How To Become A Pathology Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pathology assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Working in pathology labs, forensic labs, hospitals, or morgues, and under the supervision of pathology, pathology assistants are more than often tasked with the following responsibilities: Examining tissue samples, dissecting tissue samples, processing tissue samples, conducting surgery on specimens, perform postmortem examinations, submitting tissue samples for testing, and photographing bodies or individual organs. Pathology assistants work the typical week hour and mostly work on regular, weekday schedules. In exchange for their expertise, a media director can expect an average annual salary of $93,795. The higher education requirement for this position is a bachelor's degree in life sciences such as biology.

A pathologist assistant program of at least two years is equally important for this position as it is required during certification by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). While some careers are expected to suffer a worse fate, this career is safe to venture into as it has an expected growth rate of 23% between 2018 and 2028, producing around 154,900 job opportunities across the United States, based on projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In exchange for their expertise, a media director can expect an average annual salary of $93,795.

ScorePathology AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,978

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.6

Growth Rate -7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.80%

Asian 12.10%

Black or African American 9.74%

Hispanic or Latino 17.23%

Unknown 5.12%

White 55.01%

Gender

female 74.57%

male 25.43%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.7

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pathology assistant

Explore pathology assistant education requirements

Most common pathology assistant degrees

Bachelor's

55.5 %

Associate

17.6 %

Master's

7.9 %

Start to develop specific pathology assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	15.82%
Frozen Sections	8.05%
Dictation	7.50%
Anatomic Pathology	7.07%
Patient Care	5.89%

Complete relevant pathology assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pathology assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a pathology assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pathology assistant resumes.

Research pathology assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage scheduling and patient treatment according to insurance and Medicaid guidelines.
Assist QA clerk with processing of QA material on an as-need basis.
Perform frozen sectioning, touch preps, and assist in bone marrow aspirations.
Direct a complex IHC project to transition staff from a manual process to automation.

Prepare your pathology assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pathology assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a pathology assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Pathology Assistant Resume templates

Build a professional Pathology Assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Pathology Assistant resume.

Apply for pathology assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a pathology assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do pathology assistants rate their job?

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Pathology Assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Pros

Hands on work and being able to learn new things everyday. Working side by side with the medical director was great too.