Sechenov University is developing a digital program to train pathologists

2025: Developing a program for in-depth training of students, residents and novice pathologist physicians

By the end of 2025, Sechenov University, together with the company developing the platform-designer of educational programs "Architects," will create a program for in-depth training of students, residents and novice doctors of pathologists in morphological changes in organs and tissues during pathological processes. Training will take place on histological drug scans using artificial intelligence technologies. A similar system for students of the First Moscow State Medical University has already been launched. The university announced this on May 7, 2025.

The specialty of a pathologist is transforming - modern pathologists use digital tools that facilitate work, speed up and make more accurate diagnosis of various diseases, said Tatyana Demura, director of the Institute of Clinical Morphology and Digital Pathology at Sechenov University. Following this, approaches to education are changing. Students of the Institute of Clinical Morphology and Digital Pathology, through which 6.5 thousand students pass annually, have created conditions that are as close as possible to those that will be in the workplace. To do this, the institute teaches students on histological scans, that is, digital images, on real telemedicine platforms of partners. The system is loaded with impersonal histoscans of several thousand patients of the Clinical Center for Health Sciences of Sechenov University.

In addition, the program includes the so-called Socratic dialogue with artificial intelligence. He asks questions on cases, and depending on the answers, he continues the dialogue, leading the student to the correct answer, - said Tatyana Demura. - As a result of the use of such a platform, we produce specialists of a new type. They will not only be able to work immediately in modern programs of the health care system, which are used in the best pathological departments, but also have clinical thinking. At the same time, this does not cancel face-to-face classes for future doctors - without them, the pathologist's specialist cannot be prepared.

The program is used to teach students of the Institute of Clinical Morphology and Digital Pathology in all areas - dentistry, pediatrics, medical care, biotechnology, and so on.

Now the Institute aims to teach digital pathology tools not only to students, but also to doctors. By the end of 2025, together with the company "Architects" plan to prepare a program for additional education of specialists.

In this system, doctors will be able to learn how to work with histoscans, make diagnoses using artificial intelligence technologies and mark images themselves in order to train neural networks to recognize the pathological process. As one of the graduation tasks, the student will need to mark the pathological process on the histoscan. If his markup matches the one performed by the teacher, the graduate will successfully complete the testing.

The program for training digital pathology will be presented at the end of 2025, said the director of the institute. As of May 2025, the system is filled - histoscans are loaded and marked. The team includes Professor Tatyana Demura, trainee researcher at the Department of Therapeutic Dentistry at Sechenov University Daria Archakova, representatives of the developer and faculty of the Institute of Clinical Morphology and Digital Pathology, in addition, trainees-researchers of the Institute, residents of the Council of People's Commissars and the School of Excellence of the Institute.