Pathology is a medical specialty. A pathologist is an expert in
medical investigation and diagnosis. Anyone who wants to become a
pathologist will have to study medicine in a medical school,
practice medicine to become a registered medical practitioner, and
then undertake another five or six years of pathology specialist
training to become a pathologist. In some countries pathology is
divided into different disciplines or subspecialties. For examples,
anatomical pathology (also known as tissue pathology or
histopathology), chemical pathology, haematology and microbiology.
As you can see, chemical pathology is a subspecialty of pathology.
It specializes in the study of chemical substances (for example
water, electrolytes, acids, drugs, metabolites, toxins, hormones)
and chemical reactions in the body, blood, and body fluids.
Chemical pathologists use chemical reactions and or chemical
substances to diagnose, monitor and, sometimes, treat diseases. The
terms chemical pathology, clinical chemistry and clinical
biochemistry are generally loosely used and interchangeable.
Strictly speaking, however, the term "chemical pathologist" is
referred to a medical qualified pathologist who subspecializes in
chemical pathology, whereas a "clinical chemist" is a science
graduate who works in the field of chemical pathology. A clinical
chemist can also become an expert in clinical chemistry.
