Fellowship Testimonials

I completed both residency and fellowship in hematopathology at IU School of Medicine and both programs prepared me extremely well for my career in private practice pathology. I highly recommend pursuing training at IU School of Medicine! The best part about residency training at IU was the exposure I had to such a wide variety of cases in anatomic pathology. The anatomic pathology faculty are extremely knowledgeable and challenge you to make the most of your training by giving you a good balance of both one-on-one teaching time and independence during sign-out as your training progresses.

I also appreciated the various learning environments that the residency at IU provided. It was great to work not only at the main academic center but also at the public hospital, veterans hospital, children's hospital, and smaller hospitals with a more private practice type setting. This added to the variety of specimens I saw and also showed me different ways that pathology labs can be run.

The clinical pathology training at IU was also excellent with fabulous faculty who were personable and wanted to see you succeed. The faculty found ways to keep residents actively involved when on CP rotations and gave excellent lectures. Overall, I felt very well prepared to take on my first job in private-practice pathology from both an anatomic pathology perspective signing out surgical cases, and also from a clinical pathology perspective as both a lab director at a small community hospital and also a director over hematology and coagulation at our main lab. I look back on my residency and fellowship training at Indiana University fondly!

Right after pathology residency and one year of cytopathology fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine, I started practice at a large community hospital in the greater Cincinnati area, serving the neighboring northern Kentucky area as well. Our hospital has a large cancer center that opened its doors two years ago. I cannot emphasize enough how my exposure to a variety of complicated cases during training helped me navigate my new practice and made me more efficient. The pathology residency offered both academic and community settings, strong faculty expertise, an excellent new facility with a private cubicle and microscope that became my second home for five years, and a wide selection of almost all pathology fellowships to choose from. Indianapolis is a very clean, safe and friendly city to walk/bike with new restaurants popping up and recurring fun events. I look back at my time at IU School of Medicine with great appreciation for the people who taught me, supported me, critiqued me, and ultimately helped make me the pathologist I am right now.

As a former resident and fellow of Indiana University School of Medicine, I highly recommend the training program to interested applicants. The integrated curriculum allows exposure to the diversity of subspecialities beginning day one. It allows training pathologists to experience the complete breadth of what the specialty has to offer as well as reinforce difficult aspects and disease etiologies from many vantage points. It was due to this early exposure to CP subspecialities that I discovered my interest in transfusion medicine.

Indiana University Pathology Laboratory is nestled between five major hospitals and has the privilege of aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of people all over the state of Indiana. Due to the consult of the practicing pathologists, a wide variety of challenging diagnoses from across the nation and sometimes around the globe are seen by the trainees. The reinforcement of routine diagnoses with weekly if not daily additions of rare specimens and interesting findings builds an excellent collective experience for residency education. This, in combination with the opportunity to practice in a range of settings each with a distinct patient population, allows trainees to understand what to expect when they take their first post-residency position.

Most of all, I recommend IU School of Medicine because of the people. The educators who are passionate about what they teach and who work just as hard as you do to make sure you succeed are what make this program great. They are the reason I chose Indiana for my residency and now as a new faculty member myself I strive to be just like them, the best educator I can be.

I completed my second through fourth year AP/CP residency at IU School of Medicine. After finishing my Forensic Pathology fellowship training at the Cook County Medical Examiner Office, I am very happy back here working as a faculty member. The Pathology Residency program is a great program that values diversity and personal development! People respect each other. The program supported my academic interests and did its best to create opportunities for my career development. Thanks to my solid training from both the hospital systems and the Marion County Coroner’s Office, the affiliated Forensic Pathology training site, my transition from a resident to a fellow was very smooth. Getting trained at IU School of Medicine is one of the best decisions I have made.

I spent two years as a fellow at IU School of Medicine, first in GU and then in cytopathology, and they were two of the best years of my training! I highly recommend these fellowship programs to prospective applicants. The faculty in both subspecialties are great to work with and invested in your education. You are given ownership of your cases in regard to previewing, writing the report, ordering special stains or other studies, and communicating with the clinical teams or pathologist (on consultation cases). The breadth and diversity of cases that you see is incredible, as you see both run-of-the-mill cases and cases which you may never see again. There are so many opportunities for research with every project that is offered to you, and the resources provided to assist you with research projects (e.g., searches for cases, pulling slides, biostats, help with figures and posters, etc.) are fantastic. On a personal note, the faculty are great people who will do everything they can to help you. When I encountered some personal challenges during my cytology fellowship, every effort was made to accommodate me. My fellowship training was a great experience, and it prepared me extremely well for life after training. I have now been in practice for over a year, and I cannot recommend the IU fellowship programs highly enough!

