Pathology pipeline
March 2022—This is in regard to the article in CAP TODAY, January 2022, “What influences med students to choose pathology?” which discusses reasons for the low enrollment in pathology residencies.
The article is informative but there is no mention of an important resource we established at the CAP Foundation.
An initiative of the Foundation (as part of the Alvin M. Ring, MD, Future Leaders Fund), activated in 2018, awards grants to medical students to attend the Residents Forum at the CAP annual meetings. In addition, each student is assigned a mentor.
From 2018 to 2021 there were 43 awardees. Of the 26 students who have graduated and were eligible to enter into a pathology residency program, 19 (73 percent) have done so, so far.
Many of the awardees have sent a follow-up review of their experience, usually a glowing endorsement.
For example: “Attending the Residents Forum was an absolutely invaluable experience and opportunity to learn, meet, network, and simply have a great time with people of shared interest. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate getting to go to this fantastic event. I encourage anyone with even a slight interest or curiosity about pathology to apply.”
Some pointed to a problem: “. . . as a medical student you are often in an environment where most of your peers have no idea what a pathologist is or does.”
The award is a small initiative with significant results and should be promoted by pathology programs.
Alvin M. Ring, MD
Director, CAP Foundation
Board of Directors
Clinical Professor of Pathology
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton
Cindy B. McCloskey, MD, of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and OU Medical Center and vice chair of the CAP Pathologist Pipeline Ad Hoc Committee, replies: Thank you for making us and the readers aware of this important initiative. These are exactly the kind of activities that foster the pipeline.