A professional who studies nature, cause, and development of diseases, and structural and functional changes caused by them. Responsibilities include:

• Diagnoses, from body tissue, fluids, secretions, and other specimens, presence and stage of disease, utilizing laboratory procedures.
• Acts as consultant to other medical practitioners.
• Performs autopsies to determine nature and extent of disease, cause of death, and effects of treatment.
• May direct activities of pathology department in medical school, hospital, clinic, medical examiner's office, or research institute.
• May be designated according to specialty as Clinical Pathologist; Forensic Pathologist; Neuropathologist; Surgical Pathologist.