Residency Program

Dr. Anne Mills, Program Director

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains is a vibrant academic community whose ambition is to cultivate the brightest up-and-coming pathologists.  UVA Pathology is a mid-sized department in a 645-bed tertiary care medical center which handles robust volume of diverse patient material from all over the region.  Our residency training program is challenging but incredibly rewarding, and we are proud to produce excellent patient-centered pathologists who remain well-balanced people.  We welcome an average of five incoming residents each year, and are proud to recruit the best and the brightest from around the world. As a department, we value diversity, inclusion, and equity and have multiple ongoing efforts in these areas. While most of our residents follow the combined AP/CP track, this path is readily modified to accommodate the training requirements of our AP/NP, AP-only, CP-only, and Physician Scientist tracks; you can read more about how each year of training is structured under Residency Structure and Tracks.  For more extensive descriptions of specific rotations—including our new hybrid subspecialty model on Surgical Pathology—check out our rotation details.  You can also learn more about resident overnight call and weekend responsibilities here.

All our services emphasize graduated trainee responsibility balanced with a high degree of case ownership from day one: at UVA Pathology you are not just learners, you are doctors.  That said, becoming an excellent pathologist requires a tremendous and ever-expanding amount of knowledge.  To help you acquire it effectively, we have a robust structured educational content which supplements the apprentice-style learning that occurs through clinical service work.

We are proud to say that this model has allowed our trainees to develop the competence and comfort to excel in their chosen careers.  Many choose to extend their time at UVA by joining one of our excellent fellowship offerings in Cytopathology, Gynecologic and Breast Pathology, Dermatopathology, Hematopathology, Neuropathology, Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and Lab Genetics and Genomics. From there, they go on to fulfilling and varied careers in academic pathology, community hospitals, private practices, and forensic pathology.

Regardless of your ultimate career goals, you will find UVA to be a rich environment for engaging in translational investigations. The Department provides trainees with research stipends for well-considered projects and is supported by the UVA Biorepository and Tissue Research Facility, whose staff are skilled at digital pathology, antibody validation, tissue microarray construction, and immunohistochemical staining, including multicolor immunohistochemistry. Resident productivity in research is reflected in their presence at national meetings: UVA routinely has a dozen or more resident-driven abstracts admitted to the annual meetings of organizations like the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists (USCAP). For recent examples, check out our trainees at USCAP 2023, ACLPS 2023, and USCAP 2024.  Moreover, we have an excellent track record of seeing these studies through to publication; here, you can see examples on which residents served as first authors.

Our residents are also involved in medical student education throughout their training, actively teaching in the pre-clerkship courses and during their rotations in pathology. We offer enhanced experiences in this arena through our Education Track, which allows trainees with an interest in academics to augment their educational and leadership skills. Similarly, while all residents have strong exposure to quality improvement throughout their training, those with a special interest in this area may pursue a Quality Track which includes heightened exposure to the quality improvement and assurance activities within our department. Finally, residents with an interest in Global Health may follow UVA’s Global Health Leadership Track.

UVA Pathology’s trainees travel from all over the world to join our program and make Charlottesville, Virginia their new home. Relative to its population, Charlottesville offers a wide range of attractions such as hiking both within City limits and in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, boating on the Rivanna River, a hearty local food scene, numerous scenic breweries and wineries, and diverse musical and cultural events both locally and a short drive or train ride away in Washington DC. Seasonally speaking, the autumn foliage is stunning, winters are mild, springs are abundant with flowers, and the summers provide ample rain and sunshine for outdoor gardens. Trainees experience these fabulous surroundings through events such as our annual Resident & Fellow Summer Welcome Picnic and legendary Fall Pathology Department party (aka “Path Prom”).  Our trainees also frequently convene along the “Charlottesville Ale Trail” and “Monticello Wine Trail” for GME-sponsored events (note that all the breweries and wineries offer great alcohol-free options, too!), and recent classes have tubed the river and broken out of an Edgar Allen Poe-inspired Escape Room together as part of our residency Boot Camp.  You can see our residents out and about under Resident Life!

We are so pleased that you are interested in UVA Pathology’s Training Program, and look forward to connecting with many of you during the interview season and beyond!

Best regards,

Anne Mills, MD

Residency Program Director