About Us
September 2024
Feature: Pathways to Careers in Pathology
- Medical School
- Post-Sophomore/Junior Pathology Fellowship
- Pathology Residency
- Dermatopathology Fellowship
- Faculty Member, UCLA
- Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, DGSOM
I came to UCLA in the fall of 1993, excited to embark on what I thought was the beginning of the journey to reach my career goal of becoming an engineer. However, after taking a few prerequisite courses, I quickly realized that I needed to do a bit of soul searching as I did not enjoy the curriculum one bit. At that point, I was left wondering about what I was going to do with my life. Since I always liked biology in high school, I decided to change my major to general biology with the intention of using the remainder of my time in undergrad to figure out exactly what I would ultimately do with that major.
Throughout the remainder of my college career, while fulfilling the requirements for my newly selected major, I took a variety courses including plant physiology, the biology of evolution, and histology, just to name a few. As one might imagine, histology was one of my favorite courses, almost ranking up there with Ellingtonia.
Toward the end of my third year in undergrad, I started volunteering at the Los Angeles Free Clinic, an experience that completely changed my career trajectory as I was able to see the tremendous impact the wonderful primary care physicians had on their patients. At that point, it became clear, I wanted to follow in their footsteps. Consequently, I decided to apply to medical school to pursue a career as a physician. However, as my decision to do so did not occur until my final year in college, I took the following year off to complete the application process.
At that point, I also had to figure out what else I was going to do for that year. As I had always enjoyed tutoring both junior high and high school students while volunteering during undergrad, I decided to take the credentialing exam for teachers. After obtaining my teaching credentials, I accepted a position teaching 7th and 8th grade science at Audubon Middle School. Having also applied to medical school during this year, I eventually received the terrific news that I had been accepted into the UCLA/Drew Medical Education Program for the following year.
During my pre-clerkship years, I was exposed to a variety of interesting subjects which included histology, pathology, physiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry, among others. However, the histology and pathology lectures/lab sessions were the ones I always looked forward to the most. These sessions were taught by pathologists who would run their sessions and then disappear. I knew they were MDs, but I was always left wondering: What do pathologists do besides teach? (I will come back to this later in the story).
Once I began my clerkships, I quickly realized that pursuing a career in primary care was not for me. Luckily, I remembered Dr. Scott Nelson coming into one of our lectures during the previous year to talk about the post-sophomore/junior pathology fellowship at UCLA. Since I was once again at a crossroads, unsure of what path I was going to take moving forward, I decided to apply for the pathology fellowship, which I began after completing my clerkships. During my fellowship year, in addition to having the opportunity to learn about every facet of pathology (answering my previous question above, “what do pathologists do besides teach?”), I realized that pathology was the specialty I wanted to pursue.
After subsequently completing both my AP/CP residency and dermatopathology fellowship at UCLA, I decided to remain in academics and stay on as a faculty member. In doing so, I was able to continue pursuing my professional career goals while also fulfilling my desire to both teach and work with medical students. Consequently, I became involved in medical education during my first year, volunteering in the histopathology labs with Dr. Tom Drake, working as a problem-based learning tutor, and eventually becoming a Co-Chair of the Human Biology and Disease Course in the Legacy Curriculum. As my career evolved, I decided that I wanted to have a longitudinal presence in the academic careers of medical students, which ultimately led me to pursue an opportunity to become an Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, a position I currently occupy. In this role, it has been extremely rewarding to serve as a mentor and advisor to a diverse group of students during all four years of their medical school education. Although my journey to get where I am today has been a bit circuitous, I am happy those twists and turns led me to a place where I am truly satisfied with my career and delighted that it all happened at UCLA.
Department Summer Picnic
Thank you to all those who attended the 2024 Department Summer Picnic! We are thrilled to have received great feedback on the selection of food trucks, the photo/video booths, lawn games, and the silent disco!
Our Summer Picnic Committee (Anastasia Gustafson, Heidi Martinez, Elijah Williams, Kelli Scott, Mary Alice Mita) spent many hours planning and coordinating this event. If you see them, please thank them for all their hard work and the wonderful event!
Sarah M. Dry, MD
Chair, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
