1
University of Washington School of Medicine
Department of Pathology
Genitourinary Pathology Fellowship
Goals, Skills and Competencies
OVERALL EDUCATIONAL GOALS
The genitourinary (GU) pathology fellowship program is a one-year program designed to provide a rich
and diverse experience in diagnostic GU pathology. The program provides extensive exposure and in-
depth evaluation of non-neoplastic and neoplastic specimens from the kidney, urinary bladder, prostate,
and testis. At the conclusion of the fellowship year, the fellow is expected to: 1) be sufficiently skilled in
GU pathology to perform independently in a practice setting; 2) understand the wide range of diagnostic
pitfalls and approaches to recognizing and minimizing diagnostic errors in GU pathology; 3) have the
skills to organize and complete a laboratory-based and/or translational clinical research project; and 4)
have developed the necessary teaching skills and experience to serve as a competent mentor to junior
colleagues. Participation at pathology and clinical conferences and teaching of younger trainees is
required. GU pathology fellows are encouraged to engage in translational research projects with the
intent to present their work at national meetings and to publish their work.
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM ORGANIZATION AND EXPECTATIONS
Throughout a year the GU fellow will participate in the diagnostic sign-out of biopsies, surgical
specimens, referral and consultation cases, grossing supervision, as well as evaluation of intraoperative
frozen section consultations.
In the first 3 months fellow should focus on fundamentals of GU pathology, participate in grossing of all
representative GU specimens, provide detailed microscopic differential diagnoses, recognize the
limitations of diagnostic abilities, and seek consultation from an attending faculty.
In the next 3 months, GU fellow is expected to have more independence, allowed to handle complex
gross specimens such as pelvic exenterations, neobladder resections etc, supervise grossing by residents,
call preliminary results to clinicians on in-house and consult cases, and order ancillary tests. Fellow will
work closely with junior residents, supervising, teaching and assisting in formulating and dictating
microscopic diagnosis and completing all their cases as needed.
As the fellow gains further experience and demonstrate increasing competence and confidence in GU
pathology gross and microscopic assessments, he/she will be granted increased responsibility, primarily in
the final 6 months of the program. At this time, the fellow is expected to know recently described, rare
and provisional entities, syndromic associations, diagnostic mimics, updates in staging criteria, detailed
tumor subtyping, molecular features, prognostic and theranostic markers.
Throughout the year, the fellow will be partly responsible for teaching the fundamentals of GU pathology
to residents and rotating medical students, as well as helping out with the medical student pathology labs
as required. They will assist in the regular resident GU pathology conferences, help organize the resident
didactic conferences, and review GU cases with residents. Fellow will present and discuss relevant GU
pathological findings at all applicable clinical conferences and tumor boards, as required.
Two months of the year are devoted to elective time in which the fellow is expected to select an area in
which to focus. Ideally this will include compiling study sets, presenting at conferences pertinent to the
area, performing a laboratory-based quality assurance (QA) study and/or translational research project.
