Educational Mission
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine is dedicated to:
- Equipping medical students with essential knowledge and skills in pathology and laboratory medicine, while fostering a lifelong commitment to independent learning and scholarship.
- Providing outstanding training opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, pathology residents, and clinical fellows in both basic and clinical sciences.
- Offering continuing medical education programs for practicing physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Medical Education
Department faculty contribute extensively to the AzMed Medical School curriculum, participating in nearly every block of the first two years. Pathology education incorporates diverse teaching methods, including interactive lectures, virtual microscopy, gross pathology “wet” labs, team-based learning, and case-based instruction. The adoption of virtual microscopy has transformed histopathology education—making it more efficient, interactive, and collaborative.
Pathology residents actively serve as laboratory instructors in the medical school. Electives in pathology are also available for third- and fourth-year medical students.
Graduate Education
While the Department does not offer standalone M.S. or Ph.D. programs, it plays a key role in training graduate students pursuing degrees in the biomedical sciences. Faculty teach Basic Pathology (Pathology 515), a 4-unit graduate-level course covering the pathogenesis of disease, and serve as mentors in interdisciplinary programs such as Cancer Biology, Physiology, and Neuroscience.