The Open Pathology Education Network (OPEN) is a collaborative project that aims to improve human
health by providing increased access to quality diagnostic pathology and laboratory services. It aims to
accomplish this lofty goal by lowering the barriers to quality pathology education and training globally,
and by enriching the educational resources available to the current global pathology community. This
rests on the assumption that significant health inequalities are in part due to an insufficient supply of
properly trained pathologists, and deficient prior and on-going training resources for currently practicing
pathologists.
Key to our strategy in doing this is creation of a web-based platform through which trainees and
pathologists can gain access to curated and organized pathology educational content (indeed an entire
curriculum) on a wide array of core pathology and lab medicine topics. This platform will also facilitate
networking and mentoring among network members, including live virtual sessions. The content will
mostly not be proprietary but will come from a variety of freely available sources. Some may also come
from restricted sources willing to offer content to trainees or pathologists in developing settings without
charge, or under grant or other arrangement. The portal will track activity and offer certificates of
module completion, as well as potentially other means of competency validation.
The OPEN Grant Request seeks funding for development and deployment of the platform portal and site
operational expenses through the initial startup two years.