After completing my residency and fellowship training at IU School of Medicine, I joined AmeriPath Indiana which is responsible for the pathology services at several of the major Indianapolis area hospitals. As part of my practice, I routinely perform rapid on-site evaluations and sign out both fine needle aspirations and non-gynecologic cytology specimens. The depth and breadth of training within the cytopathology department at IU provided me the capabilities to handle essentially any cytologic specimen. Furthermore, the training I received in cytopathology further enhanced my skills as a surgical pathologist. I wholeheartedly recommend the cytopathology fellowship at IU. It provides excellent training and was an enjoyable experience that I look back upon fondly.

I am currently working as a dermatologist and dermatopathologist in a large volume private practice group in the Chicago suburbs. I spend my time with an equal split between clinic and at the microscope, which is my perfect personal balance. Coming into fellowship at IU from a dermatology residency program, I spent the year immersing myself in pathology and making the transition from "boards" dermatopathology education to real-world dermatopathology training. After fellowship I felt extremely well prepared to hit the ground running, at that time as the solo dermatopathologist for a private group. I have now been in private practice for nearly five years, and frequently reflect upon how valuable the IU fellowship program was for my career.

After completing my fellowship training with Dr. Simon Warren in 2011, I joined a private practice group in central Illinois. I currently serve as president of my group and practice dermatopathology as well as general anatomic/clinical pathology.  The dermatopathology fellowship program at Indiana University offers exposure to the entire spectrum of cases one will see in practice, regardless of where one practices. During my fellowship I had nearly unlimited scope time with Dr. Warren as well as ample time to preview  and work up cases in order to build independence.  After completing the program I was able to seamlessly transition to independent practice and had no difficulty with my dermatopathology boards. This is a wonderful program which I highly recommend.

I was the dermatopathology fellow from 2012-2013. I am currently at SouthEastern Pathology after five years at Columbus Veterans Administration Healthcare facility. I sign out both dermatopathology and surgical pathology. What I enjoyed most about the fellowship was the wide range of cases we saw at IU, the multi-disciplinary conferences and the clinical experience with the Department of Dermatology.

Looking back I can attest that during my dermatopathology fellowship at IU School of Medicine I had the best possible training. A wide variety of specimens and the collective experience of my mentors Drs. Simon Warren and Matthew Kuhar prepared me extremely well for the challenges of independent practice.

After my fellowship at IU School of Medicine, I completed a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in in-vivo microscopy. I am working at Fort Wayne Dermatology Consultants as a dermatopathologist. The IU fellowship offers excellent training opportunities with expert dermatopathologists. I had a great exposure to a large volume of cases with varying complexities. There were plenty of learning opportunities through grand rounds, tumor boards, journal clubs and research. By the end of the fellowship, I felt prepared to start my career as a dermatopathologist. In my current job, I am continuously grateful for the experience I gained during my fellowship, especially when I approach difficult cases. I also had an excellent clinical learning experience with the dermatologists who were motivated to teach during my clinic rotations.

I have been in private practice, practicing both clinical dermatology and dermatopathology at Cutaneous and Maxillofacial Pathology Laboratory. I loved my fellowship at IU! I thought we had a great mix of both common, and importantly difficult and rare cases during fellowship. I think learning from three different dermatopathologists with different backgrounds and interests helped me to become very well-rounded in my training. I also appreciate that being in the Indianapolis area I can still rely on their expertise for consultation on difficult cases and stay in touch with the department regularly. I would highly recommend this fellowship to anyone interested in dermatopathology and I felt confident to sign out cases on my own when leaving the program.

I am currently employed as a deputy coroner/forensic pathologist at the Franklin County Coroner’s office in Columbus, OH. The forensic pathology fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Marion County Coroner’s Office provided a fantastic training experience. Under the guidance of Dr. Poulos and Dr. O’Neill, I feel strongly that this program prepared me to enter the forensic pathology workforce. They, along with all the attendings working at the office, provided a knowledgeable and friendly work environment that helped me to improve and grow as a forensic pathologist. The office provided a diverse caseload that allowed me to expand my knowledge and technical skills. After graduating from the program, I joined a coroner’s office in the Midwest. The transition from fellow to attending felt seamless, which is a testament to the training that this program provides. I highly recommend the IU Forensic Pathology Fellowship to anyone pursuing a career in forensic pathology.

