“What we do in Diagnostic Gynecologic and Obstetric Pathology — which a lot of texts don’t do — is take our experience with a specific problem or a diagnosis and try to see it from the perspective of those who look at such things on a daily basis.” – Dr. Christopher Crum
What first made me interested in pathology was looking through the microscope. Seeing something I had never seen before made every case a new discovery. I thought pathology was an outstanding opportunity to not only see disease through the microscope and discover new things, but to be good at what I did. In pathology, you know very quickly if you’re good or not. I was willing to take that risk, knowing the benefits I’d get from the discipline. So I did one year of medicine, then went back to pathology. I did an anatomic pathology residency at Virginia, then went off to Columbia where I became involved with gynecologic pathology. I got very excited about it and I’ve been doing that ever since. It’s been a wonderful journey in all aspects. I do what I love, which is working in gynecologic pathology and having the opportunity to do investigation.
Pathology is being imposed upon by new technology and new opportunity. The descriptive pathology that we’ve had through the years has been invaluable. As time goes on, however, the descriptive pathology begins to morph into a pathology that includes descriptive as well as new techniques that give us a new window into how diseases really develop. Many practitioners are very interested in the biologic basis of these diseases, in knowing not just what something looks like, but in knowing why it looks like it does. I think that is one aspect of pathology that is evolving.
What we do in Diagnostic Gynecologic and Obstetric Pathology — which a lot of texts don’t do — is take our experience with a specific problem or a diagnosis and try to see it from the perspective of those who look at such things on a daily basis. Many other books don’t have much discussion about what goes through a pathologist’s head when they are sitting down at a microscope actually looking at cases. So we tried to introduce more comprehensive information that actually addresses the problem that pathologists have when they look through the microscope. We tried to anticipate everything that might concern a practicing pathologist. So the book is a bit of a guide for pathologists about why they need to look out for a specific problem.
Bio
Christopher P. Crum, MD is Director of Women’s and Perinatal Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the premier departments for women’s health and pathology in the U.S., and is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. He is recognized as one of the leading pathologists specializing in gynecologic and obstetric pathology and is a frequent presenter at national pathology meetings. He is an author of the second edition of Diagnostic Gynecologic and Obstetric Pathology.
