Program Description
The Surgical Pathology fellowship at Loyola University Medical Center is a one-year program available to senior residents (4th year if AP only; 5th year if AP/CP) and qualified, licensed AP or AP/CP board-eligible pathologists.

The program is designed to provide a broad and in-depth exposure to surgical pathology material at Loyola University Medical Center. It allows the fellows to enhance their diagnostic skills and to increase their confidence in handling a wide variety of complex surgical pathology cases. It also provides opportunities for development of subspecialty training in other branches of surgical pathology such as neuropathology; hematopathology; cytology; and renal, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, pediatric, and transplant pathology

Service Responsibilities
The fellow trainee's service responsibilities in surgical pathology include supervising or grossing specimens with the assigned attending; assisting in preparing, grossing, and reporting frozen sections; and microscopic review of all cases prior to the final sign-out session with the resident and assigned attending. The fellow is expected to dictate the final diagnosis in the same day including a microscopic description when necessary. The turn-around time for biopsies is two days and five working days for surgical cases. As the fellow progresses in training, he or she will be given more responsibility in signing out cases. The fellow will also be involved in QA and QC evaluation.

Teaching
The fellows are expected to participate in teaching the junior residents and are required to present their interesting cases for the group discussion on Thursday mornings at 8:00 a.m. with an up-to-date clinical history and literature review.

The fellows will participate in presenting didactic one-hour lectures to the residents and the staff according to a teaching schedule prepared by the Chief Resident (usually two to three per year).

Research Opportunities
The trainee is strongly encouraged to conduct at least one clinically related project in surgical pathology and to present his or her findings in a special research seminar at the end of the academic year. Facilities are available to help the fellow with computerized archival retrieval of cases, literature search, immunoperoxidase staining, and a variety of molecular techniques.

Rotations
The fellow trainee is expected to spend nine months in surgical pathology. Elective rotations are flexible and can include hematopathology, neuropathology, cytology, molecular pathology, dermatopathology, or flow cytometry.