The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Program
1515 Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, TX 77030
1-877-MDA-6789
No pathology residency program is offered at M.D. Anderson (fellowships only).
Bone and Soft Tissue / Sarcoma Pathology Fellowship[]
The best experience in the country given the complexity and the number of bone and soft tissue tumors seen. MD Anderson Cancer Center has regularly been ranked as the top cancer institution in the country and therefore by that virtue, receive the most bone and soft tissue cases in the country.
Fellowship Program Director:
- Alexander Lazar, M.D. - Lead editor of Mckee's Pathology of the Skin
Other Soft Tissue Faculty:
- Harry L. Evans, M.D. - First to describe numerous tumors, notably, Low-grade Fibromyxoid Tumor "Evan's Tumor"
- Jeanne Meis, M.D. - First to describe numerous tumors along with Dr. Enzinger: Sclerosing Epithelioid Fibrosarcoma, Acral Myxoinflammatory Fibroblastic Tumor, Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor
- Bogdan Czerniak, M.D. - wrote was is largely considered to be the bible of bone pathology with Howard Dorfman. A second edition will be released next year.
Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Fernando Martinez, M.D.
MD Anderson Transfusion Medicine offers different experience. Being a cancer center, the only patient population that is managed is cancer patients. You get access to lots of data if you are interested in doing clinical research. The benign heme rotation teaches you managing bleeding and thrombosis in cancer patients. Good teaching faculty trained from harvard and NIH.
Chemical Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Beverly C. Handy, M.D.
Cytopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- John Stewart, M.D.
Dermatopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Victor G Prieto, M.D.
Additional Dermpath Faculty:
- Johnathan Curry, M.D.
- Doina Ivan, M.D.
- Carlos Torres-Cabala, M.D.
- Billy Wang, M.D.
Dermatopathology Fellowship - Advanced Program[]
Hematopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Sergej N. Konoplev, M.D., Ph.D.
Hematopathology Fellowship - Advanced Program[]
Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Pathology Fellowship[]
Molecular Genetics Pathology Fellowship[]
Selective (Breast) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Aysegul Sahin, M.D.
Selective (Cancer Biomarker) Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Russell Broaddus, M.D., Ph.D.
Selective (Gastrointestinal and Liver) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Asif Rashid, M.D., Ph.D.
Selective (Genitourinary) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Patricia Troncoso, M.D.
Selective (Gynecologic) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Preetha Ramalingam, M.D.
Selective (Head and Neck) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Adel El-Naggar, M.D., Ph.D.
Selective (Surgical) Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director:
- Alexander Lazar, MD (co-director)
- Michelle Williams, MD (co-director)
CAP Standardized Fellowship Application: Not currently accepted.
2010- 2011 academic year: No fellowship openings available.
Fellowship Details[]
Positions: Each year fourteen fellows are accepted, with widely variable backgrounds and interests. Although many opportunities are presented for research (both basic science and clinical), no pressure is placed on the fellow to undergo such research.
Rotations: The year is made up of 2 week blocks, spent on 8 core specialties (Derm, Head and Neck, Gu, GI, GYN, Bone/Soft Tissue, Breast, and Thoracic), of which the fellow rotates twice (for a total of one month on each specialty). This is in addition to 12 weeks (6 blocks) of frozens/gross room, and 2 elective rotations (Neuro, Heme, Cyto, research, etc.). The fellow is free to choose any specialty for elective rotations, as long as approved by the program director.
Each core rotation is divided into "inside" and "outside" services, of which the fellow spends one week on each. The inside cases come from within MD Anderson clinics and operating rooms. These include biopsies and resections. The outside cases come from referels and consults. Every patient treated at MD Anderson is asked to have their outside pathology re-reviewed by the MD Anderson Pathology department, according to specialty.
Frozen/gross room: Three fellows are assigned to the frozen/gross room for a 2 week block. During this rotation, the fellow is responsible for grossing all specimens coming from the operating room, including those intended for frozen section evaluation. A different fellow each day (on a 3 day rotation) has the main responsibility of viewing the frozen section slides in real-time with the attending, and thus has less grossing responsibilities on that day. At the end of the day, all three fellows sit with the attending and go over the cases. The day starts promptly at 7am and usually ends around 6pm.
Autopsies: MD Anderson averages 80-85 autopsies each year. Each fellow takes a weekend call, averaging 3-4 calls over the course of the year. For weekday coverage, a list of fellows (in decending order of cases done, updated daily) is made and used to assign cases each morning. The average fellow does 5-6 autopsies during the fellowship. More than half the time, a pathology resident from Methodist Hospital is assigned to autopsies for the month and is responsible for performing the autopsy (with fellow supervision) and writing the case up (with fellow review). These cases are also credited to the supervising fellow.
Vacation: Vacation is scheduled before the fellowship begins and is taken all at once (2 weeks). The program also gives 5 "flex" days during the year to be used for interviews, personal time off, conferences, etc.
Interview Day[]
Interviews occur during March and April, 16 months prior to the fellowship year.
The interview is spread over two days (Fri. and Sat.) where all invited candidates (18-20 people) are interviewed for 14 fellowship spots. The first interview day starts at noon with an introduction of the program by Dr. Sahin, followed by a tour of the hospital and department and a few short interviews, ending at 5pm. The second day starts at 7am with breakfast with the fellows/faculty, a few more short interviews, and lunch again with fellows/faculty. The applicant is not asked to sit at the scope during the interview.
The chosen candidates are notified approximately 1-2 weeks after the interview.