From premed onward, an interest in pathology is often met with a well-meaning but mildly disapproving joke. It comes from friends, family, mentors and internet forums. “You must hate patients.” It seems introverts and misanthropes alike are often relegated to the sub-sub-basements and windowless corners of the hospital, where radiologists and pathologists hiss at lost patients. While every specialty is ripe with ridicule and...