Soft Tissue/Bone Pathology Fellowship
Fellowship Overview
Currently accepting applications for the 2026-2027 academic year
The Soft Tissue/Bone Pathology Fellowship (STB Fellow) is offered to PGY4 (or 3 for AP only trainee) and above residents and aimed toward the development of either academically or community oriented surgical pathologists with a subspecialty interest in bone and soft tissue pathology. The program is under the academic direction of Paul J. Zhang, MD, Director of the Soft Tissue and Bone Pathology Service at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The Soft Tissue/Bone Fellowship program provides extensive experience in diagnosis of soft tissue and bone lesions using conventional microscopy, as well as histochemical and immunohistochemical stains, and FISH assay. In difficult cases, molecular sequencing is available at Center for Personalized Diagnostics (CPD) at HUP. The fellow will see all in-house HUP service cases and outside consult cases from three hospitals in Penn Health System (HUP, Pennsylvania Hospital and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center), out-research consult cases from regional hospitals, personal consult cases of Dr. Zhang and Dr. Cooper and international digital consultation cases from China. In the later months of the year, the fellow will be given the opportunity to function as a junior attending in signing out surgical specimens (non-biopsy specimen) with the residents under double head microscope.
The other unique aspect of the fellowship is to be trained in FISH diagnostic under Dr. Zhang, the Director of AP FISH Diagnostics. Clinically, the fellow would be the go-to person in pathology for all clinicians in sarcoma services and responsible for twice a week clinical multidisciplinary conference. Working with skeletomuscular radiology fellows and faculty to prepare the conferences is encouraged. There is a great opportunity of academic-career development if desired. Small research fund sufficient to support IHC and/or FISH study can be applied at AP department under the supervision of attending faculty. Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center has one of the few medical teams in the world devoted to bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. There are many world class sarcoma researchers in the program or in the Penn community at the campus who gather once month to share their research finding in the monthly sarcoma research seminar. The fellow is strongly encouraged to attend the seminar, interact or engage with research faculty or clinicians for his or her further research pursue. Two months of electives are available for pursuit of other diagnostic or academic interests.
Requirements
Successful completion of the Residency requirements for certification in Anatomic Pathology or combined AP/CP by the American Board of Pathology, and eligibility for Pennsylvania medical training license.
Applications
**Currently accepting applications for 2026-2027 academic year. **
Positions offered: One fellow per year. Duration: One year.
Timeline: The program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is planning to participate in the NRMP Match for the 2026-2027 Fellowship. An overview and FAQ page on the Match process for applicants are available on the NRMP Match site. The timeline can also be found on the International Society of Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology (ISBSTP) MSK Match page.
The program is currently accepting applications for the 2026-2027 fellowship. Applications received prior to November 2024 will not be reviewed in advance, but are held until the start of the recruitment cycle in November. Applicants are encouraged to submit all application materials, including supporting documents, by December 15, 2024. Please note that applications received will only be eligible for the current recruitment cycle and will not be held or carried forward to subsequent recruitment cycles.
Candidates being considered for the program will be asked to interview. Consistent with the NRMP Match timeline, interviews will begin no earlier than January 1, 2025. Interviews will be conducted virtually.
Candidates will need to register for the Pathology Fellowship Match through NMRP; this will be available starting on February 5, 2025. A detailed guide on how to make an account and register can be found on the NMRP website (see FAQ page for additional information). Candidates can rank programs participating in the Match with which they have interviewed and will be able to enter their rank lists beginning on March 12, 2025. Rank Order List certification must be completed by April 16, 2025. Please refer to the NRMP website for additional details about the dates and times for each step in the Match process.
Match Day is April 30, 2025 at Noon EST for the 2026-2027 STB Fellowship. The fellowship will begin for candidates who matched with the program in July 2026.
