Pathology - Informatics Fellowship
The Pathology Informatics Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital seeks to train pathologists to become leaders in Informatics and Imaging.
Goals and Description
The Pathology Informatics Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital seeks to train pathologists to become leaders in Informatics and imaging. Our educational philosophy considers informatics a part of pathology practice and central to pathology’s future, and our program’s architecture provides exposure to a wide variety of clinical operations, research consistent with long term career goals, a national vision, multiple, independent faculty, and a level of responsibility appropriate to experience and skill. After finishing the MGH Pathology Informatics Fellowship, fellows should be able to:
- Effectively lead the pathology informatics service at a major medical center, plan and execute the long term evolution and growth of such a service and effectively represent pathology informatics at any level of the medical enterprise
- Have a deep understanding of an important area of pathology informatics and have the skills necessary to execute a successful academic/research career
- Have significant experience with national and international working groups in pathology informatics
Consistent with our philosophy and goals, the program has developed a number of unique approaches including:The program includes training integration with the Departments of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Beth Israel Deaconess and the North Shore Medical Center. Rotating through these competing and collaborating institutions, fellows experience a very wide range of issues, systems and approaches, and develop a wide, general understanding of operational informatics. This existing collaboration is being formalized as a integrated fellowship, probably in 2010.
The program supports a customized research concentration for all Fellows. Fellows choose an area of informatics and the program makes available multiple independent research mentors, laboratories, classes and one or more projects in that area. Potential research concentrations include imaging, support for translational research, clinical communications, and molecular informatics. Concentrations are designed to create deep understanding and academic leadership.
The program expects fellows to take active participation in national pathology informatics activities. Fellows will attend the major pathology informatics meetings (APIII and Lab Infotech Summit) and will join at least one international working group such as DICOM WG 26 or the HL7 Pathology SIG. Faculty In line with its goals and structure, the program incorporates faculty and leadership from the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the North Shore Medical Center.
Types and Number of Appointments
The fellowship is normally for one year. However, we will work with candidates that might be interested in a six month or two year program. The number of appointments available at a given time is variable, please contact the Program Director (see below).
Requirements
Candidates should have completed their residency training in anatomic, clinical or combined anatomic/clinical pathology, with primary certification or eligibility by the American Board of Pathology. If a graduate of an international medical school, the candidate should have a valid ECFMG certificate and visa.
In some cases however, fellows will be accepted before they are Board eligible. Such candidates must qualify for a limited (training) license in Massachusetts, present compelling reasons that the fellowship should be done prior to finishing residency, and have concrete plans for finishing their pathology residency training.
Structure of the Program
The program is based on a set of operational meetings, didactic symposia, working groups and a research concentration under multiple faculty members. These include:
Director's Meetings
Weekly meetings with the Director and Executive Council (see below) that focus on the growth and long term goals of the fellows.
Operational Meetings
Operational meetings are the venues in which a Director of Pathology Informatics manages and leads the clinical informatics activities of a department. There are approximately five such meetings per week and tend to be based on specific systems or projects. Fellows will attend the operational meetings of the hospital they are rotating through, giving them a wide range of experience in clinical operations.
Local and National Infromatics Symposia
Informatics Symposia are groups of didactic lectures in various aspects of informatics. There are at least five symposia per year for a total of approximately 45 lectures. Local symposia are supplemented by attendance at the major pathology informatics conferences APIII (apii.upmc.edu) and Lab Infotech Summit.
National and International Working Groups
An important goal of the fellowship is to produce pathologists who will be national and international leaders in pathology informatics. To this end, fellows will be expected to join and attend at least one national or international working group. This is done through our faculty who are members of such groups including the HL7 Pathology SIG, the DICOM Pathology Working Group, the College of American Pathology Informatics Working Group and the WHO/ITU group on Health Care Informatics in Developing Countries.
Diagnostic Pathology Conferences
The Clinical Fellows in Pathology Informatics are pathologists and as such may choose to attend selected pathology teaching conferences at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Research Concentration
Very early in their term, fellows will work with the executive council and the faculty to select a research concentration: a year long set of classes, rotations and research projects in a specific area of informatics or imaging. Ideally these concentrations will include projects in multiple independent laboratories under multiple independent faculty members and will provide both a breadth and depth of understanding in the field. Potential concentrations include imaging (in vitro and in vivo, absorption and phase), pathology support for translational research (tissue banking, outcomes and clinical research laboratory informatics), clinical operations (design of LIS systems, workflow engines, informatics management of the total testing cycle and the use of structured data), molecular pathology informatics, etc.
This combination of meetings, didactics, conferences and concentrations, combined with the strength of our faculty (vide infra), results a program that is both grounded in the operations, needs and interests of the diagnostic laboratory, and incorporates the resources, facilities and faculty of four independent (competing and collaborating) pathology departments, two health systems, two major universities and international working groups. The goal is to provide the pathology informatics trainee unparalleled breadth and depth of operational and research experience.
Executive Council
John Gilbertson, MD; Director of Pathology Informatics, MGH - Director of the Informatics Fellowship
Frank Kuo, MD PhD; Director of Pathology Informatics, BWH
Mark Boguski, MD; Director of Pathology Informatics, BIDMC
Bruce Beckwith, MD; Chief of Laboratory Medicine, NSMC
Independent Faculty
Pathology informatics faculty members hold academic positions at Harvard Medical School and/or the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), run their own independent research and/or clinical operations and publish extensively in areas of informatics and imaging.
The current faculty includes:
Kamran Badizadegan, MD
Bruce Beckwith (NSMC)
Mark Boguski (BIDMC)
Lynn Bry, MD, PhD (BWH)
Anand Dighe, MD, PhD
John Gilbertson, MD
Tom Gudewicz, MD
Frank Kuo, MD, PhD
James Michaelson, PhD
Gary Tearney, MD, PhD
David Wilbur, MD
Yukako Yagi, PhD
Applications
Applications should be submitted by December 1, (18 months prior to start date; Fellowships usually commence on July 1).
Interested candidates should contact the Program Director, John Gilbertson MD.
Interested applicants should send a current CV, a copy of their USMLE transcript, a one-page personal statement concerning their interest in Informatics, and three letters of reference (including one from their residency program director or department chief) to:
Joan Ricker, Fellowship Program Administrator
Pathology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital
55 Fruit Street, Warren 219
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2352.
Telephone: (617) 643-4482
Fax: (617) 643-4045
E-mail: jaricker@partners.org
Program Director
John Gilbertson, MD
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