While it is certainly true that a lot of tests are the cookie cutter variety similar to CP, that probably will not be the case in the future. There are quite a few private enterprises out there which need trained pathologists to do 'Molecular Signout' which probably means a lot of Administrative aspects of Molecular. There are programs out there which want sole Molecular Signout, though they are far and few. While it might have been the case that one would have wanted candidates to signout Something+Molecular a few years ago, it is not the case anymore. I believe the future for Molecular Pathology is indeed very bright. Here is a link to a comprehensive listing of Molecular Pathology Programs in the country What that really pans out to in the job market, I don't know. That doesn't mean one couldn't get a job as an AP +/- CP pathologist who also helps with molecular interpretation (if out-of-house testing is done), but I think it's likely that to do molecular & only molecular one would need to find a large enough institution to be doing those things in-house AND be able to compete with PhD's for the relevant job. And as labs tend to go, only one director is typically needed and PhD's are typically cheaper and may come with their own grant money. I don't have anything more recent than that.Īs far as jobs, while on the one hand everyone seems to agree molecular pathology is a good thing and is growing, on the other hand many tests are handled like many CP lab results and therefore those who are fellowship trained are probably best suited for running a molecular lab. According to an excel file I have (unfortunately I can't remember the 's possible I've posted it somewhere here before, back when I remembered.) in 2006-2007 there were 18 mol/gen programs with 18 of 28 positions filled - prior to that the numbers were smaller, in terms of programs and percent of positions filled. However, based on the recent newsletters 49 took the exam in 2009, compared to only 10 in 2007. Unfortunately ABPath has apparently seen fit to remove all their newsletters from prior to 2009 and I can't find an archived copy anywhere.

Molecular pathology