Pathology is a dynamic discipline which integrates the methods and discoveries of basic science with the complexity of clinical medicine to generate accurate diagnoses and actionable information for patient management. Pathology is at the interface between the remarkable advances in genomics, bioinformatics, and high throughput biomarker analyses, and therefore is the driving discipline behind current efforts targeting personalized medicine.
The Department of Pathology at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University has a tri-fold mission of clinical care, education and research with the academic hub at the Alpert Medical School with the basic science division and undergraduate medical education. It closely collaborates with the affiliated Healthcare systems in clinical training and translational research dispersed between Lifespan (Rhode Island Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital), Care New England (Woman and Infants Hospital), as well as, the Rhode Island Blood Center and the Office of the Medical Examiner at the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Between these outstanding clinical facilities all the major disciplines of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, with approximately 100 faculty, are met. Expert consultation and training is available in all areas including: autopsy/forensic, breast, clinical chemistry, cytology, dermatopathology, gastrointestinal/hepatobiliary, general surgical pathology, genitourinary, gynecologic, hematopathology, informatics, microbiology, molecular, neuropathology, pediatric/perinatal, renal, soft tissue, thoracic, transfusion medicine and translational research. The scope of these activities includes:
In anatomic pathology across the facilities there are approximately 70,000 surgical cases (Lifespan 36,000/Care New England 33,000), 78,000 cytology cases [Gyn 72,000/non-Gyn 6,000 across Lifespan (26,000) and Care New England (52,000)], 1200 hematopathology cases and 1,115 autopsies [Lifespan (medical)-191, Care New England (perinatal)-125, and Medical examiner (forensic)- 674].
In the clinical pathology divisions across the facilities there are approximately 12 million combined laboratory tests performed annually across clinical chemistry with 9 – million including a fully automated robotic line, hematology - 1.2 million and microbiology-500,000.
The rapidly expanding division of molecular pathology at Lifespan provides consultative services for Oncology, Genetics and infectious diseases performing approximately 5,800 tests annually.
The transfusion medicine service performs approximately 37,000 compatibility tests, 850 antibody panels and issues approximately 18,000 RBCs, 3,000 platelet concentrates, 2,500 units of plasma and 450 units of pooled cryoprecipitate, in addition to providing a busy therapeutic apheresis service (280) for hematologic, renal, neurologic and rheumatologic conditions.
This clerkship is designed for the student who is seeking an introduction to both the practice and the academic aspects of pathology and laboratory medicine helping them gain a better appreciation of the role of the pathologist plays in the diagnosis and management of both medical and surgical disease. The rotation would be benefit both for students interested in a potential career in pathology as well as those interested in other areas of medicine helping them gain insights into the pathophysiological and molecular disease process in their area of interest.
This clerkship is a 4 week elective that will expose 3rd and 4th year medical students to academic leaders in pathology and can be tailored to areas of specific interest for the student amongst the various disciplines listed above. The students will work closely with both faculty and trainees participating in daily sign-out and tutorial sessions as well as attending department-wide academic conferences. A half hour to forty five minute case presentation will be presented by the student at the end of the rotation to emphasize the growth and understanding gained over the rotation.
Pathology Residency Program
Available Elective - VSLO Elective Code: DVS0010
Path 6110: Applied Pathology