency to backfire. If it because of other reasons, I applaud you. Although, if you are speculating that the number of skin cancers and skin biopsies will increase in the future, I'll go in on that one with you.

Plus, all these dermatologists want the fellowships too. It's tough to compete with a dermatologist based on CV alone, because that seems to be the basis of getting into the specialty currently.

By the way, the best way to compromise your chances of getting a good fellowship is not by going to a "sub-par" residency program, it is by underperforming once you get to residency.

 

[governaitor]

Is there really big money in Dermpath from a pathologist's perspective? I was under the impression that dermatologists sign out most of their own biopsies unless there is a chance that they are looking at a malignancy when they send it off to a pathologist. At least that is the way it often works in private practice.

If you do the dermpath fellowship and then go into a private group, most likely you will being doing general surgical path, looking at everything from brains to bone marrow and back again along with being the group's "skin guy" but they will be looking at skin also, and if you go into academia where you would only do skin then chances are you will be making whatever they pay you.

 

[meanderson]

The large derm practice in my area sends all of their skin biopsies to dermpath only groups. That's just my area though.....

 

[GreatPumpkin]

That is becoming more and more common. The derm path folks in those types of practices are making a ton of money. And, it hurts the local general practice groups. Same is happening for prostate and GI biopsies as well.