What is a Pathologist?

On TV pathologists are usually shown performing autopsies and assisting the police in solving crimes in a dramatic fashion.  The reality is that most pathologists do few or no autopsies.

The majority of work pathologists do is looking at tissues or cells that were obtained by biopsy, excisions or needle aspirations.  By looking at the tissue and cells under a microscope the pathologist can communicate to the patient's physician what type of disease process is occurring.  Besides cancer, pathologists also diagnosis a wide variety of diseases including colon polyps, Crohn's disease and skin conditions.

Diagnosing and categorizing cancer is one of the primary jobs of a pathologist.  For example, there are more than 30 types of ovarian cancer.  Categorizing the type of cancer allows your surgeon and oncologist to decide what is the best treatment for you.  Pathologists also the test the cancer cells for biomarkers, such as estrogen receptor in breast cancer and PDL1 in lung cancer. These tests tell oncologists whether the cancer is likely to respond to certain treatments or not.  In modern medicine pathologists are guiding the appropriate therapy for many cancers including immunotherapies such as Keytruda.


















What is the role of pathologists in the laboratory?

All laboratories are mandated to have a medical director. The medical director and the pathologists are responsible for the overall operation, administration and quality control processes to to ensure the accuracy, reliability and timeliness of patient test results.  The areas of most hospital laboratories include microbiology, chemistry, hematology, blood coagulation, histology, cytology and the blood bank.

Dr. Murray is the laboratory medical director for the Mount Nittany Medical Center.