The Yale-New Haven Medical Center consists of the 944-bed Yale New Haven Hospital and the affiliated Yale University School of Medicine. The hospital includes the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, the 201-bed Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, and the 76-bed Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. The Yale-New Haven Medical Center provides training for residents seeking Board certification in Anatomic Pathology (AP), Clinical Pathology (CP), and both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology (AP/CP). The mission of our ACGME-accredited training program is to provide comprehensive post-graduate training and to produce pathologists who will be leaders in clinical practice, research, and academia, and who will advance the field of pathology locally, nationally, and internationally.
Pathology training at Yale focuses on developing and enhancing the role of the pathologist as a diagnostic consultant, using both traditional techniques and state-of-the-art approaches. Our faculty provide diverse role models for residents and have a proven track record for the highest quality teaching.
Combined with extensive pathology fellowship opportunities, our residency program has produced internationally recognized academicians and scientists as well as community pathology leaders. Although most of our graduates proceed along traditional pathways of pathology practice, others have pursued positions in forensic medicine, biotechnology, healthcare administration, and the law. Our diverse graduates are united by the common theme of being among the best in their chosen pathology career.
Residency training in Pathology is provided by the Department of Pathology and the Department of Laboratory Medicine. Working together under a single Program Director, the two departments assure strong training in both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology.
The Department of Pathology is comprised of anatomical pathology services, research laboratories, and support services. Some of Pathology's research laboratories are affiliated with programs physically located in the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine. The Division of Anatomical Pathology (the clinical Division of the Department) provides autopsy, cytology, and surgical pathology services to all hospitals in the Yale New Haven Medical Center, the West Haven campus of the Veterans Administration Healthcare System (VA), Bridgeport Hospital, and to private physician offices. Residents thus are exposed to a very broad range of clinical material, from the common everyday specimens to rare and unusual diseases and neoplasms. The faculty all have subspecialty interests, and residents rotate through the subspecialty systems affording them in-depth exposure and expert training in each area of anatomic pathology. Services that support the department include histology, immunohistochemistry, molecular diagnostics, electron microscopy/advanced imaging, operational informatics, and the report generation unit.
The Department of Laboratory Medicine consists of clinical pathology services, research laboratories, and support services. Some of the research laboratories are affiliated with programs physically located in the Anlyan Center. The clinical laboratories include the Blood Bank, Chemistry, Hematology, Immunology and Flow Cytometry, Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Diagnostics, Apheresis and Stem Cell Processing, and Computer and Instrumentation Services. These are the primary laboratories for Yale-New Haven Medical Center and the Yale Medical Group. They also serve as a core facility for Yale University clinical research centers and as national reference laboratories. The clinical labs recently moved into brand new space in the Park Street Building. The Department also staffs the clinical laboratories at the Veterans Administration Connecticut Healthcare System's West Haven campus, including its mycobacteriology and virology National Reference Laboratories. Residents are exposed to everything from the basic science of testing conceptualization to practical realization in the clinical laboratory and application to patient care. Residents work on research and/or developmental projects in the laboratories and serve as consultants to hospital physicians on the use and interpretation of laboratory data.
Residents are accepted for training onto one of three tracks, and generally follow one of two career paths. This provides trainees an opportunity to tailor their training experience for their own specific career goals. The program endeavors to accommodate a variety of training schedules and goals without compromising core training. However, since resident responsibilities are integrated into the functioning of the services and patient care cannot be compromised, advanced planning in consultation with the Program Director is important in developing a customized training program.
Available training tracks are Anatomic Pathology only (AP), Clinical Pathology only (CP), or combined Anatomic and Clinical Pathology (AP/CP). AP-only and CP-only training are three-year programs; combined AP/CP training is four years. All three tracks include similar core rotations with specific responsibilities designed to convey competency in the diagnostic practice of pathology. Within each track, residents can pursue one of two career paths: "diagnostic practice" and "physician-scientist". The diagnostic practice path is for those residents who plan to spend the majority of their professional career as clinicians in either an academic or community setting. Trainees on this track typically go on to subspecialty fellowships and/or clinical jobs upon completion of their residency training. Residents interested in a career as a physician-scientist (or physician-engineer, etc.) plan to spend the majority of their professional time in investigative research. Candidates for this path often have significant research experience and/or a PhD prior to residency, but this is not a requirement. Research may be pursued with any mentor in any department within Yale University, and salary funding is guaranteed for at least two full years of research following residency.
