Pediatric Pathology

[big al]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm interested in pediatric pathology. Does anyone know about the quality of the various fellowships? Which ones are "good" and which are "bad"? I know that is subjective. What would be considered the best place to do the fellowship, Saint Louis, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Columbus, other? The Society of Pediatric Pathology website has around 35 jobs listed. That says one of two things to me that (1) there is a need for pathologists with this training, maybe a lot of peds paths are retiring and/or (2) the job must be so bad that very few are willing to do the training? Anyone with any specific experience in this area have comments?

 

[raspberry009]

I'm interested in pediatric pathology. Does anyone know about the quality of the various fellowships? Which ones are "good" and which are "bad"? I know that is subjective. What would be considered the best place to do the fellowship, Saint Louis, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Columbus, other? The Society of Pediatric Pathology website has around 35 jobs listed. That says one of two things to me that (1) there is a need for pathologists with this training, maybe a lot of peds paths are retiring and/or (2) the job must be so bad that very few are willing to do the training? Anyone with any specific experience in this area have comments?

I know Baylor COM has excellent pediatric pathology... don't have much to compare it to tho...

 

[yaah]

Most of those jobs are academic jobs, I would say. People don't go into the field without a sincere interest in it because it doesn't pay that well and there are, from what it seems, a lot of communication issues that come into play (pediatric surgeons and oncologists are very pushy). As for the fellowships, Dehner is at Wash U and is one of the most highly regarded pediatric pathologists in the world.

 

[106174]

Yes, Texas Children's/Baylor has an excellent Pedi Path program.

However, do watch out for the UTSW/Children's Medical Center of Dallas (CMC) program - it is up and coming!!! The place is HUGE and there is no stopping it from expanding even more. There are currently 7 full-time Pedi Path faculty who are experts in general surgical pathology plus another specific/subspecialty area, ie Beverly Rogers on placentas, Ana Gomez on GI, Linda Margraf on lung, Charles Timmons on heme and renal, Arthur Weinberg on just about everything else, and Dinesh Rakheja on molecular. We also have a basic science pedi path attending, Rene Galindo, whose interest is mainly on sarcomas. Then, there is a brand new satellite center (The Legacy) which will soon open in Plano and they are actively recruiting more Pedi Path attendings to cover this place and also teach at CMC.

There are 2 fellowship spots every year that are 1-year long, with an option to extend to 2 years if one is interested in doing research. CMC is very stable and has a lot of financial support. The facilities are very nice. Autopsies are huge here because we also cover Parkland cases and as you know, Parkland is second only to Grady (Emory) in the number of births every year (16,000/year). CP training is very good and the technology is awesome! Texas Children's appears to have more Surg Path accessions every year only because at CMC, we do not gross tonsils anymore - they are thrown away right after excision and are never seen in Pathology.

One of the fellows last year got a private practice job in Vegas - the group specifically wanted somebody who is able to do both general Path and Pedi Path.

 

[mlw03]

you mentioned tampa. i don't know too many details about the fellowship, but Enid Gilbert-Barness is (from what i'm told) considered a major expert in pedi pathology. i haven't worked with her much, so i can't comment about what kind of teacher/mentor she should be, but i'm told she's a very nice lady.

 

[Osteopathology]

Only thing I know about Pediatric pathology, is from ONE pediatric pathologist. From what it looks like "peds path = academia". There is little to no peds path private practice.

I know she is an attending at the University of Florida now and reads mostly gen surg sign out, mixed between the scattered peds cases.

Osteo

 

[LADoc00]

I sincerely do not believe you need to do a special peds path fellowship to practice this niche subspeciality. Anyone from a well trained general path program should be able to handle the material.

 

[DrBloodmoney]

I sincerely do not believe you need to do a special peds path fellowship to practice this niche subspeciality. Anyone from a well trained general path program should be able to handle the material.

Agreed.
Until very recently 2/3rds of the pathologists at Children's National Medical Center in DC were not specialty-trained.

 

[big al]

I agree but will any academic institution hire you without a pediatric fellowship? Maybe if you had done another fellowship and agreed to signout peds as well? Right out of residency I doubt it. Any additional thoughts on the job prospects?

 

[Osteopathology]

Most academic programs didn't or don't have peds path trained staff to this day. I think it is a great field, but the applications are limited from what I have been witness too.

As many stated, most people reading at children's hospitals weren't even pediatric focused pathologists. That being said, there are still plenty of peds trained individuals out there.

Osteo