Follow your Path!

Follow your Path: Head and Neck Pathology (Justin Bishop)

We talked to Head and Neck guru, Dr. Justin Bishop at UT Southwestern about his medical education, his path to pathology, to H&N pathology, entities that he and his collaborators described for the first time, his mentors and his advice for trainees. 

Follow your Path: Hematopathology II (Dennis O’Malley)

We talked to Hemepath guru Dr. Dennis O'Malley about his path to hematopathology, his love for spleen, his favorite books (AFIP Fascicles) and his advice for trainees. He also talked about working in academia and at a referral center.

Follow your Path: Transfusion Medicine II (Monica Pagano)

We talked to Dr. Monica Pagano, Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Washington, about her path to transfusion medicine (through internal medicine and cell therapy), her interest in apheresis, her mentors, why it is important fro all medical students to rotate on transfusion service, and committees that residents interested in transfusion/blood banking should join.

Follow your Path: Transfusion Medicine I (Joe Chaffin/Blood Bank Guy)

We talked to Dr. Joe Chaffin, educator at Loma Linda University and creator of the Bloodbankguy website and podcast series. He talked to us about his medical education, his time doing clinical transition year, his training in transfusion medicine (and him being fortunate that he didn't have to do a fellowship), his experience in academia/private practice/independent blood centers, his mentors, what makes transfusion medicine unique (he trained in and practiced Surg path for years as well), different pathways in transfusion medicine, and resources for med students and residents. 

Follow your Path: Professional and Communication (Leilani Valdes)

We talked to Dr. Leilani Valdes, a community pathologist in Victoria, Texas, who is a second-generation pathologist, about her life journey (she started off in marketing after college, did not want to travel so much), ending up liking pathology in second year of med school (because she liked solving problems and help other medical professional solve problems), why she chose community pathology (the ability to solve multiple problems at the same time, instead of being super-specialized), her involvement in organized medicine and her focus on professionalism for trainees. 

Follow your Path: Liver Pathology (John Hart)

We talked to Dr. John Hart, Professor of Pathology at UChicago, about his path to pathology (through research in GI and a mentor at Uni of Iowa), his love for GI/Liver pathology (he thinks its the best specialty, there is a lot of diseases to look at, gastroenterologists are fun to work with, GI ppl at USCAP have the most fun! and there are plenty of jobs),  his favorite case (diagnosing celiac disaease on liver biopsy), most gratifying aspect of his job (solving puzzles, esp in Medical liver), what makes a good liver pathology fellowship applicants (good grasp of surg path, doing projects with mentors, submitting asbtracts at USCAP, introducing yourself at USCAP) and his involvement with USCAP. 

Follow your Path: Coagulation Medicine (Eric Salazar)

We talked to Dr. Eric Salazar at UT San Antonio, an expert in coagulation and related disorders about his path to pathology, what he learned from his mentors (both during his training and from committees at CAP), what makes coagulation a unique specialty (you get to see patients!, your role as director of the coag lab), interesting cases that has stayed with him through the years (one involved the Houston Astros winning parade in 2017), what he loves about his job (finding systemic error and taking corrective action), how to get started in coagulation as a career,  what can residents do to learn more about coag (talk to the local coag expert at your institution, attend the AABB/ASH/ISTH meetings). 

Follow your Path: Clinical Informatics (Liron Pantanowitz)

We talked to Dr. Pantanowitz about his path to pathology, how he ended up doing clinical informatics, what makes informatics unique, what are pathways to train in informatics and his advice for trainees. 

Follow your Path: Neuropathology (Arie Perry)

We talked to Dr. Arie Perry, Professor of Neuropathology at UCSF and a classically trained Tenor! He talked about his education, his path to pathology, to neuropathology, his mentors, interesting cases, his advice for trainees and then we talked about his musical career.

Follow your Path: Cytopathology and Medical Education (Sarah Bean)

We talked to Dr. Sarah Bean, Professor of Pathology at Duke University and Fellowship Director for Cytopathology, about her path to pathology, cytopathology, her mentors, what makes cytopathology a unique specialty, interesting cases and her advice for trainees. We also talked about her interest in medical education and how trainees interested in that could learn more about it.