Like most jobs in medicine, every day is varied and I never find myself doing the same thing day to day so I’m never bored! My day can start with assessments and reporting patients’ cases which include complex cancer cases requiring detailed discussion and correlation with the clinical and imaging findings during multidisciplinary meetings with other specialists. I can then be involved in reviewing urgent ‘on the table’ biopsies where we give a diagnosis to a surgeon while the patient is still in surgery.
As a consultant at my trust I cover surgical pathology and cytology. I am the co-lead on gynaecological pathology, co-lead on lung pathology and the pathology lead for the cervical screening programme in our hospital which is one of the regional hubs in the West Midlands.
Teaching is an integral part of my day-to-day work and my role gives me the chance to teach junior doctors. I train medical students, surgical trainees, healthcare scientists and other junior doctors. I also have the opportunity to promote pathology publicly through events such as National Pathology week. We are always keen for schools students to visit the lab and hopefully inspire the next generation as a result!