The Division supports formal training programs for residents, visting residents, graduate students and clinical fellows. In addition, the Division hosts an annual national conference: Advancing Pathology Informatics, Imaging, and the Internet and is an active member of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBI).
Since its inception in late 1994, the Division has produced over 90 articles, abstracts and invited presentations in Medical Informatics.
Informatics Classes, Seminars and Conferences
The Division presents a formal informatics lecture series each July for UPMC residents and staff. It presents regularly at department-wide conferences and contributes speakers to the weekly pathology research seminar series. The Division holds weekly developmental and research meetings as well as a monthly Pathology Informatics Research Seminar Series. Twice a month, the Division has a formal teleconference with Pathology Informatics at the University of Michigan as part of the UPMC/Michigan Pathology Informatics Exchange (PIX).
Each Autumn, the Division hosts Advancing Pathology Informatics, Imaging, and the Internet (APIII) a national conference focusing on the application of information sciences to Anatomic Pathology Research and Practice. APIII is a companion conference to the Conference on Automated Information Management for the Clinical Laboratory (AIMCL), held each Spring in Ann Arbor.
Pathology Informatics personnel hold teaching positions in the UPMC Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBI) as well as the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences.
Resident Rotations
The Division currently offers Informatics Rotations for both residents and medical students. Rotations range from one to six months, and objectives vary depending on experience, interests and personal goals. At a minimum, the rotator gains an understanding of the role of information technology in pathology and is exposed to computer networks, databases, imaging systems, laboratory information systems, the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). Advanced rotators will work on one or more projects with the support of the informatics staff. A partial list of projects that rotators can join in 1997-98 includes:
- Enhanced Pathology Reporting Systems
- Voice Recognition and Structured Reporting Implementation
- Telepathology Implementation
- An Image Indexing via the National Library of Medicine's Metathesauris
- Research in Machine Vision in Surgical Pathology
- Clinical Imaging
- Online Clinical or Educational Services
- An Object Model for Pathology Reporting
- A Pathology Web Site
The Division has hosted a CAP Foundation Scholar and three CAP "Training in Technology" Award winners in Pathology Informatics.
Rotators and Scholars routinely author academic papers and present posters at national informatics meetings.
Graduate Students
Pathology Informatics has an established Graduate Student Training Program. The Division currently has three graduate students studying:
Graduate students can come to the Division either directly from the Department of Pathology or as part of the UPMC Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBI). Students from the Department of Pathology receive, in addition to their PhD in Pathology, either a Masters Degree or a Certificate in Informatics from the Center for Biomedical Informatics.
Clinical Fellows
The Division offers two Informatics Fellowships designed to develop physician leaders in this emerging field. Though both are General Pathology Informatics Fellowships - one, sponsored by UPMC Information Services Division and the Center for Biomedical Informatics, is oriented towards academic informatics, while the other, sponsored by DFD Information Services, Inc., is oriented towards the development of state of the art production systems.
In late 1997, the Division initiated a program, sponsored by UPMC Information Services Division, for academic, research engineers in pathology informatics.
