Curriculum

Our pathology residency program provides training in both; anatomic pathology (AP) and clinical pathology (CP), either a combined AP/CP program or exclusive training in AP or CP are offered in our department.  The four-year training consists of a mixture of rotations in different subspecialty areas with exposure to all subspecialties.  The Anatomic Pathology/Clinical Pathology program (AP/CP) includes 96 and 72 weeks, respectively of training.

Anatomic Pathology Required Rotations

AP subspecialty rotations generally consist of 1–2-week blocks which are subspecialized services, including: Bone and Soft Tissue, Breast, Chest and Cardiovascular, Dermatopathology, Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary, Gynecologic, Head and Neck, Neuropathology, Pediatric and Perinatal and Renal. Although many rotations, including Miami VA, Medical Examiner are grouped into 4-week blocks. Also prior to their first frozen section rotation residents will have at least one week in all AP subspecialty area. Adequate training in autopsy pathology and medicolegal pathology is maintained.

Clinical Pathology Rotations

Clinical Pathology rotations are organized into blocks of longer duration compared to AP with at least a four-week block per service and include transfusion medicine, microbiology, molecular pathology and clinical chemistry, among others.

Elective Rotations

During the 48 months of AP/CP training, all residents will have 24 weeks of protective elective time rotation, according to the requirements by the American Board of Pathology. All services are available, including but, not limited to: liver/pancreas, ophthalmology, renal, personal consult services from Dr. Rosenberg and Dr. Nadji, and any of the core AP/CP subspecialty rotations. Research time is including in these weeks.

During the first quarter of the year, each first-year resident is closely supervised and accompanied by designated senior residents, including call hours. Other than the subspecialty rotations outlined above, the resident curriculum includes formal didactic lectures by faculty and case conferences. Resident time is protected for lectures and other resident educational conferences. One-on-one teaching during daily case sign-outs is an important part of diagnostic pathology teaching. AP/CP case conferences, call rounds, grand rounds and tumor boards are among other resources. We also make an effort to provide the latest available versions of web-based pathology teaching modules and online versions of textbooks. Pre-RISE and RISE exams are administered every year.

Our Pathology Education Committee consists of the vice chair of education, program directors, selected faculty members and chief residents. This committee generates the input for developing and maintaining the curriculum, based on faculty and resident feedback. These activities are supervised by the vice chair of education and the department chair. Bi-monthly resident surveys provide anonymized opportunities to give feedback to the department about resident needs and the educational performance of the department.