Education of the PhD in laboratory medicine

Institutional Training Opportunities for PhD Students in Laboratory Medicine: An Unmet Career Development Need?

In the United States, the credentialing of PhD-scientists as medical directors of clinical laboratories is driven by formal postdoctoral training programs. Prior to acceptance in one these accredited fellowships, however, a trainee's exposure to the field can be far less standardized, with significant ramifications for their awareness and competitiveness. In the current article, we describe our recent experiences in developing local, institution-based immersion opportunities for PhD experiences in the subdisciplines of laboratory medicine (clinical microbiology, clinical chemistry, and molecular genetics/genomics). It is our hope that this article-and a corresponding online survey-can prompt reflection and discussion on the status of early career training opportunities in these key clinical areas.

The Pathology Workforce and Clinical Licensure: The Role of the PhD Clinical Laboratorian in the United States

There has been a recent recognition of the need to prepare PhD-trained scientists for increasingly diverse careers in academia, industry, and health care. The PhD Data Task Force was formed to better understand the current state of PhD scientists in the clinical laboratory workforce and collect up-to-date information on the training and certification of these laboratorians. In this report, we summarize the findings of the PhD Data Task Force and discuss the relevance of the data collected to the future supply of and demand for PhD clinical laboratory scientists. It is clear that there are multiple career opportunities for PhD scientists in academic medical centers, commercial clinical laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and the federal government. Certified PhD scientists have and will continue to form an important resource for our technologically advancing field, bringing training in scientific methods, and technologies needed for modern laboratory medicine. The data gathered by the PhD Data Task Force will be of great interest to current and future PhD candidates and graduate PhD scientists as they make decisions regarding future career directions.

Meeting the curriculum needs for different career paths in Laboratory Medicine

There are a number of career paths in Laboratory Medicine and several clinical practice models for the discipline. This article summarizes the state of current training at the medical student and residency/post-graduate levels, emphasizing practice in the U.S., and the challenges of education in the discipline to meet the needs of diverse career paths. Data regarding effectiveness of current pedagogical approaches are discussed along with a brief review of evolving didactic methodologies. The recently published curriculum in Laboratory Medicine (Clinical Pathology) by the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists is reviewed, including its major emphases and the importance of competency assessment. Finally, the future of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and the need to train for that future is expanded upon.

Improving training in laboratory medicine

Recent advances in medicine and technology, combined with an ever-growing workload, have increased the demand for skilled professionals in laboratory medicine. The specific need for trained physicians and scientists raises important questions about the content of training programs and about the ideal characteristics of the human products of the training programs. Excellent recent publications in several countries have addressed the scientific and technical components of training and the competencies that trainees are expected to develop. These publications will provide important guidance for training programs and for trainees for the foreseeable future. An additional goal of training is to produce members of a profession. These professionals will 1) aspire to meeting the challenges of the field with creativity, 2) be involved with the profession and the world and 3) function in a manner informed by their thorough grounding in professional and medical ethics. In the promising future of laboratory medicine, a focus on professional aspects is essential to meeting the potential of the field to contribute to health of the patients we serve.