Each resident is strongly encouraged to complete some form of clinical-pathologic investigation during the course of his or her residency. A variety of options and opportunities are available, ranging from a detailed study of multiple cases using a new diagnostic approach to implementation of a new clinical diagnostic test to a basic research project. The results of the study should be presented intradepartmentally and, if appropriate, submitted for presentation as either an abstract at a national meeting or a manuscript for publication (or both). These projects should be conducted under the supervision of a faculty member in Pathology or Laboratory Medicine, and funding for these investigations are available through the faculty (who can solicit additional funding from the department if needed).
Research can be conducted during elective time, or during down time of any of the other rotations. Residents typically find that a more focused full-time effort is needed to initiate a project, but then that project can be continued on more of a part-time basis.
Residents on the physician-scientist pathway, particularly those on the AP-only and CP-only training tracks, may elect to incorporate up to six months of full time research into their training. This experience must be approved by the Program Director to be sure that it will be eligible for credit toward the training requirement. This discussion should occur no later than the first half of the academic year preceding that during which the research is planned, to assure adequate time to plan for coverage of the service needs of the program (for AP-only or CP-only tracks, this means during the first half of the second year of training). Residents must be in good standing with respect to their clinical training, and will be expected to submit a written proposal describing the purpose and scope of the planned research. The research may be conducted under the direction of a faculty member in any department at Yale University. The research proposal should be approved by the research sponsor before being submitted to the Program Director. The Departments of Pathology and/or Laboratory Medicine will guarantee salary funding for up to an additional two years of research (non-ACGME accredited) at any point after the first year of residency training, including following completion of the residency training. This will aid in launching that resident on a successful research career. Any resident planning to pursue this career path should discuss their plans with the Program Director and/or Chair of either department early in their training.
For those residents with an MD degree who desire not only research training but also a PhD degree, Yale offers an Investigative Medicine Program. Residents enter this program after completion of the residency training, and pursue additional course work and research leading to a PhD degree.
A complete manual describing the training tracks and paths, rotation descriptions, resident responsibilities and competencies, and resident benefits is provided to applicants at the time of interview and to residents when they enter the program. This manual is also available for download.
The precise number of positions varies from year to year, due to the flexibility of the program and our desire to accommodate a variety of training tracks. However, in general, the program accepts seven to eight incoming residents each July. PGY-1 residents typically begin training in Anatomic Pathology, but occasionally the opportunity arises for PGY-1 residents to start their training in Clinical Pathology. There are typically twenty-seven to twenty-nine residents total in the program each year. The program is accredited for thirty-two residents.
All PGY-1 residency candidates are accepted through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). The Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) is used for ALL PGY-1 residency applications. The deadline for application is October 31 each year. Applicants should submit the following documents via ERAS:
Occasional positions may become available for applicants who have already completed some training at ACGME accredited pathology training programs. Contact the program coordinator for information about the availability and application process for any such positions.
Interviews are conducted on Tuesdays in October, November, December, and January. Interviews may occasionally be granted at other times, as the need arises.
IMGs seeking entry into the Yale Pathology residency program should meet the following requirements:
Visas: Yale-New Haven Hospital sponsors only J-1 visas for residents who require a visa in order to be work-authorized. This policy is not negotiable.
ALL questions about eligibility for application should be addressed to the Residency Program Coordinator. Exceptions to the above criteria will be considered only under extenuating circumstances.
Residency Training Program in Pathology
Department of Pathology
Yale School of Medicine
310 Cedar Street, BML B38
P.O. Box 208023
New Haven, CT 06520-8023
Fax: (203) 785-3644
Debra Wycoff
(203) 737-4142
debra.wycoff@yale.edu
John Sinard, M.D., Ph.D.
(203) 785-6424
G. Kenneth Haines, M.D. (AP)
Henry Rinder, M.D. (CP)