The document discusses the career path of becoming a pathologist. It describes the job duties of pathologists as diagnosing diseases through laboratory analysis of tissues and fluids. There are several types of pathologists including general, clinical, anatomical, and forensic pathologists. The educational requirements include obtaining an undergraduate degree, medical degree, and 4-5 years of pathology residency training. The career outlook for pathologists is positive with an expected 18% increase in jobs through 2022. The document analyzes how the author's personality and investigative interests make them a good fit for a career in pathology.

1. Everything you need to
know about becoming a
pathologist
By Stephanie Erickson

2. Things to Know About Me
 Health Sciences
 Pre-Professional Health concentration
 O*NET Profile
 IR(C/E)
 Interests
 Reading, running, traveling, volunteering
 Job Experience
 Office assistant
 Tutoring
 Skills
 Office management, lab research

3. Pathologist Job Description
 Diagnose patients and manage human disease using
laboratory techniques
 In the case of a death, perform an autopsy to determine
the cause
 Study the nature of disease by working with blood and
tissue samples
 Assist physicians by helping diagnose, treat, and
manage disease.
 Write official reports on any findings

4. Types of Pathologist
 General pathologist
 Trained in both clinical and anatomical pathology
 More general knowledge on both, less specific knowledge on either
 Clinical pathologist
 Perform lab tests on body tissue and fluids
 Identify pathogens that cause infection
 Anatomic pathologist
 Examine organs or perform full-body autopsies
 Assist surgeons during operations
 Run tests immediately to give diagnoses
 Forensic pathologist
 Examine tissues, DNA, and perform autopsies
 Assist investigative officials on cases involving criminal activity

5. History of Pathology
 Islamic Golden Age (1000-1200 AD)
 Avicienna’s book The Canon of Medicine described the
pathology of a contagion
 Arabian physician: Avenzoar
 Performed the first postmortem dissections
 Ancient Greece (400-200 BC)
 Spurred from Hippocrates interest in medicine and anatomy
 Herophilius and Erasistratus
 Performed careful human dissections
 Italian Renaissance (1400-1800)
 Giovanni Morgagni
 Published a book with findings from over 600 autopsies

6. Academic Requirements
 4 years at accredited undergraduate university
 4 years at medical school (D.O. or M.D.)
 4 to 5 years of a pathology residency
 Obtain board certification in either anatomical
pathology or clinical pathology
 Optional: 2-3 years training in subspecialties (anatomic
pathology, dermatopathology, forensic pathology,
laboratory medicine)

7. How to Get There
 Medical School (University of Florida)
 Complete required courses: biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics,
and biochemistry and maintain GPA >3.5
 Perform well on MCAT
 Score of 510-515
 Gain research experience
 preferably >3 semesters
 Exemplify leadership
 Leadership position >3 semesters
 Become an avid volunteer in the community
 consistent volunteering over all 4 years
 Clinical exposure
 >100 hours of health-care related experience
 Pathology Residency
 Complete medical school course
 Perform well on USMLE

8. Career Outlook
 Currently there are 15,000 employed pathologist
 Pathologists makes up 2% of all physicians
 Current starting salary range from $150,000 to
$180,000
 Jobs are projected to increase 18% from 2012 to 2022
for all physicians and surgeons

9. My Personality Types
 Briggs-Myer: INTJ
 Introvert: enjoy working alone
 Intuitive: focus on big picture
 Thinking: emphasize logic and objective information
 Judging: like their world to be orderly and controlled
 O*NET Profiler
 Investigative (40)
 Realistic (23)
 Enterprising (18) / Conventional (18)

10. Holland Personality Types
 My Holland results: IR C/E
 Career choices I’ve considered:
 General Physician: ISE
 I’m not very social
 Suregon: IRA
 I’m not very creative
 Pathologist: IRC
 I’m a perfect fit!!

11. Investigative
 I enjoy solving problems
 I have lots of experience in research
 Two Creative Inquiries
 Department Honors Thesis
 I enjoy having intellectual conversation
 I’m part of Phi Sigma Pi – The National Honors Fraternity
 My brothers and I have weekly discussions concerning
new ideas and thoughts

12. Realistic
 I enjoy hands-on work
 I prefer labs to lectures
 I like working with plants and animals
 I work in an insect biology lab where I have to care for a
colony of fruit flies
 I enjoy being outside
 I’m an avid backpacker, hiker, and world traveler

13. Conventional
 I like routine
 I’m an avid planner and I follow my schedule for MCAT studying
and working out every day
 I like clear rules and processes
 I enjoyed working in an office the last two summers, where I
had an assigned list of tasks
 I enjoy working in the lab with a set procedure to perform
 I’m detailed oriented
 In my lab, I have to be very careful and diligent to ensure all the
steps are performed correctly and that all measurement are
exact

14. INTJ’s as Pathologist
 Trademarks of INTJ’s:
 Very analytic, often called the “Mastermind”
 Good for trying to understand diseases and diagnoses
 Work best on their own
 Pathology is mainly solo work
 Work well when given autonomy and creative freedom
 Most pathologists are allowed to work at their own pace on
their own hours
 Want order and structure
 Most of pathology is very routine, unlike surgery when
something can change very quickly

15. Conclusion
 With my 4.0, my leadership positions, and my research
experience I think I have a good chance of getting
accepted into Medical School
 My INTJ personality type and my O*Net results suggest
I would enjoy pathology as a career
 With my past experiences and current skill set, I think I
will excel in this field
 Based on the current salary range and the job growth
outlook I think this is a smart career choice

16. Sources
 http://study.com/articles/Medical_Pathologist_Job_Description_Salary_and_C
areer_Outlook.html
 http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/121/Pathologist
 http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Pathology.aspx
 http://www.pathology.hu/en/about-pathology/history-pathology
 https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
 https://www.careerkey.org/choose-a-career/holland-personality-
types.html#.Vp7hAVMrI9c
 http://www.truity.com/personality-type/intj
 http://thedo.osteopathic.org/2013/05/medicines-detectives-pathologists-
master-the-art-of-diagnosis/