In addition, trainees are expected to present cases with interesting gross and histologic lesions during rounds at the Animal Medical Center, the Clinical Pathology Conference at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and combined rounds with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Participation in Clinical and Pathology Conferences involves preparing electronic presentations of laboratory and domestic animal necropsy cases with gross and histologic digital images and information from the current literature. The Surgical Conference and AFIP Slide Conference require intense preparation by independently examining, describing, and formulating morphologic, etiologic, and differential diagnoses on unknown slides, as well as reading current literature regarding the cases. Twice per year during AFIP rounds, trainees will also be asked to give a one-hour presentation on a disease process of their choice. Sharing of interesting small animal and exotic, laboratory, and zoo animal cases also occurs bimonthly in conjunction with pathologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and various other institutions in the area.
Didactic training opportunities are available during rotations at the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology and consist of formal courses offered by the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Trainees may take courses on Fundamental Immunology, Molecular Genetics, and Microbial Pathogenesis to augment their studies.
Individual and Research Study
Trainees are expected to present an interesting case at the annual Northeastern Veterinary Pathology Conference. In addition, trainees will be permitted to attend one pathology continuing education conference a year. In addition, the trainee will be involved in the submission of one AFIP case per year, as a representative of either the Animal Medical Center or Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
There are numerous collaborative research opportunities at the four participating institutions, and trainees are required to undertake a research project at one of these institutions. Through this experience, trainees will gain exposure to grantsmanship, hypothesis-driven research, experimental design, animal model selection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.
Finally, trainees are expected to prepare and submit a minimum of one manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal by the end of the three-year training program. Manuscripts on pathology case reports/case series or research projects are acceptable.
