The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) offers a one-year Thoracic Pathology Fellowship Training Program. The year of training is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). All fellows should have completed training in anatomic pathology and be certified (or eligible for certification) by the American Board of Pathology prior to applying for this fellowship.
MSKCC is recognized nationally and internationally for its expertise in pathologic diagnosis of pulmonary, pleural, and mediastinal diseases. In addition to outstanding Thoracic Pathologists, the Thoracic Disease Management Team (DMT) consists of a world-class group of thoracic surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, radiation therapists, pulmonologists, and molecular biologists. A high volume of quality in-house surgical and consultation pathology material provides a strong foundation for this training program.
We have three ACGME accredited Thoracic Pathology Fellows each year with three equal rotations consisting of one third of the year 1) on the MSKCC hospital service, 2) personal consults and 3) translational research.
MSKCC Hospital Service
The fellows rotate on the hospital service which includes review of all thoracic biopsies and resections performed at MSKCC. This includes specimens from the lung, pleura and mediastinum, providing a broad exposure to the type of clinical material seen in a tertiary care setting with a spectrum of routine and very difficult cases. Through this material the fellows gain experience with problematic issues related not only to accurate diagnosis, but also assessment of staging, margins, treatment effect in neoadjuvant cases and correlation with radiology and cytology findings. It also helps the fellows to become familiar with state-of-the-art workups including immunohistochemistry, histochemistry and molecular testing, and to become proficient at optimally triaging limited tissue for both the diagnostic work-ups and biomarker testing. The ability to perform reflex molecular testing that includes MSK-IMPACT (DNA next generation sequencing) and MSK-Fusion (RNA sequencing) for all lung cancers and mesotheliomas, provides a remarkable resource not only for therapeutic profiling but also opportunities for research. This rotation also includes the review of the submitted slides for patients seeking second opinions or treatment at MSKCC.
Consultation Service
On this rotation, the fellows are responsible for running the consultation service for the thoracic pathology team. These are cases sent in consultation for a second opinion on difficult neoplastic and non-neoplastic pulmonary, pleural, and mediastinal specimens. The consultations provide exposure to a broad spectrum of non-neoplastic as well as neoplastic material, thus providing an excellent supplement to the hospital-based thoracic material fellows will encounter. For many of the interstitial lung disease consultations, the fellows will be exposed to reviewing not only biopsies but also high-resolution CT scans for radiologic pathologic correlation.
A high percentage of the consultation cases are complex and require ancillary techniques such as histochemical and/or immunohistochemical and molecular studies as well as clinical or radiologic correlation. In addition, there are frequent opportunities for interaction with all of the senior staff, with many educational discussions about diagnostic criteria, differential diagnoses, recent pertinent publications, and the limitations of existing classification systems.
Depending on the fellow’s interest and available time, they can choose to be exposed grossing, frozen sections, and diagnostic molecular pathology
A digitized consultation study set of 1000 cases of pulmonary, mediastinal, and pleural specimens, including many rare entities, is also available for study.
Translational research
The fellows are expected to engage in project(s) that should result in an article for publication and/or presentation at a national conference, under the mentorship of one of our thoracic staff pathologists and members of the thoracic disease-management team. A large volume of outstanding archival and current clinical material for both neoplastic and non-neoplastic thoracic diseases is available at MSKCC to form the basis of translational research. Through this activity the fellows gain an in-depth exposure to a specific area of thoracic pathology; for those pursuing academic career, this will provide essential training in all aspects of conducting impactful translational research.
During research rotation, the fellows are also welcome to participate in the elective rotations, which may involve rotations through or other diagnostic services, depending on fellow interests and availability.
As an elective activity, fellows are invited to participate in the “molecular correlations” service, conducted to retrospectively to compare molecular findings with challenging thoracic pathology cases; the practice provides insight into how molecular results can refine and enhance the initial diagnosis.
Conferences
The fellows gain wide experience in presenting at our multidisciplinary thoracic clinical conferences that feature a spectrum of specialty expert thoracic radiologists, surgeons, oncologists and radiation oncologists. These conferences include a weekly MSKCC Thoracic Tumor Board and separate monthly conferences for pulmonary medicine, interstitial lung disease and infectious disease. These conferences allow for exposure to a dynamic integrated approach to the diagnosis of a variety of thoracic entities, including non-neoplastic lung disease. In addition, the fellows present cases at the weekly thoracic pathology consensus conference where a combination of difficult diagnostic problems and educational cases are shared among the thoracic pathology staff and fellows.
Objectives
- To provide training in diagnostic thoracic pathology including both neoplastic and non-neoplastic disorders.
- To understand problem areas in thoracic pathology that need to be solved by carefully designed research projects.
- To learn how to design a research project, to execute the idea, collect and organize the data, analyze the data, formulate a conclusion and write a paper.
- To learn how to manage an efficient, high-quality diagnostic pathology consultation service.
- To learn how to interact with thoracic physicians in other disciplines to achieve the correct diagnosis in complex cases.
Faculty
Availability
- One position filled and 2 open positions for July 2027
Deadline
January 1, 2026
Number of Positions
3 ACGME accredited positions each year
How to Apply
Once applicants have submitted their applications, they will need to send the following documents in order to be considered for a fellowship position:
- Three letters of recommendation from an institution in which the applicant has trained. Letters should be addressed to Dr. William Travis the program director. Please request letter writers add the following line after the heading (RE: Candidates Name, Program & Year Applying to)
- CV
- Copy of a medical school diploma and translation, if necessary.
- International medical school graduates must submit a copy of their Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certificate that is marked “valid indefinitely”