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Pediatric pathology
Started by pathstudent
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Can someone describe what exactly a pediatric pathologist does? I assume they do a lot of surgical path and autopsy. What about lab medicine, molecular, cytogenetics, etc? Is interest in research expected? I honestly have no idea as a med student. I'm not even sure if there is a pediatric pathologist at our hospital. Thanks in advance.
The answer to your questions I yes yes and yes. It is whatever you want it to be
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I am really interested in pediatric pathology fellowship. However, it seems that many jobs are in academia. Is it possible to find a private practice position?
Yes large community hospitals with a kids hospital would want one. Plus huge mega groups would hire one. Then places like Kaiser would probably have one for a huge region like Norther Ca. But just watch out because you might get suckered into signing out all the placentas.
As someone with an interest in pediatric and perinatal pathology (I am a SPP member and looked into doing a fellowship), it is true that most of the jobs you see are in academia. Having said that, there are certainly opportunities in private/community hospital practice. For jobs in academia, board certification in pediatric pathology is typically required. In a community setting, however, it isn't usually a requirement per se. Many places would be happy to have someone at least interested in those types of specimens. As an example, I attended a weekend placental path course at MGH this past September. There were quite a few seasoned pathologists there, in many cases because they were losing a senior member, and they were the only ones who read out placentas and perinatal specimens. So, you attend a course, and everyone thinks your an expert! 😛 (At least, that's what happened to me--I get questions from residents a lot now, and I don't claim to be any expert).
So, I guess it all depends on your ultimate goal. Pediatric pathology is definitely a niche subspecialty, but it does give you a skill set that can set you apart. I think the SPP website can help out a lot. Also, try and email current fellows. I did, and they are usually quite happy to tell you about what they do in more detail.
