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Enter the exciting world of diagnostic pathology or research, where you will investigate the causes and cures for disease, and play an integral role in patient care.

Develop the skills to help diagnose, manage and treat disease, and conduct laboratory research with this four-year honours degree offering extensive practical experience and hands-on learning in our on-campus histopathology and haematology labs.

As a medical laboratory scientist, your work will contribute to people's welfare. Your unstoppable future career will see you supporting clinicians in the diagnosis, management and treatment of disease. You’ll perform tests on blood, tissues and other samples, and develop improved methods for disease detection and treatment.

Benefit from 26 weeks of laboratory placements with a range of private and public laboratories during your studies. In your honours year, engage with an experimental research practice project or advanced clinical practice placement, and engage with specialist learning in microbiology, biochemistry, histopathology and cytopathology, and haematology.

What you'll learn

This honours degree prepares you for a career in all areas of pathology, with training in biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, molecular pathology, haematology and histopathology.

During your first two years you’ll study natural and biomedical sciences, and during the third and fourth years you’ll strengthen your knowledge through clinical courses and practical experience.

You’ll learn the theory and develop the skills required to perform a range of diagnostic tests including cross-matching for blood transfusions, identifying the organisms that cause infections and food poisoning, screening for cancer cells and detecting genes responsible for disease conditions. You’ll learn how to examine blood for any changes in its composition or function, and monitor levels of blood chemicals including sugar, electrolytes, pH, metabolites, toxins, drugs, hormones and proteins.

In your third year of study all students will complete 13 weeks of valuable field placements, which is more than what is required by industry to become an accredited medical laboratory scientist with the Australian Institute of Medical and Clinical Scientists (AIMS).

At the start of your honour’s year, you can choose to undertake Advanced Clinical Practice for 13 weeks or Experimental Research Practice for 13 weeks. In both options, you’ll work as part of a team in a diagnostic or research setting, learning how to manage specimens, perform tests and operate equipment.