Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California – Los Angeles offers a one-year fellowship in Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology. The fellowship is intended to foster the development of strong diagnostic skills and up-to-date training in clinically relevant pathologic aspects of bone and soft tissue pathology for practice in both the academic and community setting. The Bone and Soft Tissue service at UCLA receives specimens from the main campus at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopedic Hospital, and the Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children. The annual service volume is approximately 5500-6000 cases and includes a wide variety of neoplastic and non-neoplastic musculoskeletal diseases from both the adult and pediatric populations. The fellow also has access to a large library of digitally archived educational case materials for review.
Responsibilities of the Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology fellow include participation in daily sign-out, review of internal and external consultation cases, and overseeing residents on the Bone and Soft Tissue service. The fellow will have the opportunity to independently sign-out clinical cases and perform intraoperative/frozen section consultations following a proctoring process to determine the fellow’s readiness to have these clinical privileges. The fellowship stresses the importance of clinicopathologic interaction. Fellows are expected to participate in weekly multi-disciplinary tumor boards and have the opportunity to lead the presentation of the pathology. Attendance of the biweekly bone and soft tissue consensus conference is expected. The program also emphasizes education on ancillary testing, including immunohistochemical, cytogenetic, and molecular techniques. Opportunities are present for fellows with an interest in teaching and clinical/translational research.
Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology fellows spend 10 months with the Bone and Soft Tissue service located in both the Santa Monica and Westwood offices. Two months of elective time are available for participation in other services depending on the interests and career goals of the fellow.
UCLA is participating in the Musculoskeletal Pathology Fellowship Match through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Please refer to the International Society of Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology website for details regarding the application timelines (https://isbstp.org/msk-match/). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting November 30th with a final deadline of January 1st.