After spending a fantastic year as a GI pathology fellow at Indiana University in 2014, I got a job at Tulane University in New Orleans. I moved to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa in 2019 and currently work at Moffitt as a GI pathologist. The GI/liver pathology fellowship training at Indiana University significantly improved my diagnostic skills to confidently handle cases covering the full range of GI diseases including a substantial amount of transplant cases and challenging cases. After one-year fellowship training, I became fully prepared to work as an independent GI pathologist in both academic and private practice settings. During my fellowship training, I really enjoyed daily sign-out with world-renowned pathologists (Drs. Saxena, Cummings, and Linn) in addition to a daily consensus conference and multidisciplinary liver transplantation conference. The attendings are always amiable and supportive and helped me to get job interviews. I was very interested in an academic practice setting. Therefore, I was very happy with the most productive one-year of my life.

After completing my GI and Liver Pathology Fellowship at IU School of Medicine, I got a job in a private practice in southwest Michigan. It is my third year with the practice, and I sign out all medical liver, some GI and general surgical cases. The fellowship prepared me well to deal with challenging cases. The most appealing points of GI/liver path fellowship at IU to me were superb attendings Drs. Saxena, Cummings and Lin to learn from; great volume of medical liver biopsies including numerous allograft biopsies and GI specimens including intestinal allografts and numerous consults; multidisciplinary liver transplantation conferences with expert hepatologists; and outstanding resources for conducting clinicopathologic research projects with amazing media center and histology lab resources. My transition into independent practice was easy, due to my training in a high-volume, diverse case environment under such a great mentorship. I highly recommend the GI/liver path fellowship at IU because it would prepare anyone well to be an independent expert no matter what job setting you choose for your career.

I began my pathology training at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Pathology at the Boston Children's Hospital of Harvard Medical School. During and upon completion of my final fellowship, training in GI/Hepatopathology at Indiana University with Drs. Saxena, Cummings, and Lin in 2020, I accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, Kentucky. Indianapolis is a great mid-sized Midwest city with much to offer in terms of entertainment, without the expense of some larger metropolitan areas that could stretch the wallet of medical trainees. The GI/Hepatopathology fellowship program at Indiana University offers exposure to a broad spectrum of luminal GI pathology and tumor pathology, and provides the potential for particular mastery of hepatopathology. During my fellowship, there was ample time to preview/work up cases, ample scope time with the wonderful faculty on the GI service, and plenty of opportunities to teach/work with particularly bright residents. Having grown up in Kentucky, my ultimate goal following training was to end up in an academic setting back in my home state. I have no doubt that my training in GI/Hepatopathology at Indiana University was instrumental in my being able to proactively seek out and obtain the position which I had hoped to land, even prior to it being advertised.

I joined the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Pathology as one of the genitourinary pathology fellows after my oncologic surgical pathology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It was my last and the best training year under the supervision of a group of faculties who have literally shaped contemporary urologic pathology. My colleagues and I were able to receive in-depth training for each organ in the urogenital tract from the leading experts, and we shared the honor of being the last fellows of Dr. David Grignon. The steady volume of various cases, from daily specimens to once-in-a-lifetime entities, broadens the trainees’ understanding and the tools provided for fellows facilitate the research activities. I think I have gathered knowledge and the skillset at Indiana University which will help me at any moment of my progress in academic medicine.

Reflecting back on my fellowship year in genitourinary pathology at IU School of Medicine, I can say with certainty that this fellowship is second to none. Having spent a dedicated year with the stars in this field, I feel completely confident in my diagnostic skills after training with the best of the best. The opportunities you will have here to simultaneously hone your diagnostic skills while performing research are the best you can come by. Experiencing this fellowship meant living the GU pathology dream. If urologic pathology is your passion, then look no further.

After completing my genitourinary fellowship training at IU School of Medicine in 2019, I joined a private practice group in Evansville. The genitourinary service receives genitourinary pathology specimens representing diagnostic challenges of remarkable breadth and depth from the multiple hospitals in the IU Health system, and also evaluates a substantial number of cases in consultation referred from all over the U.S. The faculties are all world-famous genitourinary pathologists and all of them are the authors of the latest genitourinary WHO classification. This has contributed greatly to my education in genitourinary pathology. Over the course of this fellowship, I have seen a lot of extremely rare and unusual cases, as well as more common diagnostic problems that community pathologists may have difficulty resolving. The training allows me to become a sound genitourinary pathology consultant and have the capacity to handle all the complicated genitourinary cases in my practice. This is a wonderful program which I highly recommend.

After completing my residency and fellowship training at IU School of Medicine, I joined AmeriPath Indiana which is responsible for the pathology services at several of the major Indianapolis area hospitals. While I am not currently responsible for signing out bone marrow biopsies, I regularly review peripheral blood smears and lymph node specimens. My fellowship training was instrumental in preparing me for these responsibilities. The case diversity within the hematopathology department at IU prepared me to be able to sign out both common hematolymphoid neoplasms as well as more esoteric conditions. Furthermore, my training provided me with the experience necessary to appropriately order and interpret ancillary testing both for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Finally, my interactions with the hematopathology attendings and clinicians helped me develop excellent communication skills necessary to provide optimal patient care. I wholeheartedly recommend the hematopathology fellowship at IU, as it will prepare individuals for future practice in virtually any setting.

