Department of
Medical Education

H James Williams MD

H. James Williams, M.D.

Board Certification: Anatomic & Clinical Pathology

Medical School: The University of Mississippi School of Medicine

Residency: Bethesda Naval Hospital

Faculty Rank: Professor

Special Clinical/Research Interests: Patient care as an anatomic pathologist, teaching and mentoring medical students and pathology residents.

Is there a particular population of students (e.g., ethnicity, spiritual, sexual orientation) that you would particularly like to advise?

Students with an interest in Pathology as a possible career choice.

What does a typical day in the life of a Anatomic Pathologist include?

Surgical Pathology is making diagnoses from gross and histologic tissue findings from tissues removed in clinics (biopsies) and the OR suite. Cytopathology is making diagnoses from cytology specimens (“pap” tests, fine needle aspirations, and body fluids (urine, CSF, pleural fluid, ascites, etc.). Autopsy Pathology includes both hospital cases and forensic pathology.

What is the biggest challenge of being a Anatomic Pathologist?

Keeping up with the everchanging criteria for making diagnoses including the increasing role of Molecular Pathology.

How do you foresee Anatomic Pathology changing over the next 20 years?

In addition to Molecular Pathology, the transition from utilizing glass slides to digitalized slides in which the glass slides are scanned and made into images reviewed on a computer screen. There is also a move towards increasing subspecialization.

What advice would you give a student who is considering Pathology residency?

First to consider it as a career option. Second, seek opportunities to shadow in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology to gain a greater understanding of what it is like to be a Pathologist. For those interested there is a two or four week pathology externship at the end of the first year. There is the possibility of doing a year of pathology between the second and third year of medical school (post-sophomore fellowship). There are third and fourth year elective rotations in pathology.