Qs - Surgical Pathologist

[path.enthusiast]

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Hi all,

I am currently interviewing for positions in Pathology residency programs. I have an interview in a week where I am meeting a faculty member who is a surgical pathologist.

It would be helpful if you can tell me what questions I can expect. Would it be general Qs about why I like pathology etc or in the field of surgical path?

Also, could you please suggest some questions which I can ask the faculty member? He has publications which are in many fields. So, I feel it would not be wise to ask him about one paper or one specific area of interest.

I'm interested in Pathology but I don't have a lot of knowledge about surgical Path.
It would be great if you can help me here. Thank you.


PS: Thanks to @path_spouse for helping me earlier with digital pathology.

 

[mlw03]

Uh, if you don't know much about surgical pathology then you are going to have major problems interviewing for a pathology residency. Surgical path is bread and butter for most pathologists. If you cannot articulate well why you are interested in pathology, you not only will do poorly in the interview, but you'll also not enjoy residency. Do you know what you're getting yourself into if you do get a spot somewhere? What are your career goals? Why are you interviewing at the particular programs you are? These are softball questions that you should be able to answer without preparations.

 

[path.enthusiast]

Thanks for the reply. May be I didn't phrase my Q right.

I am very interested in cell biology as a field and Pathology as a career. However, in my country, I didn't receive significant training in Pathology during the undergraduate medical education. We basically identified gross specimens and histology slides. We did not have any exposure to surgical pathology. I did a very brief rotation here in Pathology. I found that surgical path is the main branch of Pathology.

Now, when I go for the interview, I don't want to be unprepared when meeting a surgical pathologist. So, I felt it would be better if I have a few Qs I can ask.

 

[mlw03]

Ok, I figured you weren't from North America. Sounds like you're a researcher, which is fine, but if you want to do a pathology residency, you need to like clinical/diagnostic pathology. That's what surgical pathology is. Surgeons or other doctors cut or snip something out of a patient, you tell them what it is and other info they'll use to treat the patient. If you go into your interview asking basic questions about surgical pathology, you will be ranked very poorly. Before you commit to being a pathologist, I would encourage you to do more rotations in pathology if possible. You really do not seem to understand what you are trying to get yourself into.

 

[path_spouse]

Hi all,
PS: Thanks to @path_spouse for helping me earlier with digital pathology.

Glad to be of help! Hope the interview with the digital pathology person went well.