The overall mission of the Department of Pathology of McGill University is to provide, maintain, and further develop excellence in patient care, teaching and research, as well as in the administrative structure to support this mission. The McGill Department includes pathologists who are part of the McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC) or Centre Universitaire de Santé McGill (CUSM) and provide all pathology diagnostic services to the MUHC. The McGill Department of Pathology includes pathologists at the Jewish General Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital and this department could not function as an academic department involved in teaching and research without the very significant contribution of these pathologists. Our hospital department is also part of the Réseau Universitaire Intégré de Santé (RUIS), which encompasses approximately 1.7 million residents of the province of Québec and the goal of the Department of Pathology is to forge strong links with communities within the RUIS.
The specific objectives in each area are as follows:
Patient Care
In broad terms, to provide referring physicians accurate, timely, and clinically relevant consultation based on technical optimal material, in all of the areas within the scope of activity of the Department of Pathology.
Thus, the Department of Pathology undertakes to provide:
- High quality and timely physician and technological expertise to ensure optimal patient care, with courteous verbal communication practices and prompt written follow-up.
- High quality and rapid accession, processing, and assessment of the specimens submitted.
- State-of-the-art methodology and instrumentation, reflecting recent high level advances and consistent with the existing body of scientific knowledge in all fields, including the application of technologies of Molecular Pathology.
- Precise and accurate consultation results and reports periodically assessed through the use of quality assurance and quality improvement procedures involving physician, technical, and clerical levels.
- High quality specialty and sub-specialty diagnostic services, including consultative attendance at clinical rounds (i.e., tumour board, sub-specialty rounds, etc.).
- Consultation services that are evidence-based in their approach and informed by the most recent advances in research.
- Collaboration with the other clinical laboratories and imaging specialists to provide consultative and diagnostic services to all affiliated hospitals of McGill University, Faculty of Medicine.
Research
In broad terms, the Department encourages the participation of all of its members in the pursuit of academic research. This includes: (a) highly focused grant-funded research with salary and operating grant support and publication in high quality journals and books; and (b) participation of all staff members in creating an atmosphere of enquiry, critical thinking, and scholarly activity at all levels of diagnostic pathology, service, and teaching.
In particular, the Department encourages scholarship and publication of research findings, both basic and clinical, as well as critical reviews, books, and monographs. It strongly supports the participation of faculty in National and International grant panels, journals, and other editorial review boards.
The means of achieving these objectives include, but are not limited to having:
- An atmosphere conducive to research for the current productive basic science investigators including protective time and a modern, safe laboratory environment.
- Fruitful departmental, interdepartmental, national, and international collaboration and program research and grants, which promote sharing of expertise, space, and equipment.
- Recruitment of new researchers in areas of strength and need, including aspects of research utilizing state-of-the-art molecular biology and molecular pathological techniques, in such domains as cancer biology, cardiovascular and pulmonary pathology, transplantation, and immunobiology.
- Appropriate laboratory space and start-up funds for new recruits.
- Assistance with grant writing and submission.
Teaching
In broad terms, the Department of Pathology is committed to the highest quality of teaching for the Faculty of Medicine and other faculties as required, i.e., Dentistry and Science, in our area of expertise, Pathology, or in related areas, i.e., Histology, Cellular and Molecular Biology of Disease, Immunohistochemistry, Electron Microscopy and the Morphological and Morphometric sciences, Flowcytometry, and selected areas of informatics and computer science.
It is also committed to collaboration with other departments in the faculty(ies) of the University to provide an integrated course(s) with the greatest relevance to the areas of the student’s endeavour.
The Department is prepared to teach a variety of “students”, including: undergraduate medical and dental students, graduate students (M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels), post-graduate level physicians (residents) in Pathology and other specialties, staff pathologists and other physicians in the form of “continuing medical education, patients, and the public at large”.
The means of achieving these objectives include, but are not limited to, encouraging departmental staff members to:
- Use state-of-the-art technology for the development of their teaching materials, including via the internet, production of CDs and other high quality imaging and text-based methods.
- Participate in courses/workshops available through the Faculty Development Office.
- Participate in activities and hold office in examining organizations such as the Royal College and the Collège des Médecins du Québec.
Administration
The Department is committed to set up and maintain an administrative structure whose prime directive is to support and foster excellence in the three (3) aforementioned areas.
The means of achieving this objective includes but is not limited to:
- Empowering the academic professionals whose responsibility is to provide the excellence in patient care, research, and teaching in the Department of Pathology with the freedom to administer as they see fit to fulfill their responsibilities.
- Organizing the departmental administration between the Chair, Associate Chair, Director of Research, Director of Medical Undergraduate Teaching, Graduate Program Director, and the Residency Training Program Director.