Breast & Gyn Pathology Fellowship  UMass Chan-Baystate

Become a well-rounded sub-specialist in women's pathology.

Breast & Gyn Pathology Fellowship

UMass Chan-Baystate offers a one year ACGME-accredited Breast and Gynecologic Pathology fellowship to prepare fellows to be superb diagnosticians and consultants in women's pathology.

Upon successful completion of the program, you will have diagnostic expertise in the interpretation of breast and GYN pathology specimens, as well as the knowledge, poise, maturity, and communication skills to effectively function at the level of junior staff/faculty.

Become a Well-Rounded Sub-Specialist in Women's Pathology

Using one-on-one teaching, didactics, hands-on experience, modeling, and a multidisciplinary team-based approach, your training focuses on the study of breast and gynecologic pathology specimens, including both neoplastic and non-neoplastic disorders.

Scholarly activity, laboratory administration including quality metrics and improvement, teaching skills, safe hand-offs, data-mining the electronic medical record for patient care, and physician wellness are emphasized in our curriculum.

It also provides continued exposure to other pathology subspecialties and opportunities to conduct translational research.

Our highly supervised learning environment provides you with continual feedback and evaluation, along with progressive increases in level of responsibility as determined through competency based assessments.

Largest Hospital-Based Lab In Central/Western Massachusetts

You will have access to an excellent resource of cases of various complexities here at Baystate Medical Center.

We accession nearly 40,000 surgical pathology specimens—including ~11,000 breast and GYN pathology biopsies and resections, and 41,000 cytology specimens.

Our state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic laboratory performs ~29,000 tests/year. During your month-long laboratory experience you will review molecular tests that pertain to your subspecialty under the supervision of highly qualified molecular technologists and experienced molecular pathologists.

Diverse, Inclusive, Committed Culture

We are a close-knit department in which trainees, staff, and faculty cultivate a collegial, inclusive, and open atmosphere.

We are deeply committed to providing outstanding opportunities for physicians to advance their careers in pathology.

Our faculty include pathologists with sub-specialty training and expertise who have made significant contributions to the field of pathology. And they are highly approachable and dedicated to teaching and mentoring the next generation of pathologists—many have won teaching awards.

Multidisciplinary Team-Based Approach to Care

Baystate Medical Center is a tertiary care academic medical center with graduate medical education programs in multiple disciplines, including the core pathology residency and an ACGME-accredited cytopathology fellowship.

You will be interacting with the breast surgery fellow and medical oncology fellows, and OB/GYN and radiology residents. The radiology department's breast imaging division will support you with advanced imaging technology, including digital mammography, tomosynthesis, and breast MRI.

You will also participate in multidisciplinary conferences, such as weekly Breast and GYN Oncology tumor boards.

In addition, the Rays of Hope Center for Breast Cancer Research at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, with its breast tissue repository and funding opportunities, is an invaluable resource for conducting translational research.

Program-at-a-glance

UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate offers a one-year ACGME-accredited, newly established Breast and GYN Pathology fellowship to prepare fellows to be diagnostic experts in the interpretation of breast and GYN pathology specimens, while also providing continued exposure to other pathology subspecialties and opportunities to pursue translational research.

Meet our team

Ediz Cosar, MD

Fellowship Director

Giovanni Crisi, MD

Associate Program Director

Q. Jackie Cao, MD

Associate Program Director

Kerry Hayes

Fellowship Administrator
email: kerry.hayes@baystatehealth.org | phone: 413-794-5085

By the numbers

Program metrics

  • Length of program: 1 year
  • Number of fellows/year: 1

Department metrics

  • Number of faculty: Department of Pathology: 21
  • Diagnostic lab space: 67,870 sq ft
  • Surgical pathology specimens: ~40,000 including 11,000 breast and gyn biopsies and resections of various complexities and 41,000 cytology specimens
  • Immunohistochemistry laboratory with 290 antibodies: > 1700 studies performed/month
  • Molecular diagnostic laboratory: >29,000 tests per year, including next generation sequencing capabilities

Baystate Medical Center metrics

  • Number of hospital beds: 716
  • Number of residency programs: 10
  • Number of fellowship programs: 26
Salary and benefits
  • We have attempted to maintain salaries in the 75th percentile nationally, and here in western Massachusetts, we enjoy a lower cost of living than in major urban areas.
  • View our complete list of salaries and benefits.
  • 4 weeks vacation/year, free parking
  • Disability/Malpractice/Health/Life Insurance
  • Fellows have dedicated cubicles in the trainees room which include their personal microscope and a desktop computer with a high-speed internet access
  • Baystate Health Sciences and UMass Chan libraries with access to online journals, books and other teaching resources
Curriculum
  1. Breast and GYN Surgical Pathology (Side 1) 9 months | Monthly schedule is as follows:

    1. 1A (biopsy service)/Consults: 1 week

    2. 1B/C/Consults: 2 weeks

    3. Frozen sections/Consults: 1 week

  2. Electives: 3 months | Following Electives are offered:

    1. Cytology

    2. Molecular Pathology

    3. Research

    4. Other area of study may be arranged after discussion with the Program Director

  3. Tumor Boards/Multidisciplinary Conferences:

    1. Weekly Multidisciplinary Breast Conference (mandatory during all rotations)

    2. Weekly GYN Oncology tumor board (mandatory during all rotations)

    3. Molecular Oncology Tumor board (optional)

  4. Quality Improvement and Safety

    1. Fellow will be expected to undertake one Quality Improvement project during the fellowship.

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