Is a career in pathology right for me?

Are you the type of person who enjoys a diagnostic challenge?  Are you interested in the mechanisms of diseases – why and how they do what they do?  If so, a career in pathology may be an excellent choice.

Pathology is at the heart of patient care, and pathologists are pivotal in correctly diagnosing disease.  Over 70% of medical decisions are based on lab tests, yet medical students have very little exposure to laboratory medicine during their training.  For instance, did you know there are six Royal College pathology specialties you can apply to straight out of medical school?

For more information about the different fields of pathology and laboratory medicine, check out mypathologist.ca/your-pathologists/.

Did you know…

Medical students are now eligible to become members of the CAP-ACP - free of charge!  Click here here to learn more about the benefits of membership.

More Information About Pathology

Canadian Training Programs

MyPathologist.ca - From the Canadian Association of Pathologists

What is pathology? - From the Royal College of Pathologists

Pathology: A Career in Medicine - A career guidance brochure produced by the Intersociety Council for Pathology Information (ICPI), a non-profit educational organization of which CAP-ACP is an associate member.

What do pathologists do, anyway? - Canada's CTV News investigates

The Road to Becoming a Biomedical Physician Scientist in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine - From the American Society for Investigative Pathology, authored by CAP-ACP member Dr. Avrum I. Gotlieb

The Practice of Pathology in Canada: Decreasing Pathologist Supply and Uncertain Outcomes - In this article from the medical journal Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, CAP-ACP members Terence J. Colgan and Laurette Geldenhuys used population-based Canadian databases to devise a parameter for physician supply, "cancer cases per physician". The trend in this supply parameter for pathologists was compared to that for radiation oncologists, and showed a decreasing supply of Canadian pathologists relative to that of cancer demands.


- last updated June 2016 -