Pathology

The Pathology Department plays a major role in the first two years of the curriculum and is responsible for teaching Immunology, General Pathology, and all courses in Systemic Pathology. Clinical and research electives are available to fourth-year medical students.

The department has a major clinical component and provides pathology services and academic support to the Tufts Medical Center laboratories. In addition, many of the staff members are subspecialists in areas such as dermatopathology, neuropathology, renal pathology, breast and ob-gyn pathology, hematopathology, pediatric pathology, and cytopathology. Members of the staff are responsible for training residents in both clinical and anatomic pathology and for running clinicopathologic conferences with the numerous clinical groups at Tufts Medical Center.

A major focus of the department is the NIH-funded graduate program in immunology now in its 25th year. Although this is an interdepartmental program, a large part of the teaching takes place within the pathology department.

The department has a large and distinguished research group and receives over $5 million annually in grant support. The major focus of the research is in basic mechanisms of the immune response and the pathogenesis of various parasitic and viral disorders. In the area of immunological mechanisms, studies are underway to examine the development of T- and B-cell activation and to study the process of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor rearrangements. Studies are also directed towards understanding how disruption of B-cell function may lead to autoimmunity and the basis for the development of autoantibody in genetically susceptible mouse strains. With regard to infectious agents, studies are underway to examine immune responses in Schistosomiasis and Chaga's disease and to understand the pathogenesis of Lyme arthritis and the various manifestations of infection by Epstein Barr virus.