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 daily by pathology residents and clinical faculty on service.

Note that this information may change at any time. Please visit the MyBU Student Portal for the most up-to-date course information.