Pathology

The Department of Pathology was established in 1961. Over the past more than 60 years, through the efforts of several generations of staff, the department has made substantial progress in medical care, teaching, scientific research, and other fields, becoming a first-class pathology department in the province. The department is equipped with advanced equipment for specimen preparation, diagnosis, teaching, and scientific research. Computerized management has been implemented throughout the entire process, from specimen receipt to issuance of the pathology report. High-quality pathology reports containing both images and text are provided in all cases and are well received by clinicians. In recent years, the department has handled nearly 80,000 routine cases annually, including surgical resection specimens, biopsies, intraoperative frozen sections, and cytology, of which nearly 2,000 cases were consultations from other hospitals. In addition to routine HE sections, the department also performs immunohistochemistry, special stains, liquid-based cervical cytology, in situ hybridization, molecular pathology, and other examinations. The department has diagnostic advantages in the pathological diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumors, lung cancer, breast cancer, lymphomas, urinary system tumors, nervous system tumors, soft-tissue and bone tumors, and other diseases. Several experts from the various subspecialties have participated in the development of multiple national or professional expert consensuses and guidelines for pathological diagnosis or tumor diagnosis and treatment.

The department currently has 39 staff members, including 24 physicians and 15 technicians. Among the physicians, there are 5 professors and chief physicians, 7 associate chief physicians, 10 attending physicians, and 2 resident physicians. Nine hold doctoral degrees, including 3 who obtained their degrees abroad; 14 hold master's degrees; 3 are postdoctoral fellows; 1 postdoctoral fellow is currently enrolled in a postdoctoral research station; and 4 doctoral students are currently enrolled. At present, all physicians and technicians in the department possess distinctive professional capabilities. The professional talent structure has begun to take shape, forming a highly skilled team specializing in pathological diagnosis.

The department currently has 1 doctoral supervisor and 3 master's supervisors. It undertakes the teaching of graduate students, visiting trainees, and rotating physicians; nearly 30 master's and doctoral students have been trained, with an outstanding defense rate of 100%. Three doctoral students are currently in training. More than 20 visiting trainees from within and outside the province are admitted each year, and more than 500 visiting trainees have been trained in total, cultivating a large number of pathology professionals for the province. In addition, the Department of Pathology implements a work model in which staff are proficient in multiple areas, and experts in each pathology subspecialty provide authoritative diagnostic opinions. Daily teaching is conducted on typical, rare, and difficult cases, and the department regularly participates in multidisciplinary discussions at the hospital. The department also organizes various forms of continuing education courses every year, including training courses for surgical pathologists and courses on difficult pathological diagnosis and advances in pathology.

The department has published more than 140 papers, including more than 70 indexed in the foreign SCI database and more than 70 in Chinese core journals. Department staff have undertaken more than 30 national- and provincial- or ministerial-level research projects and have participated in the publication of nearly 20 academic works.

In recent years, with the support of the hospital leadership, the Department of Pathology has undergone significant development and formulated a 10-year long-term plan. The Department of Pathology is committed to improving quality. With the acceleration of the hospital's modernization process, it is hoped that the Department of Pathology will also continue to develop. All staff members of the Department of Pathology will surely make even greater contributions to the development of the Second Hospital of Harbin Medical University!