Get to know Donna Hill, DO, a second-year resident in the UK College of Medicine Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Q: What does a typical day look like as a pathology resident?
A: A typical day as a pathologist changes depending on the rotation that you're on.
Pathology is a very broad field, a fact that I was not able to appreciate until starting residency. You could be on transfusion medicine one month - which has more typical office hours (except when we're on call). The next month, you could be on surgical pathology which, for me, is the most challenging.
It is not uncommon to spend 12 to 16 hours a day at the hospital, grossing specimens or looking through your slides for your cases, in addition to the studying that you must do on each rotation.
Q: What inspired you to go into medicine?
A: I wanted to be a doctor for about as long as I can remember. As a child, I enjoyed learning about all of the living things in my "Childcraft" series of books.
Growing up, science and reading were always my favorite subjects and the older I got, the more I realized that I really didn't care much about any other areas of science besides the life sciences. So, I reasoned that my desire to be a doctor actually did line up with my interests and the things that I really enjoyed learning.
Q: What are your career goals?
A: I am currently interested in pursuing fellowships in medical microbiology and forensics. I'm not exactly sure where that will lead me, but I know I enjoy those two areas of pathology, and so I'm open to the opportunities that those fields will bring.
This Q&A was featured in the June edition of the Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) newsletter.