Married pathology residents: Returning to school was worth it

By Allyson Fox

Drs. Serena and Bill Craft.

Drs. Serena and Bill Craft are second-year residents in anatomical pathology.

After Drs. Bill  and Serena Craft graduated from veterinary school, they went into private practice. However, after six years, they realized they were each most passionate about specific areas of veterinary medicine; Serena was fascinated by diagnosis, and Bill was interested in pathology.

As a husband-and-wife team, they decided to return to school and specialize in anatomical pathology, the diagnosis of disease based on evidence found through methods such as microscopic examination and necropsy, the animal form of an autopsy.

With two young boys to take care of at home, the Crafts say the work schedule for anatomical pathology is more family friendly, despite having an average 12-hour workday (sometimes it can reach 20).

Although their hands are full now, taking this path will ultimately give them flexible work hours as opposed to having to work weekends and holidays in emergency medicine.

As part of the residency, the Crafts work on two services: surgical pathology and necropsy. They receive and analyze biopsy samples from referring veterinarians and write reports on what they find when they are working in surgical pathology.

“One of the reasons we wanted to come back is because we missed the academic environment,” Bill says. “You can never know everything. You’re always learning throughout your whole career.”

The work schedule is hectic, but the residency is worth it, the couple says.

“There’s not a day that I wake up that I’m not happy to come in even though it’s tough,” Serena says.

Editor’s Note: This story was excerpted from a story titled “The New Postgrads” which appeared in the May/June 2012 issue of The Post, the monthly newsletter for the UF Health Science Center. To read the entire story, which also references former UF CVM small animal medicine resident Dr. Rob Armentano, click here.

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