Abstract
I read with interest the article “Elements of Good Training in Anatomic Pathology” in the September 2010 issue of Veterinary Pathology. The document was thoughtful, well-written, and informative and should be a useful reference both for trainees and for teaching institutions. However, I was struck by the absence of any mention of exposure to industrial pathology as a useful part of a trainee’s residency program. Considering that a large proportion, if not a majority, of veterinary pathologists currently working are in industry (be it in chemical, drug, or medical device development), I would think that any veterinary pathology training program should aim for at least a cursory introduction to the nature of this work. Although industry pathologists, of course, use the basic concepts of pathology acquired during their residency, a plethora of other skills and knowledge are involved in industry work (eg, toxicology concepts, relationship between drug metabolism and tissue changes, usefulness and limits of animal models, regulatory requirements), which are not even mentioned in many, if not most, residency programs. In my own training experience, industry work was essentially not mentioned by faculty, and all one would hear about it were dark intimations of a mysterious world where unfortunate pathologists had to look at hundreds of rat liver slides every single day (the old “passing glass” joke). Even a minimal exposure to the nature of industrial pathology, be it in the form of seminars, short externships in industry, or any other means, would be extremely useful to any pathology trainee, if only to demystify the nature of this work.