Career Information

Artistic shot of lights on a Western building

Career Planning

As a Western graduate student, you have access to an abundance of quality professional development opportunities, which make it simple for you to self-direct your learning and development, maximize the value of your degree, and ease your career transition.

Development of Skills

As a graduate student in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, you will become directly involved in scientific research. Because science goes beyond what we already know, scientific research is a continuous learning process that involves discovery, creative and critical thinking, acquisition of technical expertise, oral and written communication, and problem solving. By engaging in research, you will develop these and other skills that can be used in many different contexts, and you will contribute to a growing body of knowledge about how living systems function. Many careers require this advanced MSc and PhD training including the following:

  • Post-Doctoral Research and Advanced Training
  • Professional Training – Medicine, Nursing, Law, Business, Dentistry, Teaching, Pharmacy, Pathologists’ Assistant
  • Research Associate or Technician (Academic)
  • Industrial Research Scientist or Technician
  • Clinical Trials Coordinator
  • Lab or Project Coordinator
  • Business and Management Consulting
  • Government Policy and Research: Health Canada, Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Agriculture Canada

Examples of Careers

A snapshot of current careers held by PhD graduates from our department includes the following:

  • Milica Krstic (PhD 2019) Scientific Lead, Immuno-oncology, KisoJi Biotechnology, Quebec, Canada
  • Muriel Brackstone (MD 1999; MSc 1994; PhD 2016) Medical Director - Breast Care Clinic, Associate Professor - Departments of Surgery and Oncology, London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre, Victoria Hospital, Western University, London, Canada
  • Yadira Tejeda-Saldana (PhD 2016) Executive Director, Cellular Agriculture Canada, Waterloo, Canada
  • Matthew Riopel (PhD 2014) Sales Executive at 10x Genomics, San Diego, USA
  • Rokhsana Mortuza (PhD 2014) Clinical Research Coordinator at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, London, Canada
  • Phaedra Henley (PhD 2014) Director, Division of One Health at the University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Emily Keats (PhD 2013) Senior Research Associate, The SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, Toronto, Canada
  • Andrew Pepper (PhD 2012) Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
  • Wahab Khan (PhD 2010) Assistant Director (Molecular/Cytogenetics) at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, New Hampshire, USA
  • Katie Moisse (PhD 2009) Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, School of Interdisciplinary Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
  • Amy Cook (PhD 2006) Senior Director, Knowledge Mobilization at CIFAR, Toronto, Canada
  • Zia Khan (PhD 2004) Associate Professor, Graduate Chair, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Western University, London, Canada