Emory University Program

Charles E. Hill, MD
Emory University Hospital, Dept. of Pathology
1364 Clifton Rd NE, Rm H-185A
Atlanta, GA 30322-8110

Tel: (404) 727-4283
Fax: (404) 727-2519
E-mail: serita.l.phillips@emory.edu

Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency Program[]

Residency Program Director:

Charles E. Hill, MD, PhD

Number of residents (per year / total):

8 residents/ year
Currently 32 residents

Visas Sponsored:

J1 and H1

Pros:

Diverse training sites with different patient populations and training environments.
Large volume (approximately 70-80,000 surgical cases per year across sites) and variety of specimens.
Incredible mix of sub-specialty and general signout experiences.
Being a tertiary referral center creates interesting cases.
Ample research opportunities with most residents present at meetings.
Well-structured, interactive CP rotations.

Cons:

Multiple hospitals means multiple places to drive (hospitals within 20 minutes of each other).

Average work hours on surg path?

60-70 hours/week.
Usually 11-14 hour days.

Are you allowed to do external rotations?

Possible if for no longer than 2 weeks, typically funded by external grants (ex. ASCP).

Do you feel you have:

Adequate preview time?

Yes.

Support staff (P.A.’s, secretarial, etc.)?

Emory: 4 PA's gross and aid residents, 2 PAs dedicated to frozen sections and helps gross in downtime. PA's gross all biopsies.
Grady: 3 PA's gross and aid residents. PA's will help with frozen sections as needed.
Emory Midtown: 6 PA's gross and aid residents. PA's will help with frozen sections as needed.

Adequate AP Teaching?

Yes, weekly AP didactics, gross, autopsy, and unknown conferences.
Dedicated one-on-one sign out time with attendings.

Adequate CP Teaching?

Weekly CP didactic which rotates on a 2-year cycle and call/case reviews.
Rotation-specific didactic series and case conferences.

Fellowship Opportunities?

See Below.

Clinical Chemistry Fellowship[]

Fellowship Program Director

David Koch, PhD and Janetta Bryksin, PhD

Program Info

Accepts CAP Standardized Application: YES
Length of program (1 or 2 years): 2
Number of fellows per year: 1-2
Vacation Time (annually): 15 days (with an additional 12 days of sick leave)
Average work hours: typical 8 hour day, though the schedule may shift.
Call Schedule: You will do a one month rotation of 8am-5pm on-call from the core laboratory. However, you will receive calls throughout the fellowship when the resident on the rotation is unable to accommodate.

Pros:

Industry perspective and insight - two month rotation at Quest Diagnostics
Regulatory perspective and insight - a one month rotation at the CDC can be arranged
Spend time at Emory University Hopsital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, and and Grady Memorial Hospital - yields a broader view of academic positions
Rotations through many departments to gain a broad overview of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine
Excellent preparation for the ABCC board examination from both faculty and senior fellow
Many diverse opportunities for research

Cons:

Time to devote to research projects is limited
The structure of the fellowship is plastic. This has an advantage in that each fellow can tailor their experience to their interests. However, the major disadvantage is that in the first few months the fellow may by confused and disoriented by the perceived lack of planning. This is balanced, for the most part, by guidance from the senior fellow and an "open door policy" by the faculty.

Cytopathology Fellowship[]

Fellowship Program Director: Michelle Reid, MD

Fellowship Length: 1 year

Positions Per Year: 2

Accepts CAP Standardized Application: YES

Comment #1:

Dermatopathology Fellowship[]

Fellowship Program Director: Douglas C. Parker, MD: Pathology-trained.
Other Faculty:
- Jamie Mackelfresh, MD: Dermatology-trained.
- Anthony Martinez, MD: Pathology-trained.
- Brian Pollack, MD, PhD: Dermatology-trained.
- Benjamin Stoff, MD: Dermatology-trained.
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 1
Accepts CAP Standardized Application: YES

Comment #1: (8/2013)

I did my dermpath fellowship at Emory in 2011-2012. It was an outstanding year and I was very pleased with my experiences there, the relationships I established with members of both the pathology and dermatology departments, and the quality of my dermpath training. The case volume is just right for a fellowship, I think, in that there is plenty of material to see and all of the cases can be seen by the fellow without being overwhelming. There was a great variety of both neoplastic and inflammatory diseases and I saw a great many unusual and rare entities during one year. The cases come from both the Emory dermatology service as well as from community dermatologists. There are also quite a few outside expert consult cases, internal consultation cases from other services (including some from the soft tissue and hemepath services), and confirmatory consultations (mainly on melanocytic neoplasms including melanoma and atypical spitzoid proliferations). I was particularly pleased to the volume of melanoma and other melanocytic cases that I saw during the year. Additionally, the weekly melanoma tumor board conferences were invaluable to my understanding of the team-based management of melanoma patients. My clinical experiences in dermatology were mostly at Grady Hospital in downtown Atlanta. This necessitated a 20 min commute on clinic days and added some stress if the case load was heavy or other things were going on in dermpath and then I was rushing to get to clinic; but the quality of the cases and the teaching at Grady were well worth it. Grady is a hospital largely focused on indigent care, and as such, there were a great many dermatologic conditions that were unusual, advanced, or unique due to the Grady patient population.

Finally, the dermpath faculty are all fantastic. They are intelligent and conscientious physicians, devoted teachers, and all around great people. The entire attitude and atmosphere of the dermpath division at Emory is benign, positive, and friendly.

Doug Parker is a very smart, enthusiastic, and incredibly nice guy, and he is the right person to be the program director. His devotion to educational excellence for the fellows is patently obvious in everything he does. He instituted (and actively participates in) weekly dermpath journal club and weekly dermpath textbook reading schedules for the fellow. Very active teacher at the multiheaded scope.
Jamie Mackelfresh, MD: Dermatology-trained. Practices both clinical dermatology and dermatopathology. Friendly and easy to work with. Excellent at giving feedback on diagnoses. Fellows typically pre-dictate cases for Jamie and then fellow and resident sit with Jamie later to review the pre-dictated cases together.
Robert Morris, MD: Pathology-trained. Practical approach to cases. Gives fellows lots of autonomy during pre-sign out.
Brian Pollack, MD: Dermatology-trained. Very involved in basic science research, but also practices clinical dermatology and dermatopathology.
Benjamin Stoff, MD: Dermatology-trained. Great educator and incredibly nice guy. Takes time to do clinical derm didactics for the path-trained fellows.

Other thoughts: Historically, Emory dermpath has mostly accepted internal (Emory) candidates for their fellowship position with only a few exceptions. I guess this is likely a pro if you are an Emory resident but a con if you are not. This was never stated to me by anyone as being an official policy or even preference of the program; it's just an historical observation that I made. I personally think it is a quite understandable situation in that Emory has relatively large dermatology and pathology residency programs, the dermpath teaching and exposure for these residents (largely by Doug Parker) is outstanding, and thus there are almost always stellar candidates who are both interested in and qualified for the dermpath fellowship at Emory. Still, I think this is worth noting particularly for external applicants who may be interested in the program.

Jerad M Gardner, MD (talk) 02:37, August 19, 2013 (UTC)