
The hematopathology section of the Department of Pathology & Immunology offers a clinical fellowship for qualified applicants. This service includes adult and pediatric hematopathology, flow cytometry including minimal residual testing in B-ALL and exposure to molecular and cytogenetics laboratory testing in hematopoietic malignancies. Approximately three months of assigned elective time is provided to cover benign/wet hematology, performance of bone marrow biopsy procedure, research, molecular diagnostics, genomics and/or cytogenetics.
The hematopathology fellowship was fully accredited in December of 1996. To date over 40 fellows have graduated from the fellowship program.
The large referral quaternary care and urban hospital system associated with Washington University in St. Louis provides a broad range of cases comprising about 3,500 in-house marrows (cores and aspirates), about 1,500 lymph nodes and other surgical and non-surgical specimens and about 1,000 consult cases per year. The Adult and Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant services together perform more than 400 transplants annually. Due to the high volume and diversity of cases, the fellows gain extensive diagnostic experience in the field of hematopathology, including uncommon disease entities, such as mature T-cell and NK-cell neoplasms and immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders. The fellow’s responsibilities are broad and an increasingly independent approach to case work-up is encouraged. The fellow is regarded as the initial pathologist on all cases and is expected to write pathology reports integrating morphologic description and all ancillary studies (immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, molecular and cytogenetic testing results). The fellow is seen as the primary contact for referring physicians and will be working closely with the clinical hematology/oncology fellows and faculty, gaining insights into the clinical management of patients.
The fellows present weekly at the lymphoma and bone marrow transplant conferences, monthly at cytogenetics and molecular correlation conferences, and at journal clubs assigned to them. The fellows are expected to participate in hematopathology-related translational projects for which funding is available.
Trainees with strong basic research interests can opt to be part of a stimulating and collegial research community with top-notch facilities and resources to achieve their future goals. Exposure to next generation sequencing data analysis of targeted cancer genes associated with hematologic malignancies can be obtained during the elective time, if the fellow desires additional clinical exposure to this evolving field of molecular hematology.
This program provides a strong basis for clinical practice including challenging cases in both adult and pediatric hematopathology, as well as opportunities for cutting-edge basic, translational and clinical research. Upon completion of the program, the fellow will have the necessary skills and experience to successfully pursue a clinical and/or academic career in hematopathology.
Training for the fellowship occurs in state-of-the-art facilities at Washington University School of Medicine/Barnes-Jewish Hospital/St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The Hematopathology section is located in the 680,000-square-foot BJC Institute of Health (BJCIH) at Washington University School of Medicine, which is an 11-story research building housing laboratories and support facilities and is Washington University’s largest building.
The fellowship program is currently accepting applications for the 2024-2025 academic year. Please apply at fellowships.path.wustl.edu.
Applicants must be board-eligible or certified in anatomic and /or clinical pathology. Applications for the 2025-2026 position will be available in the spring of 2023.
For general questions, contact Kim Green at greenkd@wustl.edu.
Faculty
Current trainees
Contact information
Kim Green
Fellowship Coordinator
Department of Pathology & Immunology
Washington University School of Medicine
660 S. Euclid Ave., Box 8118
St. Louis, MO 63110
Phone: 314-747-8159
greenkd@wustl.edu