Pathology is the branch of medicine that focuses on the nature, cause and effect of diseases or injuries. There are many different branches of pathology, including surgical pathology. Surgical pathology focuses on the analysis of tissues, or even organs, that are removed from living patients during a surgery. It is the surgical pathologist's job to use that specimen to help diagnose the disease or problem and formulate a treatment plan.

Surgical pathologists, sometimes referred to as a surgical diagnosticians, may be generalists or they may specialize in a specific area of medicine. An oncology surgical pathologist, for example, will largely focus on analyzing cancerous and malignant tumors, cysts, or white blood cells. There is also the forensic pathologist, who participates in autopsies to uncover the cause of a person's death.

Depending on the type of pathology, the pathologist may work in a variety of locations from a hospital to a clinic to a morgue or crime lab. Typically, however, the primary work in surgical pathology occurs within a laboratory.

Diagnostic techniques of surgical pathology involve a wide range of techniques. The most basic technique is at the macroscopic level — just viewing the specimen with the bare eye can provide the pathologist with sufficient information to make a diagnosis. Most often, however, the pathologist will also require some microscopic assistance to make a sufficient diagnosis and prognosis. The microscope, therefore, is one of the primary tools a pathologist uses. The surgical pathologist does not rely on the eye and microscope alone, however. Molecular diagnosis, like a DNA analysis, and other laboratory tests are sometimes used to help produce a diagnosis.

The surgical pathologist typically does not perform the surgery himself. That job is in the purview of the surgeon. The surgical pathologist, however, analyzes the specimen removed during a surgery. That specimen can be a biopsy which is a tissue sample from the infected area, or an excision of an entire diseased area or even an entire organ. Surgical pathology also encompasses the analysis of specimens provided by a non-surgeon. A dermatologist, for example, might remove a mole for a surgical pathologist to analyze.

The license to practice surgical pathology typically involves many years of medical school, participation in an approved hospital or clinical residency program, and a certification with a licensing board. In the United States, that board would be the American Board of Pathology, but all countries have their own certification process and requirements.