Academic Supervisor : Jacques Rahier

Contact : Secretary's office for the Unit of Special Pathological Anatomy

Tel. 02 764 17 12

President : J. Rahier

Members : COSYNS Jean-Pierre, DELOS Monique, GALANT Christine, GODFRAIND Catherine, MARBAIX Etienne, NOEL Henri, SEMPOUX Christine, WEYNAND Birgit. A representative from the "MACCS" .

The Selection Committee for candidate specialist assistant doctors ("MACCS", in French) is composed of the members of the teaching Committee, to which are added two guest members and two co-opted members.

This complementary master's programme aims to prepare doctors to be recognised holders of the special professional title of Specialist Doctor in Pathological Anatomy. (Ministerial Decree of 26.04.198, published on the 01.07.1982).

• Applicants must be university graduates in medecine or doctors from another member country of the European Union authorising medical practice in Belgium.
• Applicants must possess a document attesting that, at the end of the selection process, they were selected as specialist candidates in Pathological Anatomy in a Belgian faculty of medecine.

The juridical context and practical procedures regarding these selection tests can be obtained from the secretary's office.

Degree holders from outside the European Union are only allowed to register on the programme in the context of procuring a university certificate for partially specialised training for the duration of two years (if they are in the process of doing a specialisation in their country of origin) or for an in-depth specialised training course for the duration of one year (if they are already recognised as specialists in their own country).

The Royal Decree of 30.05.2002, relating to the planning of the medical offer for the public, published on 14.06.2002, applies to those candidates wishing to obtain the title of Specialist Doctor in Pathological Anatomy (those candidates are thus counted among the general practitioner candidates or specialists in the context of the numerus clausus).

Admission applications must be addressed to the academic secretary.

The organisation of the entrance selection tests is arranged in accordance with the calendar and the general examination rules and regulations.

The training course includes full time apprenticeships in recognised services and teaching centres. It lasts for at least five years, full-time, and is divided up into two years of foundation studies including specific university courses, followed by three years of extended studies. The apprenticeship project established by the university promoter must be approved by the ministerial validation committee for the speciality. These apprenticeships include being on call.

Parallel to the practical training, the specialist candidate will follow a university programme organised as follows :

These two first years of studies consist of :

• Theory : Complements of Pathological Anatomy, Clinical Cytology, Pathological Histochemistry and Cytochemistry
• Seminars
• Supervised hospital ward training : Demonstrations and protocols regarding pathological anatomy (autopsies and surgical specimens )
• Practical training periods in pathological anatomy in laboratories approved by the Ministry of Public Health, recognised by the Teaching Committee for Pathological Anatomy. This training includes practising and interpreting autopsies from a macro and microscopic point of view and examining surgical specimens as well as the anatomo-pathological bases of legal medecine.

Three years of studies, consisting of :

• Theory : questions on special pathological anatomy, special pathological anatomy of the nervous system and muscles
• Seminars : seminars on special pathological anatomy, seminar on dermatopathology and cutaneous immunopathology
• Supervised hospital ward training : Demonstrations and protocols regarding histodiagnosis in special pathological anatomy, including neuropathology
• Apprenticeships in approved laboratories concentrating on examining biopsies and cytological material within various sectors of pathology.

Exams at the end of the first and second parts of the programme, aimed at evaluating the candidate's abilities in the domains of morphological analysis and diagnostic conclusions.

Further to the application of the Royal Decree of 16th March, 1999, at the end of the first two years of training, the candidate will receive an attestation proving that he has successfully accomplished a specific university training programme. The exam focuses on autopsy pathologies and surgical pathology. The cases selected for the exam are presented by the candidate during one of the service seminars.

The exam for the 2nd part focuses on the analysis of pathological cases from various sectors, as well as the writing of a thesis on a subject linked to pathological anatomy.

The evaluations are carried out by the ensemble of the pathologists from the sectors concerned who have participated in the training programme.

Upon successful fulfillment of all the above-described training requirements, the teaching committee will duly award the academic title in Pathological Anatomy.

This title does not replace official recognition by the ministerial validation committee. It attests the successful completion of an academic and scientific programme in the context of specialised training leading to validation.