The training program in Clinical Pathology includes a core set of activities that prepares a trainee for ACVP board qualification and provides elective opportunities for areas of special interest to the individual trainee. Our goal is to provide a learning environment conducive to producing a veterinary clinical pathologist with skills in research, teaching, and diagnostics. Clinical service training is accomplished by regularly scheduled week-long rotations with a faculty clinical pathologist and/or senior (>3 years) clinical pathology resident in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) Laboratory. Residents are expected to spend the majority of their time at the VTH laboratory during weeks when they are on duty. Exceptions include attendance of scheduled classes or seminars, and with the permission of the faculty person on duty, research-related responsibilities, that cannot be rescheduled. Average daily case exposure for clinical pathology residents at the VTH includes approximately 20 cytology cases (tissue aspirate, tissue imprint, and fluid analyses), approximately 50 hematology cases (of which 10-20% may have hematologic abnormalities requiring pathologist review), and about 50 chemistry panels. Cytology and hemopathology reports are written in conjunction with the faculty clinical pathologist on duty. Depending on individual trainees' interests, opportunities exist to acquire skills in operating automated laboratory equipment, learn special analytical and quality control procedures, and to use special teaching funds for more intensive laboratory evaluation of clinical cases. Interesting or controversial case materials are reviewed with the entire group of clinical pathologists once weekly in our section rounds, which also serves as a seminar course for credit for pathology, medicine, and oncology residents at the VTH. A weekly seminar course for clinical pathology residents includes journal article critique, new textbook reviews, case discussions, and laboratory technolgy updates.
Cytology and histopathology of surgical biopsies from the VTH and outside practitioners are examined in the same laboratory, providing opportunities for clinical and anatomic pathologists to collaborate regularly in diagnostics. This collaboration provides cross training opportunities for anatomic and clinical pathology trainees, further preparing them for board eligibility. In addition, there is a weekly microscopy seminar that is attended by faculty of the entire Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department, during which both anatomic and clinical pathology cases are presented and critiqued by the residents in preparation for the ACVP board examination. This seminar also provides a venue for interaction with investigators who may not participate regularly in the pathology service schedules. Additional anatomic pathology training for clinical pathology residents is available through elective rotations in the histopathology and necropsy services, participation in the weekly VTH necropsy rounds for veterinary students, a weekly seminar course for review of archived AFIP cases, and a weekly course with directed comparisons of histological and cytological findings from the same lesion in a single clinical case.
Clinical pathology residents also have the opportunity to participate in VTH medicine service seminars and rounds, including weekly editions of Small Animal Medicine Grand Rounds, Large Animal Medicine Grand Rounds, Small Animal Medicine Resident Case Rounds and Journal Club, and VTH Resident Research Seminar. In addition to the general course opportunities available on main campus for completion of course requirements for a graduate degree, several elective courses are offered at the VTH for clinical residents in medicine, surgery, cardiology, metabolism, nutrition, and oncology.
Numerous opportunities are available for clinical pathology residents to gain experience in teaching both veterinary students and graduate students. These include smaller groups (~30 individuals) of both third and fourth year DVM students in a clinical pathology elective, larger groups (~80 individuals) of undergraduate BS students in an introductory animal and human disease course, and the second year DVM students in the foundation bioanalytical pathology course. The VTH laboratory is equipped with several personal computers, black & white and color printers, a digital scanner, film and high resolution digital photomicroscopy stations, and a ten-headed microscope with real-time video projection capabilities. Clinical pathology residents use this equipment to compile their own materials for teaching and publication purposes, as well as to share case materials with small groups of veterinary students and clinicians.
Clinical Pathology residents have the opportunity to choose areas of research for their graduate programs from any discipline represented at the University. In addition to the specific areas of research conducted by faculty clinical pathologists, our residents have successfully completed programs of study in Microbiology, Physiology, Anatomic Pathology, Toxicology, Environmental Health, Neuroanatomy, and Nutrition. In addition to their successful research pursuits, graduates from our program have demonstrated a consistently high rate of passing the ACVP examination. As a result of this interdisciplinary training philosophy, graduates from our Clinical Pathology training program have been successfully employed in academia, the pharmaceutical industry, commercial reference laboratories, and government.
Application procedures are outlined at http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/mip/residency/apcpres.htm.
