Head of Department Message

Welcome to the website of the Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Department is committed to excellence in teaching, research, patient care and community service.  Through teamwork and a collegial and respectful environment, our team of faculty, biomedical scientists and hospital/ college administrative staff are committed to achieving these goals.

Teaching is at the core of the department’s responsibilities. Both faculty and lab scientists are involved in teaching medical students during Phase II, Phase III and Senior Clerkship. The department also offers a practicum for students of the Intercalated program as well as teaching the students of the Biomedical sciences program. The department is also one of the major training sites for Postgraduate Histopathology Residency Program.

The Department offers a subspecialized diagnostic service with faculty members having specific areas of interest. Highly skilled biomedical scientists perform a wide array of specialized laboratory techniques.

The Department is home to the University Wide Electron Microscopy Core Facility supporting undergraduate and postgraduate research in addition to providing diagnostic services both within SQU and beyond.

Faculty members contribute to undergraduate, postgraduate and collaborative research. Several members have grants and a good publication record.

Our commitment to the community is exemplified through regular school visits to our Department as well as our participation in various national exhibition and awareness campaigns to educate the society about diseases and the Pathologist’s role.

As you scroll through the various pages of our website I hope you will find the content both informative and enjoyable.

Thank You

Marwa Al Riyami

HOD, Pathology Department

Department Vision and Mission

Vision

To support the vision of SQU and SQUH through the delivery of high-quality Pathology teaching, research and clinical services that is of International Standards as well as community service. 

Mission

The Department of Pathology is committed to providing teaching, research and patient centered care and community service in an environment that supports continuous improvement.

Programs: M.D. Curriculum (Phase II)

M.D. Curriculum (Phase III)

During their Junior clerkship, students learn about Dermatopathology as part of their Clinical Dermatology rotation.

The senior clerkship students spend two days in the Pathology department as part of the SLT block. They rotate between main histology, cytology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. They also attend the tumor board multidisciplinary meeting.  Over the course of the two days, they learn about how specimens are to be submitted to the lab, both surgical biopsies and cytology samples, all steps involved in lab processing of the specimens and the importance of certain techniques such as frozen section, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy.

Biomedical Sciences:

Intercalated Programs:

The program runs a histopathology practicum for students of the BSc Health Sciences Program. During this module they learn about laboratory techniques such as microtomy, staining and they dissect small specimens under supervision.

Curriculum Administration

Pathology faculty are active contributors to Curriculum and Assessment through membership of the College Curriculum Committee and Management Committee for Undergraduate Student Research. The Department is also responsible for Coordination of the Alimentary, Locomotor and Integrated I modules (MD program) and Clinical Correlations module (BMS program).

 OMSB Histopathology Residency Program

The department is one of the major training sites for the Oman Medical Specialty Board residency program. The Program Director is a member of the faculty as well as several Trainers and the Chair of the Research subcommittee of the program. Histopathology Residents get to do focused subspecialty reporting. Residents from the Dermatology program, Obs & Gyne program and Hematopathology program also have rotations in the department.

Diagnostic services: 

These include routine diagnostic reports on surgical pathology and cytology specimens. Specialized and comprehensive reporting of tumors of all sizes and types, renal, bone marrow, liver and skin biopsies meet the highest standards of reporting with availability of all specialized techniques. The Department is privileged to have the only Diagnostic Electron microscopy facility in the country which is invaluable in diagnosis of renal and skin diseases and as an adjunct in tumor diagnosis. Participation in urgent reporting on FNAC’s for the one-stop breast clinic and frozen section facility for intra-operative consultation enable real- time decision making for patient management. Second opinions are provided on referred material from other government hospitals and healthcare centers around Oman.

Teaching:

Faculty members and biomedical scientists are actively engaged in teaching students of the following degree programmes/courses:

1- M.D Phase I, II, III.

2- B. Sc MLS program

3- Histopathology residents of Oman Medical Specialty Board

4- Training of Omani BMS on request by the Directorate of Training SQUH.

5- Supervision of MD students' research

6- Training in EM techniques

Facilities:

The Department provides comprehensive diagnostic facilities through the following sections:

1. HistoPathology: 

This section includes documentation, grossing, and processing of surgical specimens to generate stained tissue sections for biopsy reporting. A battery of special histochemical stains provides adjunctive information. Frozen section procedures enable critical intraoperative consultation for critical decision-making in-patient management. Macro- and microphotographic facilities provide archiving of interesting cases and enrich presentations and publication efforts.

2. Cytology: 

The department processes around 4000 cytology specimens annually split between gyne cytology (thin prep) and non-gyne cytology. Experienced cytotechnologists provide rapid on-site assessment (ROSA) in the radiology department for adequacy check of fine needle aspirates.
 

3. Immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology: 

The department offers a comprehensive range of immunohistochemical stains, immunofluorescence for renal and skin biopsies and enzyme histochemistry techniques for nerve and muscle biopsies. Our biomedical scientists are highly trained with experience in international centers. Molecular pathology includes in situ hybridization as well as immunostains for various molecular markers such as ALK and PD-L1. The department also receives many requests from other hospitals for various markers and for validation.

4. Electron microscopy: 

This is regarded as a University wide core facility and is a one of its kind in Oman. It is heavily involved in research but also provides regular diagnostic services to SQUH and other hospitals with a workload of around 350 samples a year. Electron microscopists routinely process and screen renal, cilia, blood, nerve and muscle biopsies for ultrastructural examination.

5. Mortuary: 

The mortuary provides facility for storage of bodies and embalming. No autopsies are performed. 

Department of Pathology

College of Medicine and Health Science

Sultan Qaboos University 

PO Box: 35, Alkoudh.123 Sultanate of Oman

College site contact details:

Phone: (+968) 2414-3562, Fax: (+968) 24141198

E-mail:  pathology@squ.edu.om

Hospital site contact details:

Phone: (+968) 2414-4974, Fax: (+968) 24144864

E-mail:  pathology.squh@gmail.com