Pathologist Salary Range

Youth in the United States are moving in large numbers towards medical jobs directly related to patient care and also towards jobs that fall in the category of allied health care services. One such allied health care profession is pathology. Although becoming a pathologist is not easy and it requires years of education, many people are opting for it. The reasons behind this are, excellent hospital jobs and jobs in large health care organizations and most importantly, the remuneration gained after considerable experience and knowledge in this field.

But, what exactly does the pathologist do? Well, pathologist is a person who is engaged in the study, research and analysis of causes, nature and development of diseases found in the human body. It also involves the study of functional and structural changes caused by diseases. However, this definition does not cover the entire scope of duties and tasks performed by the pathologist. There are many more activities that come under his responsibility.

Pathologist Job Description

Pathology being an allied health care profession, there are many things to be taken care of by the pathologist. Mentioned below are some of those duties and tasks.

• Pathologist's main duty is study the various kinds of diseases, its causative factors, nature of the diseases and also the changes that these diseases bring in a person's body.
• Along with this, he is also responsible for coordinating with the physicians for the receipt of specimens and reports of diagnostic tests.
• Maintaining medical records pertaining to patient history and all the cases researched till date.
• Pathologists very rarely come in contact with the patients and mostly work in the laboratories. It therefore becomes necessary for them to maintain all the lab equipment and utilities, getting them repaired whenever necessary and keep the entire lab clean and tidy.
• If in case the cause of death is unclear or dubious, pathologists need to examine the postmortem reports and identify the exact cause of death.
• Some hospitals also run their own medical college. In such cases, pathologists also have to train the pathology students from that college.

Pathologist Educational Requirements

Science subjects in the high school, especially biology and chemistry are a must to enter this field. A bachelor's degree in pathologist can earn you a job as a biological technician or medical laboratory technologist. However, for advanced career opportunities as a trainer and instructor, you need to acquire a master's degree in pathology. To become a qualified pathologist, a doctoral degree is essential. This would widen the scope of your research and also increase your preference amongst employers. To become a licensed pathologist, you need to get certified from the home state and also the American Board of Pathology.

Average Salary of a Pathologist

Pathologists are quite highly paid and they are actually worth the payment. This is because, researching and studying diseases is not an easy task! On an average, pathologists with an experience of around 1-2 years, earn about USD 165000 - 170000 annually, whereas pathologists with an experience of 3 years earn more than USD 300000 a year. Pathology is a very wide field of study and there are many types of pathologists. Speech pathologist and forensic pathologist are some of them. Speech pathologist salary range is somewhere around USD 60000 - 65000 per year, and a forensic pathologist earns anywhere up to USD 75000 - 200000, depending upon the state and type of organization.

Once you start working as a pathologist, you will get to know everything in detail and with experience you will certainly earn more and more. Pathology would turn out to be a great career for you, only if you study things in detail and give your best at the workplace. I hope you'll do so!