Residencies in veterinary anatomic pathology

[darwin415]

Hi all! I'm an upcoming third year vet student very interested in pursuing a residency in anatomic pathology. I am just getting my bearings in terms of how it all works and where I should begin to look and apply in the future. I would love to get an idea of where I'm looking so I can start looking into externships at the places I would be interested in doing a residency!

I also just learned that many programs are combined with a PhD, which is something I don't really want to commit to. I think I am more interested in diagnostics or industry than research and definitely want to love what I'm doing if I'm going to be committing so much of my time and effort to this! I also have very little research background and not too much interest in amending that - I would love to get involved with some research during my residency but don't want to have too large a focus in it as I just don't think that's where I want to go with my career.

Can anyone give me any advice or intel about the best programs to look into that do not require a joint PhD? I would love to get a better idea about the field and the different dynamics and reputations at different institutions.

Thanks so much! I'm new here and excited to start having conversations with people in the field

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lilylilac]

American College of Veterinary Pathologists - Training Programs

American College of Veterinary Pathologists - Externship Opportunities

American College of Veterinary Pathologists - Training Center

The ACVP website is full of information related to externships and residencies! I'm actually only going into my second year of vet school so I can't answer most of your questions related to a residency, but I wanted to give you at least a beginning stepping stone. I would also strongly urge you to be setting up externships for 4th year NOW. They fill up fast, especially because anatomic pathology does not go through the match process and students obviously want to get their name out and interview at programs before residency application deadlines.

Just what I've noticed, but even industry jobs are now highly recommending PhDs. Obviously it's still possible to have a career without one, but I wanted to make you aware of the potential direction of the field.

 

[JaynaAli]

I agree with lilylilac, it seems like the vast majority of anatomic jobs expect the PhD, though I admit I'm not an expert on that arm of pathology. The opposite is becoming true in clinical pathology (which is what I'm doing a residency in), where PhDs are often a benefit, but combined programs are becoming the minority and you can frequently find people who do not have them and/or jobs where it is not required.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Hola @darwin415 . I'm an anatomic pathologist finished my PhD.

The PhD is much more common in anatomic versus clinical pathology as far as I have been able to tell. They are usually required for any sort of job in academia/at a vet school, and they are "highly preferred/desired" for many other jobs - which is the nice way of saying "well, we can't outright require it but if someone has one and you don't guess who we are gonna pick?"

However, PhD-less diagnostic-only jobs do exist - they can be harder to find and get depending on area (especially state D labs, IDEXX, Antech, etc because they are so highly sought after). It's not a necessity, but it will definitely give you a much more secure job outlook. Industry I don't know as much about, but be aware - if you want to be contributing directly to project design, especially in the biomedical side of things, many places are going to want you to have some research experience at least. The anatomic pathologist in industry without a PhD does run the risk of just becoming a glass pusher, grading hundreds of tox path slides for some big drug company to make sure it doesn't give rats liver problems. I mean if you're into that sort of thing, great, but it always struck me as rather tedious and rather thankless. To each his own.

Research may not be where you want to go with your career, but do remember that if you get the PhD your actual job afterwards may not be heavily research focused (and in fact may not be at all if you enter into clinical academic positions) I.e. most non tenure-track faculty positions at vet schools are almost entirely diagnostic and teaching, yet most of the pathologist shave PhDs. It is kind of a "ticket stamping" to get you into the club of academia and large parts of industry (we can debate the rightness or wrongness of that in a whole 'nother thread, but let's just say it may not be fair but it is what it is). Research can be clinical as well rather than benchtop - something to remember.

If you are entering your third year and have no pathology or research experience, then you need to get on those NOW. Now, now now, like yesterday now. By the time I was applying for residencies I had two solid competitive summer externships (one comparative med, one biomedical research), two research/pathology-related part time jobs that I worked all through vet school, multiple pathology elective classes, etc. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, just emphasizing that programs really want to see dedication to and experience in the field. If you haven't already, you also need to start forging relationships with the pathologists at your school for good LoRs - it's a small field and everyone knows everyone.

There are indeed some programs that are not combined, but the majority tend to be residency/PhD. I don't know very much about non-combined programs, but I'd be happy to give you advice on the programs I do know about.