Department of Pathology

Training & Education

Are you a patient?

Training & Education

The Department of Pathology offers a wide breadth of programs and training opportunities for students at any point in their educational career.

The Department of Pathology offers a Master of Science in Pathology, with the option of a progressive degree for undergraduate students and pathology clerkship, residency, and fellowship programs for medical students. The department is also heavily involved in the curriculum for medical students at the Keck School of Medicine.

As the only discipline that can be classified as both a basic and a clinical science, it provides for our medical students an indispensable bridge between the basic science that forms a large part of the first two years of medical school and the clinical relevance and application of this information that is the foundation of the third and fourth years.

Training Hospitals

Los Angeles General Medical Center

Keck Medicine of USC

Medical Student Curriculum

The pathology course is taught during both the first and second years of this medical school. The primary goal of the pathology course is to initiate the medical student in the study of disease.

Clerkship Program

Electives and selectives are available for years III and IV. The integrated pathology clerkship embraces both anatomic and clinical pathology where students have the opportunity to rotate both at Los Angeles General Medical Center and Keck Medical Center.

Residency Program

A fully-approved training program in anatomic and clinical pathology are offered over a four-year period. Most residents complete an integrated AP/CP program. Los Angeles General Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital and provides experience with a broad and diverse spectrum of pathology. The program includes rotations at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and Keck Medical Center of USC.

Fellowship Program

The Department of Pathology offers four fellowship opportunities in surgical pathology, hematopathology, neuropathology and cytopathology.

MD/PhD Program

This program integrates the medical school curriculum with graduate curricula in the basic sciences to provide a unified course of study leading to both the MD and PhD degrees.

MS in Molecular Pathology and Experimental Medicine

In our Pathology Graduate Program, students will learn to do independent research performing experiments in fully-equipped laboratories. In addition, master’s graduate students will have the opportunity to participate in lectures, symposia, conferences, and poster sessions locally, nationally and internationally. At the completion of their graduate studies, master’s students may participate in projects that result in publications.