Curriculum designed to move pathologists to the forefront of genomic medicine is now available

A new educational resource—The Genomic Pathology Workshop Instructor’s Handbook and Toolkit—developed through a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is now available for pathology trainees worldwide.

Developed by the Training Residents in Genomics (TRIG) Working Group with educational design support from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the program builds on a curriculum first developed at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and provides the materials and guidance needed to implement structured and field-tested introductory training in genomic medicine. While geared towards pathology residents, the material and teaching methods are applicable to other healthcare specialties and providers.

The curriculum provides seven hours of instruction and uses a flipped classroom and team-based learning approach. The workshop follows the case of a patient with breast cancer and also includes a discussion of other uses of genomic testing.

“This initiative has included major pathology and genetics professional organizations in the United States, collaborating to produce the highest quality educational resource,” says Richard L. Haspel, MD, PhD, FASCP, Chair of the TRIG Working Group and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, in Boston.“We have provided everything needed for a program to implement training including handouts, PowerPoint presentations, references and detailed instructions. The curriculum is based on successful workshops conducted and rigorously evaluated at national pathology meetings.”

“This innovative new program allows us to bridge the gap between genomic research and its application to patient care,” ASCP President William G. Finn, MD, FASCP, says. “Genomic testing will have a major impact on the diagnosis and treatment of patients. As a leader in education, ASCP will help translate this research into practical, applied learning for resident pathologists.”