Cytopathologist

As a cytopathologist, you are a physician who diagnoses disease by examining individual cells under a microscope. When a patient has a Pap test, a fine-needle biopsy, or fluid drawn from the body, the sample comes to you to look for cancer and other conditions. Day to day, you review slides prepared by cytotechnologists, make the final diagnosis, sometimes perform or assist with needle biopsies, and write reports that guide the patient's treatment. You usually work in a hospital or laboratory alongside other pathologists and lab staff.