Gastrointestinal Pathology Fellowship
About the GI Pathology Fellowship
The Selective Pathology GI fellowship is designed to serve as advanced training in the surgical pathology of the luminal gastrointestinal tract, liver, and pancreaticobiliary systems. The basis of this training lies in the receipt of approximately 23,000 cases per year which includes approximately 15,000 endoscopically obtained mucosal biopsy specimens, 700 medical liver biopsies and 200 transplant liver biopsies. Additionally, approximately 1000 GI pathology cases per annum are received from outside institutions for consultation. Due to the academic and tertiary care nature of the institution, many of these cases are challenging and unusual, and provide the GI fellow with a unique opportunity for concentrated experience in GI pathology. The GI pathology faculty includes 7 subspecialty trained attending pathologists, many of whom are nationally recognized for their contributions in their respective fields.
Two GI pathology fellows are recruited per academic year. Generally, the annual schedule is composed of 11 months of GI/liver pathology and 1 month of general surgical pathology in an elective area of the fellow's choosing. Opportunities for additional time spent rotating in other areas of selective surgical pathology exist and are determined on a yearly basis in coordination with the other selective surgical pathology fellowship services.
Description of Responsibilities
- Triage, preview, and signout of intradepartmental and extradepartmental consults of luminal gastrointestinal, hepatic, and pancreaticobiliary specimens.
- Grossing room supervision of residents performing macroscopic examination of specimens.
- Beginning in October (during months when both fellows are on service), twice weekly the GI pathology fellows act as the surrogate attending pathologist on the daily GI or liver pathology signouts. The fellow reviews cases with the resident and directs the work-up and diagnosis of cases. Once the cases are fully diagnosed, they are then passed to the attending pathologist for formal signout.
- Frozen Section Coverage. The fellows participate in frozen sections/intraoperative consultations throughout the year.
- Conference Coverage. The GI path fellows present at a host of interdisciplinary conferences which include medical liver conference, pancreatobiliary conference, IBD rounds, GI oncology tumor board, and Medical/Surgical GI conference.
- For two weeks annually, each GI pathology fellow will rotate at the Department of Pathology at Children's Hospital Boston which handles a high volume of endoscopically obtained mucosal biopsies on pediatric patients. During this time, the fellow will be able to preview all luminal GI tract biopsies in concert with an attending pathologist.
Teaching and Research
The GI fellows will have the opportunity to spend one month as an elective period, either to focus on a particular area of surgical pathology or to spend the time on a research project, as approved by the fellowship director.
The Fellows will be encouraged to participate in clinical and basic science research throughout the year. The goals of such projects are to have the Fellows critically review the literature on a particular topic, to increase their understanding of a technique, procedure or pathologic condition, and perhaps to contribute to the advancement of our knowledge of the etiology and pathogenesis of various diseases.
The Fellows will be encouraged to serve as laboratory instructors in the Pathology courses for first and second year students at Harvard Medical School when opportunities arise. The Fellows will also be actively involved in the teaching of medical student clerks, trainees and visiting observers from other specialties or Institutions who are rotating in our department.
Evaluation of the Fellows and the program
The Fellows will be evaluated twice yearly. A summary of the reviews will be prepared by the program director, after which she will meet twice yearly with the individual Fellows to review the evaluations. All evaluations are signed and kept on file.
The Selective Pathology Fellows will be asked to complete an evaluation form of the Fellowship Program.
The major purposes of the evaluations are to monitor the progress of the Fellows, to develop strategies to overcome any deficiencies in individual performance, and to evaluate and strengthen the Fellowship program.
Supervision
The Fellows will be supervised by members of the professional staff. The staff will be able to offer continuing feedback on performance during the course of the year.
For application materials and information, please contact the fellowship coordinator: bidmc-pathologyfellowships@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Completed applications should be received by August 31 of the year prior to fellowship training.