ABSTRACT
Pathology is a scientific and medical discipline that addresses four central components of disease: morphology, etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical consequences. The pathologist deploys a full range of morphologic, molecular, microbiologic, immunologic, and biomarker techniques to establish a diagnosis or describe deviation from the norm. Training in general pathology and the pathogenesis of disease enables the pathologist to understand and describe the pathologic manifestations of spontaneous or induced disease, its underpinnings in basic biologic sciences, and the clinical consequences of the findings. Using these skills, the pathologist can be a highly impactful scientist in pharmaceutical research and development. In a large pharmaceutical company, pathology core functions may comprise a diverse team of veterinary and medical pathologists with the skills and tools of Investigative and Toxicologic Pathology. Treatment-related findings that are mediated by a novel pharmacology may indeed have distinct features that distinguish them from spontaneous/background findings, and such findings deserve a distinguishing nomenclature.
