Pathology fellowship question

[mwinston]

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I'm an MS4 that's about to apply to path programs. I know that it's quite common in medicine and surgery to get into both a residency and guaranteed fellowhip at the same time (ie. fast-tracking). Can this be done in pathology as well? For instance, if I'm interested in hemepath or dermpath etc, can I ask the program to guarantee me a spot in their fellowship if I agree to stay? I don't think that this is common but are programs flexible enough to do this if they really want you? Thanks for any insight.

 

[blueintheface]

The American Board of Patholoy (www.abpath.org) recognizes combined general pathology training and fellowship training in a number of areas like neuropath, cytopath, forensic path, blood banking, etc. Before the Board eliminated the "fifth year" requirement, the advantage of the combo programs was that you could reduce the total time of training by one year. Since the additional year was eliminated, there isn't necessarily a time advantage to doing a combined program for all the subspecialties, but they still allow you to take more electives that are relevant to your subspecialty and there still is a time advantage for some of the subspecialties. One possible disadvantage of the combo programs is that you have to choose either AP or CP (and not both) as the general part of your training. I didn't see anything on the abpath website about combining AP with dermatopath or hematopath. There is a combined AP/hematology option but that sounds more like clinical hematology than hematopathology, per se. Anyway, I'm sure this is all very confusing as I didn't explain it very well and its probably only relevant if you are also interested in shortening the length of your training, in addition to assuring a fellowship spot. If you just want to assure a fellowship position at the same place you do your residency, I wouldn't worry too much. As long as you are a decent, hard-working resident, I would think that most programs would rather choose one of their own residents over an applicant from another program.

 

[GreatPumpkin]

Derm path is very very competitive you will not find a combined program. You not only compete for these spots with path residents but also derm residents. Heme is not as competitive, but I don't know of any such programs. And, in order to do a hemepath fellowship you have to do the clinical path part of pathology so you wouldn't find just an AP/hemepath combo. It would have to be a CP/hemepath.

Glad you are interested in path though. Good luck.

 

[Gamma Girl]

I don't know if this helps, but there is a heme/path fellowship at the NIH under Dr. Elaine Jaffe who is very well known in the field. For this fellowship you don't need to do CP...just do AP and apply. Although it is competitive to get into this program I am sure there are others that are less competitive. Hope this helps.

 

[GreatPumpkin]

Thanks for the info Gamma Girl. I did some checking and you are right it seems you can do either AP or CP or both prior to a Hemepath fellowship. I find this a tad strange since it is part of CP, but hey good for anyone who dislikes chemistry and blood bank and such.

A search on Frieda listed tons of heme fellowship programs and most have web pages which show their requirements. A few even said you had to do AP and CP. MWinston I hope we have helped you out some.

Good luck.

 

[tulip]

mwinston-

just a question about the reference you made to medicine being able to "fast track"... (I am a MS IV as well, applying to IM). Are you referring to specific programs that cut out a year, or are there programs which will guarantee you the fellowship if you simply come to their residency?

Any info would be much appreciated.

PS Is it inappropriate, in an interview, to ask a program to hold that fellowship spot? (given that the program would see you as a desirable candidate)

 

[mwinston]

Tulip,

I share some of your confusion about fellowships and fast tracking. From the little I know, some internal medicine programs allow you to fast track into a guaranteed fellowship spot from the beginning. This is predicated you the resident doing research instead of the third year of general medicine residency. So, from what I understand, medicine fast tracking doesn't shorten your overall time but rather gets you out of the wards and into fellowship research faster. In surgery, on the other hand, I know that some programs exist where you can get into combinded residency/fellowship and actually cut a year off total time (ie. plastics). This is all I know and my goal is to figure out how this works in path. It sounds as if there is a lot more resistance with trying to track (even if its not 'fast') into a path fellowship at the beginnging (probably for tradition reasons rather than any practical ones). Good luck