DIAGNOSTICS · SPECIALTY
Connexis recruits pathologists across all anatomic and clinical pathology sub-specialties. We reach the candidates who aren't on the market — because we've been building relationships with them for 25 years.
Three things that separate a specialist from a generalist in this market.
Our team has spent years — some of us decades — recruiting pathologists specifically.
We know the difference between a Surgical Pathologist and a Cytopathologist, and which questions matter when screening for an academic versus a commercial-lab role.
Most generalist firms can find some pathologists.
We find the right pathologist for your specific need — including hard-to-fill sub-specialties like dermatopathology, neuropathology, hematopathology, and molecular pathology.
All AP and CP disciplines — generalist through highly sub-specialized.
Every level and function — clinical, operational, and leadership.
AP Pathologist · CP Pathologist · AP/CP Dual-Boarded · Sub-Specialty Fellowship-Trained Pathologists · Locum Tenens Pathologists · Staff Pathologist · Senior Pathologist
Medical Director · Chief of Pathology · Department Chair · Division Chief · VP of Pathology · Director of Anatomic Pathology · Director of Clinical Pathology · Section Director
Lab Director · Technical Director · Lab Supervisor · Histology Supervisor · Cytology Supervisor · Pathology Practice Administrator · Operations Director
Histotechnologist (HT/HTL) · Cytotechnologist (CT) · Cytology Supervisor · Pathology Assistant (PA) · Molecular Pathology Technologist · Senior Histotech
Medical Science Liaison · Pathology Sales Specialist · Regional Sales Manager · Business Development · Commercial Pathology Director · Anatomic Pathology Sales
Pathology Informatics Director · Digital Pathology Lead · LIS Administrator · Pathology IT Specialist · Computational Pathology Scientist · AI/ML in Pathology
What every pathology hiring manager should understand before starting a search.
The pathologists worth hiring are employed, productive, and not browsing LinkedIn. Reaching them takes relationships built over years — not a posted job description.this is the first reason pathology searches take longer than hospital administrators usually expect.
Timing is the second. The right candidate for a Medical Director role in a 12-pathologist commercial lab may not be looking right now, but might be open in six months. Generalist recruiters don't know that candidate, don't know their situation, and don't have the ongoing conversations that surface that opportunity at the right moment.
The third reason: pathology is a small world. Most strong candidates have already worked with — or know of — the firms reaching out to them. A recruiter who has spent twenty years in pathology has credibility that an unknown caller doesn't. That credibility is what gets passive candidates to take the call.
The practical effect: searches handled by pathology specialists usually identify viable candidates within weeks. Searches handled by generalists often stall — not because no candidates exist, but because the right candidates rarely engage with someone they don't know.
"Pathologist" is not a single role. Anatomic Pathologists and Clinical Pathologists train in different disciplines, work in different settings, and develop different skill sets — even though they share a board certification path. A Clinical Pathology Lab Director and an Anatomic Pathology Medical Director have less in common professionally than most hiring managers assume.
Within each, sub-specialization narrows the pool further. A Surgical Pathologist with a hematopathology fellowship is a meaningfully different candidate than one with a dermatopathology fellowship — even if both are technically Surgical Pathologists. For specialized practices and commercial labs, that fellowship-level fit can determine whether a hire works out.
Sub-specialties also vary widely in market depth. Recruiting a general AP pathologist is hard but tractable. Recruiting a fellowship-trained Bone & Soft Tissue pathologist with five years of post-fellowship experience is a different challenge entirely — the candidate pool may be a few hundred people nationwide.
Understanding this depth isn't optional for the recruiter. It determines who to call, what to expect, and how long the search will realistically take. A hiring manager screening a generalist firm's shortlist usually finds that the firm doesn't know the difference between candidates who look similar on paper but are not interchangeable in practice.
A sample of real pathology partnerships.
Independent Pathology Group
Connexis placed PathGroup's first fellowship-trained sub-specialty pathologist. That pathologist is still with the organization more than 23 years later. It's the kind of outcome that defines what the right placement looks like — not just technically qualified, but a career-long fit for the practice and the culture.
Large Commercial Laboratory
A large commercial laboratory needed a fellowship-trained hematopathologist — one of the most challenging subspecialties to fill. Generalist firms had stalled. We leveraged our pathologist database and direct candidate relationships to identify and place a qualified candidate in a compressed timeline.
Private Pathology Practices
We regularly partner with private pathology groups on a contingency basis — reaching passive candidates through direct outreach rather than job boards. Multiple practice groups have hired from Connexis without paying a retainer upfront, with candidates identified and interviews scheduled within weeks of engaging.
Connexis recruits across the full diagnostics industry — these practices often intersect with pathology.
Diagnostics
Commercial, lab operations, and executive talent for reference laboratories and specialty testing organizations.
Explore →Diagnostics
Commercial and scientific talent for companies developing molecular diagnostic instruments and assays.
Explore →Diagnostics
CLIA labs, IVD manufacturers, molecular diagnostics, pathology, and point-of-care — our full diagnostics practice.
Explore →Common questions about pathology recruiting.
Most pathology searches identify a viable shortlist within 4–6 weeks when handled by a specialist recruiter, with offers extended within 8–12 weeks. Sub-specialty roles — dermatopathology, neuropathology, hematopathology — and Medical Director searches typically run longer because the candidate pool is smaller and decisions involve more stakeholders.
Pathology is a smaller specialty than most clinical fields — roughly 12,000–14,000 practicing pathologists in the U.S. — and sub-specialization narrows pools further, sometimes to a few hundred candidates nationwide. Pathologists also evaluate opportunities differently than clinical physicians: practice setting, case mix, lab volume, and partnership structure often matter as much as compensation.
Yes. Sub-specialty searches — dermatopathology, neuropathology, hematopathology, molecular pathology, GI pathology, and others — are a significant portion of our work. Our database of 25,000+ pathologists is segmented by fellowship training and sub-specialty experience, which is how we identify fellowship-trained candidates who aren't actively job-searching.
Yes. We recruit for faculty appointments at academic medical centers, including assistant, associate, and full professor roles, as well as department chair and division chief searches. Academic searches require recruiters who understand teaching loads, research expectations, and the tenure-track considerations candidates weigh alongside compensation.
Both. Routine pathology searches, including staff pathologist and fellowship-trained sub-specialty placements, often run on a contingency basis — you pay when we deliver a successful hire. Senior leadership searches, Medical Director placements, and Department Chair searches typically run retained. We'll tell you upfront which model makes sense and why.
Yes. Technical staff placements — histotechs, cytotechs, pathology assistants, and lab supervisors — are part of our pathology practice. The same candidate network that connects us to pathologists also surfaces the technical staff who work alongside them.
Whether you need a general AP pathologist, a fellowship-trained sub-specialist, or a Medical Director — tell us what you need. We'll be honest about whether we're the right fit and how long it will take.
