October 26, 2026
Transcript
Nancy Johnson
Welcome to CAP News. I'm Nancy Johnson with the College of American Pathologists. It's Monday, October 26th, and here's what's making news in pathology and laboratory medicine. From Grey's Anatomy to Scrubs to The Pitt, television has given audiences a dramatic look inside medicine. Surgeons and emergency physicians are often portrayed as the heroes. But beyond the familiar medical examiner image, where do pathologists fit into that picture? And what impression are viewers left with about the physicians who diagnose disease?
Scene from The Pitt
You know 62% of ED docs suffer from burnout? Painfully aware. Maybe all you lunatics need to learn how to set boundaries like me. Well, see you tomorrow, Doc.
Scene from The Pitt
Nancy Johnson
In this scene from The Pitt, Joy Kwon is a medical student who plans to pursue pathology. She makes a critical decision one day during her rotation in the emergency department in the middle of a crisis.
Dr. Adil Menon
It was the end of her shift. She decided, you know, to leave as the medical student when everyone else was sort of there and still drowning in the situation. And so the debate became like, was that okay? And a lot of people were supportive of her leaving early. But my concern was that that then portrays the pathologist as the person not willing to put in that effort. And obviously, I went through medical school, and on any of those rotations, I was working as hard or harder than any of my other peers who went into other fields.
Nancy Johnson
Dr. Adil Menon is a pathologist specializing in microbiology and molecular medicine at Cleveland's Metro Health. In a paper published in Academic Pathology, Dr. Menon examines recurring television tropes and what they could mean for how future physicians see and ultimately choose pathology.
Dr. Adil Menon
Growing up, people build their dreams and their visions of life relatively early, and what you see in TV is a major way you do that. So again, if you're not if it's not on your mind and you don't think you have an inroads into medicine or any opportunity to gauge that interest, that's not something that when you're an adult and you're deciding on your career, you're going to really explore.
Nancy Johnson
In medical school, Dr. Menon's own path to pathology looked very different from the television tropes. Early exposure to the specialty helped him discover where he belonged.
Dr. Adil Menon
Within, you know, the histology and the pathology curriculum, it really, you know, was a place I felt both happy and capable, and I had that continual mentorship and support.
Nancy Johnson
In his published paper, Dr. Menon also examines the show Scrubs, where the character Dr. Doug Murphy in internal medicine is so bad at his job, many patients die due to his incompetence. He's reassigned to pathology because of his familiarity with the morgue.
Dr. Adil Menon
So the way I was describing it for many years is pathology sort of was treated in the media as medicine's penalty box. Like whenever you mess up in a specialty that's valued more highly, that's where they send you. And that was also kind of the attitude that I got going into pathology just because it's improved now, but there was a sense that a lot of people when applying to residency would just put pathology as a backup, and there wasn't a lot of, you know, genuine interest in it.
Nancy Johnson
The concern comes as pathology practices are already feeling workforce pressures, including burnout. The CAP's 2025 practice leader survey found nearly four in ten practices looking to hire pathologists did not expect to fill all of their open positions. For Dr. Menon, that makes how the specialty is seen on television and beyond all the more important.
Dr. Adil Menon
I don't think we're gonna sort of change the cultural taste of the American viewing audience. So I don't think it'll ever become like the center of a television program or anything like that. Uh maybe outside forensics, which is its own complicated discussion, but maybe just having it be more present and more positive.
Nancy Johnson
Dr. Menon says television is getting closer to realistically showing pathology's role in medicine. Even small moments, like including a pathologist at a tumor board, could give viewers a better sense of how the specialty contributes to patient care. That does it for this episode of CAP News. Share this newscast with your social media network. And if you're watching this video on YouTube, hit the like button and leave us a comment. And if you've got a story we should be covering, write to us at stories at CAP.org. We're back tomorrow at 5 AM Eastern for another episode of our newscast. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great day.