The one-year Multidisciplinary Breast Pathology Fellowship Program exposes you to a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis of non-neoplastic and neoplastic breast disease.

This intensive training program is designed to prepare you for a career in an academic or large private referral center. You will participate in the outpatient clinical experience by rotating through the major clinical disciplines (Breast Diagnostic Clinic, Breast Imaging and Intervention, Breast Surgery, including Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, and Medical Genetics). In addition, the fellow will review all of Mayo Clinic's consultation cases (~ 7000 cases/year) seen by members of the Breast working group in the Division of Anatomic Pathology. One month will be spent in the Division of Cytogenetics to understand the molecular cytogenetic techniques of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) as it pertains to HER2 testing for breast cancer, where you will review all breast cases (~6000 cases/year) to be analyzed.

In-house ancillary studies are utilized extensively and include immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and molecular genetics. The breast pathology service supports a large multidisciplinary practice, including breast diagnostic clinic, breast imaging, surgery, medical oncology, radiation therapy, and medical genetics.

You will be responsible for reviewing all clinical materials and participate in the weekly multidisciplinary breast conference. Clinicopathological research is strongly encouraged and extensive diagnostic resources (e.g., IHC, FISH, RT-PCR) are available to you.

Program History

The Multidisciplinary Breast Pathology Fellowship Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester will accept its first fellow to complete the program in 2011. Going forward, it is anticipated that one fellow will complete this program annually. Mayo Clinic's Surgical Pathology Fellowship began in 1919. Since then, nearly 200 fellows have completed their training in this program.