The Department of Pathology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, UWO, offers a full-time course- and practicum-based Graduate Program in Pathology leading to the M.Sc. Degree. This is a 2 year program that will fill a gap in the health care setting by training personnel to function as Pathologists' Assistants in a clinical setting and also may prove attractive to those who wish to gain pathology graduate training in a more clinical setting before going on to professional schools or to a research intensive Doctoral Program in Pathology. Pathologists' Assistants (PAs) are highly trained health professionals who work under the supervision of a medically-qualified pathologist, providing a broad range of services in anatomic pathology. Many of their duties are those previously performed by pathologists. The extra technical skills brought to the laboratory by the PAs, standardize and enhance the overall quality in the practice of anatomic pathology. The decreased time pathologists spend on more routine tasks enables them to maximize their time spent on more complex problems and increase the technical repertoire of the laboratory. The PAs assumes major responsibility for the initial examination and dissection of all surgically removed tissues and to a variable extent, for the dissection of bodies during post-mortem examination. The first year of the program is course-based and students take a number of full-year courses in Human Anatomy and Embryology, General & Systemic Pathology, Histology, Microbiology, and Physiology and two half-term courses in Environmental Pathology and an Introduction to Forensic Sciences. In the second year, students undertake a Research Project and various practical rotations through the Autopsy Service, Surgical Gross Anatomy, and other lab rotations. (Note: a number of training courses related to laboratory safety and/or laboratory procedures must be completed before commencing the second year, e.g. WHMIS, Infection Control, Privacy Training). Students also undertake a final 2 month rotation through a pathology service in a community hospital (e.g. Chatham, Kitchener, Guelph, Windsor).Pathology Assistant
What is a Pathology Assistant?
Course Requirements
Graduate Program
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Tracey Koning
Graduate Administrator
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