Twitter Chat: Thriving in Academic Pathology

You’ve made a major career decision in your training as a pathologist—you’ve chosen to focus on academic pathology. Now what do you need to know about succeeding as a pathologist in an academic setting?

On Tuesday, October 12 at 9 PM (EST)/8 PM (CT), Digital Content Committee member Brian Cox, MD, will take over the CAP Twitter handle (@Pathologists) to host a discussion on this topic. Expert guest panelists include CAP President-Elect Donald Karcher, MD, FCAP (@DonKarcherMD) and Yasmeen Butt, MD, FCAP (@YasmeenButtMD).

Follow the CAP on Twitter at @Pathologists and use the hashtag #capchat to share your thoughts with the group.

• Host: Brian Cox, MD, Member, Digital Content Committee (DCC) and Residents Forum Executive Committee (RFEC), tweeting from CAP Twitter handle (@Pathologists).
• Expert guest panelists: CAP President-Elect Donald Karcher, MD, FCAP (@DonKarcherMD) and Yasmeen Butt, MD, FCAP (@YasmeenButtMD).

Q1. What’s your advice to residents about doing combined AP-CP residency training or will straight AP or CP training be sufficient for academic practice?

Q2. How important are abstract presentations and publications in a resident’s CV in helping secure one’s first academic position?

Q3. What’s the best way to balance clinical duties and academic pursuits in the first 1-2 years of academic practice?

Q4. How much teaching should one expect to do in the first 1-2 years of academic practice?

Q5. Should new academic surgical pathologists focus on practicing only in one’s area of special interest and/or training (e.g. breast pathology, urologic pathology, GI pathology, etc.)?

Q6. Are academic pathologists required to acquire extramural support for their research activities?

Q7. How important is tenure? Should one expect to be hired into a tenure-track position?

Q8. Can teaching excellence and/or teaching scholarship help in achieving academic promotion?

Note: This Twitter chat will be following a Q&A format. The host, tweeting from @Pathologists, will ask questions or post discussion topics (beginning with Q1, Q2, etc.); the leaders will post answers starting with “A” and the corresponding question number (A1, A2, etc.). Ask your question or comment on one of the discussion questions/answers by referencing the specific discussion question beginning your tweet with “QX”, with X referring to the question number.

1. Follow along on the #capchat hashtag. Invite your followers to join the chat.
2. Introduce yourself, where you are from, and any relevant professional details to the group.
3. Respond to the Q’s using A1, A2, A3, etc.

Tip: Mute or block any bots taking over your feed. Ask questions and share your best tips and tricks with the group.

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