Clinical Pathology
Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Immunology is on the cutting edge of an often overlooked but important component of healthcare – clinical pathology. Whether patients are awaiting results from a cancer screening or a COVID-19 test, clinical pathologists are at the front lines performing crucial analyses of blood, tissue and other biological samples. This work is critical to accurate disease diagnosis and timely provision of lifesaving treatments.
Pathology Chair Martin Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D., and Pathology Professor Francis Gannon, M.D., lead the Department’s clinical pathology practice, Community Pathology Associates (CPA). Through CPA, Baylor Pathology faculty staff 43 regional hospitals and surgery centers in the Texas Medical Center and across the state, providing unmatched clinical pathology services to an area stretching over 190,000 square miles.
Addressing Major Global Healthcare Challenges
With the help of forward-thinking donors, CPA is extending its reach to underserved communities across the nation and around the world. CPA’s planned expansion addresses three major global healthcare challenges by leveraging the latest digital pathology technologies and Baylor’s excellence in patient care and health sciences training.
- Medically underserved communities in the United States and around the world have limited access to on-site pathology services, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses.
- There are not enough pathologists to staff all locations that need them. This deficit is exacerbated by insufficient numbers of newly trained pathologists entering clinical practice.
- The costs of veterinary pathology services are often so prohibitive that many pet owners have no choice but to forego them. This leads to unnecessary suffering and premature loss of treasured companion animals.
