This Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited one-year fellowship program offers advanced training in diagnostic cytopathology.
Mission statement
Our mission is to guide and educate our fellows as they develop the skills and expertise to provide safe, high-value patient care through professional, ethical and compassionate behavior. We empower our fellows to address healthcare disparities, and to continuously improve their education, practice, and the community health care system as a whole.
Program aims
We strive to graduate fellows who are well trained in all major facets of cytopathology (gynecologic, non-gynecologic, and fine needle aspiration [FNA]), and who are committed to providing excellent medical care to the patients and communities that they will serve.
Program overview
The Cytopathology Fellowship Program is based at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, New Hampshire’s only academic medical center. The center is affiliated with the Audrey and Theodore Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Fellows see the broad range of basic and complex cases encountered at a tertiary care academic institution. They benefit from collaboration with five board-certified cytopathologists, who themselves trained under nationally and internationally recognized leaders in cytopathology.
The faculty subspecialty interests, in addition to cytology, include informatics, breast pathology, bone and soft tissue pathology, gastrointestinal pathology, and medical sociology. The faculty includes the 2018 Cancer Cytopathology Young Investigator awardee, Dr. Louis Vaickus. In addition to “signing out” cytology cases, Dr. Vaickus conducts an active, funded research program in informatics - including deep learning - related to cytology. Fellows have the opportunity to participate in this research.
During the fellowship year, fellows rotate through the Laboratory for Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology (CGAT), a state-of-the-art, comprehensive molecular diagnostics facility directed by Gregory Tsongalis, PhD, the author of numerous textbooks in the field. The laboratory is nationally recognized for its work on the development of novel diagnostic technologies and the rapid implementation of molecular tests for clinical use. Recent cytopathology fellows rotating through this laboratory have published academic papers resulting from the rotations.
Current members of the cytopathology faculty serve on the editorial boards of major pathology journals and regularly contribute publications to major national and international cytopathology journals. Fellows are allotted time for research with the expectation that projects, conducted in collaboration with the cytopathology faculty, will lead to publications in peer-reviewed academic journals.
The learning environment is supplemented by proximity to Dartmouth College. The region offers a full range of college spectator sports, concerts, and theater, as well as ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, and winter sports.