In addition to training residents and fellows and conducting conferences for other clinicians, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ensures that the doctors and physician assistants trained at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are well-grounded in the discipline of pathology.
Your Path to Pathology
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is made up of a host of divisions including anatomic pathology, biomedical informatics, clinical pathology, cytopathology, experimental/research pathology, hematopathology, transfusion medicine, and translational pathology. We are part of the pre-clerkship curriculum for first and second-year medical students. We also offer a sub-internship for fourth year students, pathology residency program, and hematopathology fellowship.
Our anatomic and clinical pathology divisions have sub-specialties that are comprised of faculty that have completed fellowships in those areas. Our pathologists are board certified in their specialized area. In addition, the department oversees an expanding molecular diagnostic laboratory. The research efforts of the department contribute substantially to the scientific community, as well as within the institution.
Valerie A. Fitzhugh, MD
Chair, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Academic Programs
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine teaches the basics of pathology to first- and second-year medical students, and we offer a sub internship for fourth year students.
Our Pathology Residency Program provides superior training in all the disciplines of pathology. The program is designed to provide comprehensive training for those residents pursuing the combined anatomic and clinical pathology programs (AP/CP-4). At the end of our 4-year program, residents will be able to obtain a fellowship or achieve certification in anatomic and/or clinical pathology and practice as a junior staff member. We encourage all of our residents to explore research opportunities as well as areas of special competencies in which members of our faculty may act as mentors.
The Hematopathology Fellowship is a one-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited fellowship offered in laboratory hematology and hematopathology. Training focuses on skills in laboratory methods including automation and instrumentation, interpretation of peripheral blood morphology, performance of bone marrow aspirations and biopsies and their interpretation, and lymph node and spleen pathology. Fellows are also trained in coagulation, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, cytogenetics and molecular biologic techniques related to the diagnosis of hematopoietic disorders.
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine includes basic science faculty, clinical faculty, and volunteer faculty. The research interests and activities of our faculty cover a broad range that includes basic science as well as clinical and translational research. Particular areas of strength in the basic sciences include biomedical imaging, developmental genetics, cell polarity and morphogenesis, extracellular matrix, and protein folding and molecular motors.
The department provides a complete range of anatomic and clinical diagnostic and consultation services through the University Diagnostic Laboratories (UDL) and through the Pathology Laboratory at its teaching hospital, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The department supports residency training programs in both anatomic and clinical pathology, as well as a fellowship in hematopathology. Staff physicians welcome the opportunity for consultation with referring physicians on challenging cases.
