National Pathology Week 2018

On the 7^th  November 2018, as part of National Pathology Week, The Centre for Comparative Pathology at the University of Edinburgh (which includes both medical and veterinary pathologists) held a public engagement event for invited schools called "Interactive Pathology: Normal and Abnormal Organs".  Forty-eight school students, aged 16 and 17, plus their teachers, came from 9 Lothian schools to the Pathology Department of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the Easter Bush Campus for the afternoon.

The students were split into four groups and rotated around four different activities. The first activity was in the veterinary necropsy room, where they watched the post-mortem dissection of a sheep, including examination of the individual organs. Pupils were also given the opportunity to handle organs, such as kidney, liver and heart. The second activity was in the Dissection Room, where they were able to handle pre-prepared dissected specimens, showing abnormalities such as metastatic melanoma in an equine kidney, congenital hydrocephalus in a lamb, cirrhosis in a dog and bovine amorphous globosus. Thirdly, they congregated around a multi-headed microscope where, under the guidance of a pathologist, the pupils and teachers were able to view glass slides of blood films, cytological preparations and histopathological sections showing a range of pathological abnormalities. The fourth group worked on a microbiological laboratory identification exercise.