Surg path with a focus in .....

[trent05]

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What do you guys think about those surg path fellowships that allow you 3-4 months of elective to have a subspeciaty focus. It seems like non-boarded subspecialties like GU, GI, Breast, and GYN don't necessarily require the full 12 months to gain expertise. It also seems that if you were to do only 1 fellowship, one of these surg path with a focus in GU type fellowships would give you the subspec expertise and the extra surg path experience all in one year. Any thoughts or opinions on this? Would this be a marketable fellowship for community practice or would one be better off doing a pure subspec fellowship in GI or GU.

 

[LADoc00]

What do you guys think about those surg path fellowships that allow you 3-4 months of elective to have a subspeciaty focus. It seems like non-boarded subspecialties like GU, GI, Breast, and GYN don't necessarily require the full 12 months to gain expertise. It also seems that if you were to do only 1 fellowship, one of these surg path with a focus in GU type fellowships would give you the subspec expertise and the extra surg path experience all in one year. Any thoughts or opinions on this? Would this be a marketable fellowship for community practice or would one be better off doing a pure subspec fellowship in GI or GU.

Definitely the way to go IMO.

The best are boarded fellowships with significant sign out responsibilities in general surg path, things like hemepath or dermpath or cyto.
Such opportunities are rare tho and really best approached on an individually tailored basis (something like a hemepath fellowship with surg path consult and general path sign out rotations).

Since things like GI or GU are not boardable, what qualifies as a fellowship is totally subjective. You could theoretically do a 50:50 fellowship with GI and general surgpath and still market yourself as a generalist with a focus in GI.

 

[yaah]

I think they're good ideas also - as said above because they aren't boarded fellowships there really aren't any specific requirements. As far as I can tell you could do a surg path fellowship and spend all your elective time on GI and then say you did a GI path fellowship. I think you would have to explain it in interviews, of course, it's a lot easier to explain if you just do a dedicated GI fellowship. It's kind of the best of both worlds though. Depending on who you are interviewing with (for a job) you can emphasize either one. If you did Surg path with 6 months breast, you can say "I did a surg path fellowship" and you could also say, "I did a breast pathology fellowship."

 

[PathOne]

Yeah, it's a good idea. However, I think it would certainly work best in a major path center. You can really get A LOT out of scope time with a real expert. However, it can be a bit of hit or miss. Also, be aware that even though a dept. has a really famous GI/breast/whatever pathologist, that person may not be a good teacher, or may be so good that he/she constantly travels the world giving lectures. Also, some departments are fairly notorious for giving fellows rather a lot of scut work.

But apart from that, a "modular" fellowship can be really helpful. Perhaps especially if you want a fairly broad exposure, and don't plan to be THE GI/GU/breast/whatever pathologist, but plan more towards community or private sector.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

But apart from that, a "modular" fellowship can be really helpful. Perhaps especially if you want a fairly broad exposure, and don't plan to be THE GI/GU/breast/whatever pathologist, but plan more towards community or private sector.

What if you wanted to be good at GU or GI while simultaneously building your D-path empire ?

 

[PathOne]

What if you wanted to be good at GU or GI while simultaneously building your D-path empire ?

Ah, that's an easy one to answer: If you have, or is in the process of acquiring, a Dermpath empire, you'd have absolutely no use whatsoever of special skillz in GU or GI. 😀

That being said, there's a school of thought in Dermpath, that it's actually really useful to have another non-derm field of expertise. I would tend to argue in favor of that idea. Trouble is, that once you're boarded in Dermpath, the chance of you getting to see any other kind of slides is usually slim at best.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Ah, that's an easy one to answer: If you have, or is in the process of acquiring, a Dermpath empire, you'd have absolutely no use whatsoever of special skillz in GU or GI. 😀

That being said, there's a school of thought in Dermpath, that it's actually really useful to have another non-derm field of expertise. I would tend to argue in favor of that idea. Trouble is, that once you're boarded in Dermpath, the chance of you getting to see any other kind of slides is usually slim at best.

I made the statement with a particular poster (whom we haven't seen in a while) in mind. I have little interest personally becoming a "DPer".