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Selective pathology fellowships: diverse, innovative, and valuable subspecialty training
Julia C Iezzoni1, April Ewton, Patricia Chévez-Barrios
1From the Department of Pathology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville (Dr Iezzoni); the Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas (Drs Ewton and Chévez-Barrios); the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois (Mr Moore and Ms Thorsen); and the Department of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (Dr Naritoku).
Context:
Although selective pathology fellowships have a long-standing history of developing trainees with advanced expertise in specific areas of pathology other than those of the American Board of Pathology-certified subspecialties, the widespread interest in this training continues to grow.
Objective:
To describe the historical background and current status of selective pathology fellowships, and to provide examples of 3 programs. In addition, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited programs and nonaccredited programs in Selective Pathology are compared.
Data Sources:
ACGME data banks and publicly available online materials were used. Program directors of the fellowships examples in this paper provided program-specific information. Additionally, an online survey of the program directors and program coordinators of ACGME-accredited programs and nonaccredited programs in selective pathology was performed.
Conclusions:
There are currently 76 ACGME-accredited selective pathology programs. The programs are distributed between 3 major categories: surgical pathology, focused anatomic pathology, and focused clinical pathology. Although the vast majority of programs are concerned that their funding source may be cut in the next 3 years, most programs will not change the number of fellowship positions in their programs. Program requirements devoted specifically and solely to selective pathology have been developed and are in effect. The value of this training is recognized not only by pathologists, but by clinicians as well, in both academia and private practice. Importantly, the diversity and innovation inherent in selective pathology allow these programs to adeptly address new subspecialty areas and technologic advances in the current and evolving practice of pathology.
