M4 Pathology

• MED MD 490: Pathology Elective
  This elective will allow the 4th year Boston University medical student to explore the discipline of Pathology by allowing them to do rotations in Surgical Pathology, Cytopathology, Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine to comprise a total of 4 weeks for the elective. They will work with the Course Director and Coordinator to develop the 4-week experience. The Surgical Pathology rotation, resection and biopsy divisions, with a duration of two weeks are held in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston Medical Center. Responsibilities include participation in gross prosections, frozen section evaluations, microscopic evaluation of surgical pathology specimens with histologic diagnosis and differential diagnostic considerations and performance of autopsies. Students are supervised by pathology residents, faculty on service and pathology assistants. The Cytopathology rotation (shared with the Hematopathology rotation), one week duration, is held in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston Medical Center. During this rotation the student will value the clinical application of cytopathology to include diagnosis, differential diagnosis, ancillary tests and therapy. Responsibilities include evaluation of gynecologic and non-gynecologic specimens, participation in the fine needle aspiration service and daily cytology sign-out with the cytology fellow, resident and staff cytopathologist. The Hematopathology rotation (shared with the Cytopathology rotation), one week duration, is held in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston Medical Center. During this rotation the student will develop the skills needed to interpret and formulate a differential diagnosis of the more commonly occurring disorders seen in peripheral blood, bone marrow, and lymph node biopsies. The student will gather pertinent clinical history on assigned cases, and review the slides with the resident rotating in the hematopathology service. During sign out with the attending faculty and resident, the student will have the opportunity to present their brief case histories, and summarize available laboratory data. Morphologic evaluation and case interpretation will take place during sign out. The Laboratory Medicine rotation, one week duration, is held in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston Medical Center. During this period the student will rotate through Hematology, Blood Bank, Clinical Chemistry and Microbiology services and attend Amyloid and Hematopathology Conferences. Through these rotations, students will gain an understanding of the role of the pathologist in patient care in a multidisciplinary professional team. At the end of the block students will present to attendings, residents and pathology assistants an interesting anatomic or clinical case they encountered during the elective. Supervision and feedback will be provided during our daily sign out sessions. Students are supervised da
• MED MD 491: Forensic Pathology
  Mornings are spent in the autopsy room observing medical examiners in the investigation and certification of causes and manners of death. The day starts with case distribution conference where histories and autopsy approaches are discussed before assignment to individual pathologists. Afternoons are available for students to work with medical examiners reviewing toxicology and histopathology of older cases. Students will also have the opportunity to spend time with our forensic neuropathologist in our neuropathology lab. In addition, students can observe our medicolegal investigators, forensic odontologist and forensic anthropologist to learn more about the identification process. Later in the afternoon are the daily case discussions ('sign-out' rounds) with senior staff and visiting residents. Students who participated in cases may present them at these meetings.
• MED MD 572: Diagnostic Neuropathology
  At the end of the elective, the student will be able to functionally approach common neuropathology entities, including formulating clinical and pathological work-up of the case, choosing appropriate special studies, and generating differential diagnoses. Specifically, the student will actively participate in the sign-out of the cases above. In addition, the student will participate in interdepartmental conferences attended by the Departments of Neurology, Surgical Neurology and Radiology. Further, students will attend brain autopsy dissections to gain insight into normal neuroanatomical structures as well as pathological conditions of the brain. The elective will take place in the Pathology Department, Sixth Floor, 670 Albany Street. Students will interact with pathology residents, pathology lab personnel, and pathology attendings. Pathology residents will alert students about neuropathology cases, surgical cases and autopsies. Approximately 1.5 hours per day on average will be devoted to teaching contact.