Surg path + neuropath

[basket687]

Hello all,

I am a PGY-2 AP/CP resident. I am interested in neuropath but I also want to do general surgical pathology. My ideal job would be something like 50% surgpath + 50% neuropath with some research.

Are jobs like that available in academia? Is it better to do just neuropath fellowship or surgpath + neuro fellowships?

Thanks

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[alpinebrook]

I probably don't know what I'm talking about but it sounds like you're more AP-minded, with the surgpath and neuropath focus. Maybe you should switch to AP-only? It could save you time, give you a jump-start on starting fellowships. If you do end up getting an academic job and become involved in research, that's even less of a reason to still do CP...? From my understanding, CP makes you more marketable if you go into community practice. But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[LADoc00]

Your ideal job sounds like you better like moving around alot. Very very few openings for something like that.

 

[coroner]

I'm not in academia so, take it fwiw. For the track you are proposing, you would need to complete a NP fellowship. Not the case with SP, unless you feel you're basic skills aren't up to par/received inadequate training during residency. There are some pathologists out there in academics who do surg path + "X" whatever path niche that may be, so it is possible. Getting a 50/50 split depends on the institution and you would have to do your homework and find out if such positions are offered as some places are strict subspecialty sign-out only. And these type jobs are almost exclusively in academia. It's rare to find NP's in community/private practice so you better not want to live in the boonies or expect partnership track. But, the good news is NP doesn't crank out many grads/yr and they are needed in pretty much every major academic center/university of worth, so the job outlook should be good because there's a low supply. I don't think we've had any NP's on here recently if they wanna chime in...

 

[tiredguy]

Why do you want to do an NP fellowship? If all you like is tumor then an extra 2 years fellowship is a lot of time for just tumor NP. You can sign out and research brain tumors without it if you're competent. You can try to focus on it during an SP fellowship and/or during residency and external rotations.

I know / know of several NP's that have also signed out general SP. It depends on the hospital. Most want to do research + NP strictly, so many times the positions aren't designed for them to do other things.

That being said, if you want to do more work for the same amount of pay, most places will happily accommodate you...

 

[Pathman1000]

I probably don't know what I'm talking about but it sounds like you're more AP-minded, with the surgpath and neuropath focus. Maybe you should switch to AP-only? It could save you time, give you a jump-start on starting fellowships. If you do end up getting an academic job and become involved in research, that's even less of a reason to still do CP...? From my understanding, CP makes you more marketable if you go into community practice. But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

You don't know what you are talking about. This is completely irrelevant to the question and generally is not good advice to begin with.

 

[alpinebrook]

You don't know what you are talking about. This is completely irrelevant to the question and generally is not good advice to begin with.

Would you like to elaborate, Mr. Know-It-All? What's not good advice, doing AP-only? I'm aware that it's a good idea for the vast majority of path residents to do AP/CP. I was also pretty sure that folks who are dead-set on neuropath and academic careers might consider an AP/NP or AP-only type of track. I get it that this is not exactly the OP's situation. But if you're going to say I'm wrong, it would be more courteous to actually explain where I'm wrong. This is a board where we are supposed to be helping each other. Some of us are very new to the field.