Impact and outcomes of the post-sophomore pathology fellowship at the University of Minnesota

Abstract

Post-sophomore fellowship in pathology programs have been utilized nationally as a tool to recruit medical students into the field of pathology; however, few articles document their outcomes particularly in regards to career outcomes, scholarly output, and qualitative feedback. The University of Minnesota Medical School offers a one-year post-sophomore fellowship in pathology for medical students with the aim of introducing medical students to the field of pathology and increasing knowledge of research methods; however, there is hesitancy among current medical students about delaying graduation by one year for fellowships. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the post-sophomore fellowship in pathology at the University of Minnesota in terms of recruiting students into pathology specialties and fostering scholarly interest, as measured by career choices, publications, and interest in pathology. A retrospective analysis and survey revealed that approximately 55.6% of post-sophomore fellowship in pathology participants entered pathology specialties and that 69% of survey respondents indicated contributing to scholarly publications in the field of pathology during their post-sophomore fellowship in pathology year. Survey data revealed benefits of thepost-sophomore fellowship in pathology, including increased residency preparedness, letters of recommendation, and research engagement. Although the lack of a control group and potential selection bias limit the generalizability of these findings, our results suggest the post-sophomore fellowship in pathology model can attract medical students to pathology, foster research experiences, and better prepare students for residency.