If you are a medical student, you might be wondering what you might want to specialize in the medical field in the near future. While there is a wide variety of options for you choose, one option you should not readily dismiss is that of
specializing in the field of pathology. As you probably already know, pathologists are physicians who are not into dealing with the patients directly. Most of the pathology services they give are done in the laboratory. Should you be interested in becoming a pathologist, you have to have a Doctor of Medicine citation first.
If you are medical graduate, you have to finish residency in pathology, which will take about 5 years. There after, you need to be in a fellowship in pathology for a year. The options for fellowship include:
o Blood banking
o Transfusion medicine
o Cytopathology
o Forensice pathology
o Hematology
o Immunopathology
o Laboratory informatics or information systems
o Medical microbiology
o Neuropathology
o Pediatric pathology
o Selective pathology
After the residency, you can start the practice and provide the very critical pathology services needed by the physicians in the hospitals or private clinics.
Most pathologists have excellent salaries and pretty satisfying lifestyles. There are not so many job offers like that of an Internal Medicine resident or Family Medicine resident, but you will definitely get a job.
Most would recommend that you take up both anatomical and clinical pathology and practice general pathology since you will become more marketable. Further and more specialized training will be involved should you decide to enter the forensic pathology service.