Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

The discipline of pathology is uniquely positioned at the intersection between clinical care and the basic sciences. Accordingly, you will see that the MUSC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine does everything from developing and applying new cutting-edge methods of patient care in the clinic to performing fundamental investigations of the processes that cause disease.

Clinical Services

The Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine provides MUSC with laboratory services for inpatient, outpatient, and outreach areas. The Department also serves as the testing site for the State of South Carolina's organ transplant agency.

The Department has expertise in clinical pathology across several areas, including clinical chemistry, cytopathology, dermatopathology, forensic pathology, hematopathology, and surgical pathology. We also have active and evolving research programs in experimental pathology.  

Research

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has approximately $5 million dollars in extramural funding annually and is consistently ranked in the upper half of pathology departments in the United States for National Institutes of Health funding. Our Department has outstanding research programs in many important fields, such as cancer biology, stem cell biology, and deafness. Genetics and cancer genomics are areas in which we are aggressively expanding our research programs, as these areas have the potential to fundamentally change the way we perform pathology and provide patient care.

The Department houses Core Facilities that offer essential research services, including high-throughput genomic sequencing, tools for manipulating gene expression in cells and experimental animals, and advanced microscopic techniques. These services are available to investigators at MUSC and other research institutions throughout South Carolina.

Education

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is recognized nationally for its commitment to undergraduate and graduate medical education. We have nationally recognized training programs for graduate students, residents, and fellows interested in pathology research. The success of these programs is attested to by the success of our trainees, who have presented their work at prominent national meetings and published in high-impact journals.