Hidden Specialties
Meet the doctors of sleep, images, and microscopes
Genetic research--often conducted in collaboration with other specialists--has already transformed the diagnosis of infectious diseases. (The study of infectious diseases is a subspecialty of internal medicine, but microbiology labs are often housed in pathology departments.) Not so long ago, diagnosing an infection had to be done by growing bacteria, fungi, or viruses from a patient in the lab and performing metabolic tests to distinguish one organism from another--a process taking days or even weeks. Such tests are still performed, but now microbiology labs can also use the specific genetic profiles of different organisms to identify the problem--and recommend the best treatments--in hours or less. "Infectious genetics has totally transformed microbiology," says Parslow. "Using genes is now the way to go."
Pathologists are working with geneticists and other researchers to do the same thing with cancers and other noninfectious diseases with a genetic component. Still in its early stages, the research, says Parslow, "has the potential to enable us to do much more powerful things than we've ever done before." It's hardly the small, closeted role of a specialty generally unknown to the public. Pathology, especially at hospitals that push the frontiers of research--including many of those in the U.S. News rankings--may have to become accustomed to the spotlight.
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