Message from SUNY Downstate Program Leadership

There are many highlights which make our pathology residency program unique, resulting in an excellent training experience and producing superb graduates who go onto some of the most competitive fellowships (see our Fellowship Placements listing!).

Our residents rotate through five hospitals, University Hospital of Brooklyn, Kings County Hospital Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Maimonides Medical Center, and the Brooklyn and Manhattan VA hospitals. At these sites, residents learn from a variety of clinical material from a diverse mix of patient populations, some of which are at high risk for developing a number of uncommon pathologies. The total surgical pathology volume of the five hospitals is approximately 50,000, a number which allows the residents to study in depth and learn from each case without becoming overwhelmed by the volume.

SUNY Downstate’s program is resident-focused, meaning that residency education is a true priority for our faculty. Our faculty get to know each resident well and nurture their development. We have faculty in most subspecialty areas of pathology including Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, Cytopathology, Dermatopathology, Forensic Pathology, Hematopathology, Medical Microbiology, Molecular Genetic Pathology, Neuropathology, and Perinatal Pathology. Residents learn Chemical Pathology from Dr. Matthew Pincus, an editor of the preeminent Clinical Pathology textbook, “Henry’s Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods”. Our residents also learn from experts during rotations at Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology, the Brooklyn Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and Columbia University Medical Center (for Cytogenetics).

We have a highly organized didactic curriculum which includes a mix of active learning sessions, unknown slides, faculty lectures and resident presentations. A regular scheduling of guest and voluntary faculty speakers creates an even richer learning environment. Our New York City location makes it easy to invite people to visit and share their knowledge! Some of our favorite guest speakers are our former residents when they come back to teach our current residents. Our educational sessions and our resident research opportunities are well-balanced between Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology.

Our learning environment is further enriched by the size of the residency program. Having 24-25 residents each year enhances the interaction and peer learning in our high quality conference series and helps in clinical settings where other residents are around to support each other as well as share ideas and insights in our resident rooms. Not surprisingly, our residents perform well on their annual Resident In-Service Exams and on their board exams.

All of these attributes lend beautifully to SUNY Downstate's ultimate training goal: to educate well-rounded and competent physicians from diverse backgrounds who will provide high quality diagnostic care for our urban community during their training and who will successfully transition to the independent practice of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. We commit to all our residents that we will fully support them as they work to become board-certified pathologists.

Welcome!