I am currently working as a hematopathologist and scientist at the University of Cincinnati. I spend my time with an approximately equal split between clinical service and running a basic/translational research lab. I also lead the Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine graduate program, and participate in teaching and mentoring pathology residents. The hematopathology fellowship at IU prepared me really well for my current career. Having seen a large volume of cases, as well as had many discussions with attendings about their approach, pitfalls to look out for, and limits of our practice, I feel confident in my sign-out. I particularly enjoyed the intellectual curiosity of attendings and the many discussions and opportunities for research and scholarly activity. The excellent environment honed my skills to help both current patients with my diagnostic skills and future patients with my research skills.

I joined the Department of Pathology at Indiana University School of Medicine as a clinical microbiology fellow. After completing my two-year fellowship training in 2019, I moved to Pittsburgh and I am currently a medical director of UPMC Clinical Virology Laboratory. My overall experience was excellent! During my fellowship training, I gained a lot of important knowledge, experiences and skills in clinical microbiology that were essential for success in my current position. This training program was an incredible opportunity in which I learned a great deal about clinical microbiology and enjoyed many interesting cases. The clinical microbiology faculty made this training very unique and valuable. I appreciated the high level of organization and quality of this fellowship. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of this excellent training program!

I was honored to be one of the inaugural fellows for the CPEP clinical microbiology fellowship. I appreciated the breadth and depth of training across multiple subspecialties in the IU laboratory and through laboratories at partner institutions. The IU School of Medicine faculty were great teachers, scientists and medical professionals, and I enjoyed the opportunity to work with infectious disease, antibiotic stewardship, infection prevention, and public health staff to understand how clinical microbiology impacts healthcare delivery at multiple levels. I currently serve as the director of infectious disease testing at a non-profit health system. My work includes a balance of laboratory administration, teaching, and research. Overall, the CPEP fellowship provided a strong foundation for my career as a clinical microbiologist.

As a clinical microbiology fellow, I was privileged to have brilliant mentors who were both kind and incredible teachers. In addition to in-depth training in the core areas of the microbiology lab, the program supports independent pursuits in teaching, novel test implementation, and research. The microbiology group here collaborates closely with leaders in assay development, which provides an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between the clinical lab and our industry partners. After completing my CPEP fellowship in 2021, I joined the Seattle Children's Hospital as Co-Director of Clinical Microbiology with a joint academic appointment at the University of Washington. The IU School of Medicine CPEP program excellently prepared me for my current role — I treasure my time at IU and am grateful to the many wonderful individuals that support the fellowship!

I was drawn to the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at IU School of Medicine because of the broad area that the clinical microbiology lab covers, the unique research opportunities and the excellent mentorship. I am particularly interested in antibiotic resistance and stewardship and the intersection of hospital clinical labs with public health labs.

After completing neuropathology training at IU School of Medicine, I spent a year as an instructor in the autopsy department at a large university hospital on the east coast and then accepted an assistant professor position in an academic setting in Bethesda, MD, where I currently work. In the vital part of my current position, I perform post-mortem brain examinations in a laboratory with a mission of studying traumatic brain injury in veterans, and I also spend a fair amount of my time teaching in medical school pathology courses. Indiana University has an ample amount of diverse neurosurgical and ophthalmic surgical material, and autopsy material, for complete training in neuropathology. The neuropathology core of the Alzheimer's Disease Center is also exceptional, providing access to tremendous cases and thus the utmost potential to learn, explore, and research neurodegenerative disease. Perhaps most importantly, I was provided with an abundance of opportunity, freedom, and support to pursue my career interests. The neuropathology fellowship at IU School of Medicine is very well-rounded and I am confident it could prepare a trainee for whatever path they choose within the field.

I chose IU School of Medicine because of the large volume of cases that cover all major areas in neuropathology such as tumors, eye, muscle and forensic cases. Also, the neurodegenerative research center has an amazing and large collection of cases. The faculty are so supportive, and the program atmosphere is very nice.

I was very impressed by the supportive faculty and staff at IU School of Medicine. They clearly cared about my interests and goals. I also knew I would become very knowledgeable in neuropathology here, due to the large and wide variety of cases obtained through the surgical service and the neurodegenerative disease research center. Overall, the atmosphere is very friendly and conducive to learning.