Career Choices

Job title: consultant histopathologist

What do you do on an average day?

I usually arrive about 9 30 am and do one or two postmortem examinations. Late morning I will if possible have coffee with pathology and clinical colleagues and then dissect specimens - the “cut up” - such as breasts and colons. After lunch I will spend three to four hours on microscopy of histology slides and writing and authorising reports and attending to further specimens. I will go to the odd meeting and speak on the phone to colleagues. In a typical day, I will meet 150 slides, 40 specimens, a dozen colleagues, two or three managers, and just two dead bodies. On multidisciplinary meeting days I meet the cancer team and discuss all the patients. I leave between 5 and 7 pm depending on workload. I have no out of hours duties other than getting up in the morning and can spend the evening writing papers and reading the Student BMJ.

Three things you like about your job?

• The fascination of rare and interesting pathological conditions: I often see new things and identify unusual diagnoses. …