Pathologist Assistant

Position Summary

Responsible for the organization and efficient and effective operation of the surgical pathology suite and the anatomic pathology service.

This may comprise personnel management including supervising accessioners, lab aides, grossing technicians, and transcriptionists in the

surgical pathology suite and autopsy technicians/morgue assistants in the autopsy room; writing and reviewing surgical pathology and autopsy procedures; inventory control; laboratory operations such as quality assurance, quality control, accreditation inspection preparation, and budgeting; and in the academic setting, supervision of learners.

Essential Functions

Surgical Pathology

Preanalytical Tasks

 Assure proper specimen collection and submission prior to accessioning.

 Assist clinicians with specimen collection questions, triage of limited samples, and esoteric testing.

 Assure appropriate specimen accessioning and/or verification of unique patient identifiers.

 Assure proper specimen handling and fixation prior to processing.

 Obtain and review pertinent clinical information and history, including imaging studies, laboratory results, and operative records.

 Discuss cases and history with surgeons, clinicians, and pathologists.

Macroscopic Description and Dissection

 Perform the macroscopic description and dissection of all surgical specimens ranging from simple to complex cases including

pertinent macroscopic information for the staging of complex cancer cases.

Tissue Sampling

 Prepare and submit tissue sections for light microscopy.

 Obtain samples for ancillary studies including, but not limited to

• Tumor triage
• Lymphoma protocol
• Flow cytometric analysis
• Immunofluorescence
• Immunohistochemistry
• Microbial cultivation
• Molecular microbiology
• Cytogenetic analysis
• Electron microscopy
• Tissue banking and clinical trials
• Research
• Microarray
• Institutional tumor registries.
  
  
  

Education/Training

 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery MBBS

 NAACLS accredited Pathologists’ Assistant

• Certification as a Pathologists’ Assistant from the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification (ASCP
  
  
  

BOC)

 3-year supervised internship

Licensure/Certification

 ASCP BOC Pathologists’ Assistant Certified

Experience

 5 years’ experience in anatomic pathology under the direction and supervision of a licensed, Board Certified or Board Eligible

Anatomic Pathologist.