{"id":135,"date":"2011-02-01T21:42:37","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T21:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carlyhodes.wordpress.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2011-02-01T21:42:37","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T21:42:37","slug":"looking-through-the-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/?p=135","title":{"rendered":"Looking through the window"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clinical pathology bridges animals and answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u201cBlood is the window to the body,\u201d says Dr. Tracy Stokol, a professor with a passion for pathology puzzles. Microscopic magnification opens that window, revealing a cellular world which veterinarians explore in the quest to analyze disease. Clinical pathologists like Stokol navigate that world as diagnostic detectives, using cellular samples from body tissue and fluids to piece together a patient\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

If an animal has a bodily bump, how do you tell if it\u2019s a bruise or inflammation, a fatty tumor or malignant cancer? Veterinarians use needles to take samples for examination. Clinical pathologists use these cellular clues to solve medical mysteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical for veterinarians to know clinical pathology because they use it every single day,\u201d says Stokol. \u201cSick animals can\u2019t tell you what\u2019s wrong. Samples speak for the animals and clinical pathology translates. It\u2019s a bridge between the animal and the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Body fluids can reveal much of what goes on inside an animal\u2019s body. \u201cBlood can tell you why a joint is swelling, expose cancer cells, or show abnormalities that indicate underlying liver disease,\u201d illustrates Stokol. \u201cWe also work with bone marrow aspirates, samples from lymph nodes, cerebrospinal fluids, anything you can put a needle into and take a sample of could give an important clue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokol has taught the visual language of cellular samples at the College of Veterinary Medicine since 1993, and is now an associate professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences. A skilled specialist, Stokol attributes her passion for clinical pathology to the fun of solving a mystery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like a challenge,\u201d says Stokol with steady eyes that have faced plenty of challenge in the microscopic realm. \u201cI\u2019m always intrigued by difficult cases and love figuring things out. Clinical pathology is a very visual field. You\u2019re seeing interesting changes that are visually fascinating. It\u2019s fun to look at things, but it\u2019s also about putting pieces of information together to make a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokol\u2019s story started in Melbourne, Australia, where she earned her veterinary degree in 1987, worked for two years as an assistant veterinarian, and earned a PhD before coming to Cornell. She belongs to several societies for clinical pathology, chemistry, and diagnostics, and has published several book chapters and over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals, reflecting her dedication to furthering research in her field.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch stimulates a kind of intellectualism you don\u2019t get from puzzling out a case. It\u2019s an entirely different way of thinking,\u201d explains Stokol. \u201cA lot of what we do in clinical work is memorizing facts and recognizing patterns. Research lets you ask more kinds of questions, it makes you think ahead and plan, and learn to deal with things that don\u2019t work out the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Stokol and her colleagues require that the College\u2019s clinical pathology residents complete a research project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in an academic environment, we need to advance the knowledge of our field. We have to continue to grow and understand more about the diseases we\u2019re working with and the only way to do that is through research.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an academic clinician, Stokol furthers her passion through her teaching. Together with fellow clinical pathologists Dr. Heather Priest and Dr. Diana Schaefer, Stokol supervises the College\u2019s residency program in clinical pathology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need academic clinical pathologists to keep advancing the field and to keep it alive. Fewer people go into clinical pathology because there are fewer residencies available. We\u2019re graduating fewer people, so fewer people are trained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specialists in this field need thorough training to learn to successfully sort out the secrets cells can tell. But for Stokol and her peers, the challenge is worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the job\u2019s biggest appeals is the instant gratification, knowing that you\u2019re making a difference,\u201d Stokol says. \u201cClinical pathology gets rapid results that help animals and their owners almost immediately. You\u2019re giving vital information that a veterinarian can use to decide how to manage or treat a patient, or helping an owner make a decision about whether to continue a treatment. We can make a diagnosis and know we\u2019re having a real effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that I can do everything with clinical pathology at Cornell,\u201d says Stokol. \u201cService helps patients in real-time, research expands our knowledge, teaching ensures the future. It\u2019s the best of all worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clinical pathology bridges animals and answers \u00a0\u201cBlood is the window to the body,\u201d says Dr. Tracy Stokol, a professor with a passion for pathology puzzles. Microscopic magnification opens that window, revealing a cellular world which veterinarians explore in the quest to analyze disease. Clinical pathologists like Stokol navigate that world as diagnostic detectives, using cellular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,33,13,17,20,21,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scopes-magazine","category-diagnostics","category-medicine","category-profiles","category-research","category-service","category-teaching"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}