Program Overview

Introduction to the Ph.D. Study Program in Pathological Anatomy and Forensic Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine at Comenius University in Bratislava offers a Ph.D. study program in Pathological Anatomy and Forensic Medicine. This program is designed to provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the field of pathological anatomy and forensic medicine.

Program Details

Responsible Person

The person responsible for the delivery, development, and quality of the study program is prof. MUDr. Pavel Babál, CSc.

Teachers of the Profile Subject

The teachers of the profile subject are:

• prof. MUDr. Jozef idlo, PhD.
• MUDr. Pavol Janega, PhD.

Study Advisor

The study advisor of the study program is prof. MUDr. Pavel Babál, CSc.

List of Supervisors

The list of supervisors includes:

• prof. MUDr. Pavel Babál, CSc.
• prof. MUDr. Jozef idlo, PhD.
• MUDr. Pavol Janega, PhD.
• prof. MUDr. udovít Danihel, PhD.
• prof. MUDr. tefan Galbavý, DrSc.
• doc. MUDr. Zuzana ierna, PhD.

Place of Realization

The study program is realized at the Medical Faculty, Comenius University in Bratislava, and its parts, including clinical workplaces, which are part of university hospitals providing education to students at the Faculty of Medicine, CU in Bratislava.

Awarded Academic Degree

The awarded academic degree is a doctor ("philosophiae doctor", in short, "PhD.").

Language of the Program

The language in which the program is organized is Slovak and English.

Standard Length of Study

The standard length of study is four years (internal form) and five years (external form).

Graduate Profile and Learning Objectives

The graduate of the study program acquires abilities to use scientific methods of research in the area of pathological anatomy and forensic medicine, with the following specifications:

• Identification of pathogenesis, etiology, morphological changes in pathological processes and their relations, manifestations of diseases at the present level of knowledge in the world, their course, including healing and response to therapy, and prediction of their prognosis
• Theoretical and practical implementation of methods of processing of biological materials for morphological analysis, including staining processes, immunohistochemistry and enzyme histochemistry, in situ hybridization, electron microscopy and morphometry
• Recognition of morphological principles of diseases processes at the cellular, subcellular and genetic levels
• Development of principles of individual and team research work, ethics and social part of the work
• Application of acquired knowledge in praxis, development of individual scientific discipline
• Organization of scientific experiment, experiment on laboratory animals, tissue culture
• Correct evaluation of morphological and biochemical findings, their interpretation and statistical processing
• Improvement of diagnostic algorithms

Additional Objectives for Forensic Medicine

• Recognition of effects of violence effect on human organism, its outer and inner manifestations, including prediction of prognosis of violence in living individuals
• Recognition of effects of poisons, psychoactive substances and other xenobiotics on human organism

Career Opportunities

Graduates from the study program Pathological anatomy and Forensic medicine at the Faculty of Medicine CU in Bratislava master a broad spectrum of scientific methods used in biomedical research, which they can creatively apply in their work and contribute to the development of the scientific knowledge. They are qualified for successful employment in the team leading on a broader spectrum of scientific and research institutions focused on medical, veterinary, or pharmaceutical sciences. They are professionally prepared to work creatively in scientific institutes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences at various research levels. Other employments that, however, require graduation from an accredited study program of specialization study in medical profession, represent physicians a pathologist or forensic medicine doctor.

Evaluation of the Study Program Quality

A request to assess the quality of the submitted study program was sent to selected employers to express their opinion on the need for a new doctoral study program focused on medical biology and clinical genetics. Delivered letters are available at the Department of scientific-research activities, doctoral studies and international relationships of the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava.