Unraveling of pathology fellowships

A forthcoming paper in the journal Human Pathology gives a detailed account of the unraveling of the market for Pathology subspecialty fellowships, including the now familiar path towards earlier offers more diffuse in time, and to the increased hiring of internal candidates. It's an unusually thorough report that details some of the special pathologies of the Pathology labor market, and also compares it to the experience of other subspecialties such as Gastroenterology.

"Unlike the application process for first-year Pathology Residency, which is run through the National Resident MatchingProgram, applications for Subspecialty Pathology Fellowships are not coordinated by any consistent schedule. Competition for Subspecialty Pathology Fellowships has consistently resulted in undesirable drift of the fellowship application process to dates that are unacceptably early for many fellowship applicants. Responding to widespread dissatisfaction voiced by national pathology resident organizations, in 2007, the Association of Pathology Chairs began evaluation and potential intervention in the fellowship application process. Three years of intermittently intense discussion, surveys, and market analysis, have led the Council of the Association of Pathology Chairs to recommend implementation of a Pathology Subspecialty Fellowship Matching program starting in the 2011 to 2012 recruiting year, for those Applicants matriculating in fellowship programs July 2013. We report on the data that informed this decision and discuss the pros and cons that are so keenly felt by the stakeholders in this as-yet-incomplete reform process."

That's from the abstract of

"Pathology subspecialty fellowship application reform 2007 to 2010" by James M. Crawford MD, PhD,  Robert D. Hoffman MD, PhD, W. Stephen Black-Schaffer MD, in Human Pathology (2010)