Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology in Rochester, Minnesota, is one of the largest clinical laboratories in the world. The department receives specimens for testing from Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories is the referral center for Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic Laboratories specializes in esoteric laboratory testing for health care organizations throughout the United States and around the world. Mayo Clinic Laboratories' mission is to support the local delivery of laboratory services through the provision of exceptional reference laboratory services and by providing support services that facilitate and augment community integration efforts.

Facilities

The Division of Anatomic Pathology is supported by full-service laboratories in histology, immunohistochemistry, molecular genetics, and cytogenetics. The hospital surgical pathology practice is unique in its heavy reliance on rapid frozen section diagnosis, providing trainees a valuable opportunity for immediate correlation of gross and microscopic pathology. More than 100,000 frozen section slides are interpreted annually.

Mayo Clinic processes more than 100,000 surgical cases and 50,000 cytology cases annually; an additional 50,000 consultative cases are referred each year by pathologists from within the United States and around the world. The diagnostic material includes specimens from all fields in pathology.

Faculty

A highly skilled team of physicians, scientists, medical technologists, medical technicians, lab assistants, biologists, chemists, microbiologists, geneticists, and other specialists work collaboratively. The Division of Anatomic Pathology has more than 60 pathologists, with subspecialty expertise covering the entire field of surgical pathology. The division's faculty members are organized around working groups dedicated to specific organ systems, but all members contribute service to general areas as well, such as the frozen section lab, autopsy, and cytology.

In addition to caring for patients in their clinical practices, Mayo Clinic's faculty is committed to teaching and facilitating the growth of medical knowledge. Many faculty members have published and lectured extensively and are highly regarded in their fields. Fellows have direct access to these individuals throughout the training program.

Advisers and mentors

Fellows are assigned dedicated faculty mentors who can provide comprehensive educational advice and personal support. You meet with your mentors periodically throughout the fellowship to review your progress and career goals, and ensure that your educational needs are being met. Mentors also serve as a contact point for introducing you and your family to Rochester, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic system.

Visiting professors

Many prominent professors visit Mayo Clinic each year. They present their work during lectures and participate in hospital rounds and informal discussions with trainees. You are encouraged to take full advantage of these educational opportunities.

From the Program Director

Welcome to the Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota! Our goal is to prepare you to become the best Bone and Soft Tissue Pathologist you can be, and we take that goal very seriously. We are confident that we have one of the most complete fellowships in the nation and we take pride in our mission to produce the future leaders in our field.

The Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology section is composed of 5 faculty members, all of them with extensive experience in the area and committed to their role as educators and mentors. During your fellowship year, you will see approximately 5,000 consultation cases referred from all over the USA and other countries. The cases are very diverse and span the whole gamut of soft tissue entities, ranging from the “bread and butter” to the most esoteric bone and soft tissue entities. In addition, you will also review very complex internal cases and interact with the Mayo Clinic surgeons and clinicians during the interdisciplinary conferences.

Our group is supported by state-of-the-art laboratories that perform a variety of ancillary test, including immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and next generation sequencing amongst others, and you will become familiar with the appropriate use of these ancillary tools in the diagnosis of bone and soft tissue tumors. In addition to the traditional light microscopy, you will also benefit from one of the most advance models for digital microscopy workflow, which is available in several Mayo Clinic hospitals in the country. The exceptional combination of experienced mentors, the large number of interesting cases and the availability of cutting-edge diagnostic tests and digital pathology, provides our trainees with enough material for research projects and publications, and we will strongly encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities.

I hope I have convinced you to consider our Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for the next educational chapter in your career.

Jorge Torres-Mora, M.D.
Program Director

Program Faculty