How much overlap does oral pathology have with medical pathology?
How do they complement, or compete with, each other? Dr. Rohrer: There is a great deal of overlap with medical pathology, which got its modern start in Germany in the 1800s. Rudolf Virchow is considered the “father of pathology”. Oral pathology is really more closely aligned with medical pathology than with dentistry. We like to say we are a discipline of pathology and a specialty of dentistry. We are mostly centered in universities, where we do work closely with them because our knowledge complements each other. We usually do not compete for funding, and often jointly participate in research projects. My six-month sabbatical leave starts this January right here at the U over in general pathology. NWD: What would bring a patient directly to you? Dr. Rohrer: Either a situation difficult to diagnose or to treat, or managing a difficult clinical situation following diagnosis. There are three of us here – Drs. John Koutlas, Raj Gopalakrishnan, and myself – and one of us sees patients one-h
