Volume 2 No 1 Spring/Summer 2001

Contents

USCAP Journals Now On-Line

Awards Presented at the Annual Meeting

Highlights from the 2001 USCAP Annual Meeting

In Memoriam - Ramzi S. Cotran

Deceased Members

Our Academy as the "Best Buy"

I have for many years considered the "Academy" to be an outstanding organization which advances the goals of Pathology in North America. As a member of the Academy, my goal has been to let others know about the values that are gained by membership in our Academy.

The scientific goals and objectives of the Academy are achieved principally through its annual meeting and its journals, Laboratory Investigation and Modern Pathology. The scope of educational opportunities at the annual scientific meeting is so varied and numerous that all pathologists can advance their knowledge. At the Companion Meetings on Saturday and Sunday pathologists have the opportunity to meet in a small group with which they are closely affiliated. The following week they have the opportunity to attend meetings of the broader Academy programs. Platform presentations, posters, evening specialty conferences, Maude Abbott Lectures, long courses, short courses, special courses on modern technology and practice offer such a variety of opportunities that the program almost represents a smorgasbord of pathology delicacies.

An almost unique aspect of our Academy is the opportunity to review the slides for the evening specialty conferences and then to hear the discussion by four or five experts in that field who may have slightly or quite different ideas about the classification of a given disease process in one of the slides that you have already studied. This opportunity to study in advance, come up with your conclusions. and then hear learned experts discuss their differences and reasons for coming to a conclusion is a highly effective educational method for pathologists of all degrees of experience.

You are reading this article as a member, so you know much about what I have written above. Why am I writing this article? On one of the occasions when Dr. Ronald Welsh, senior member of my department, and I were praising the organization of the Academy and the many exciting opportunities that it provided, a comment arose that is worthy of passing on to the members. We were doing this at about the time that our dues statements arrived from the Academy. On this occasion Ron Welsh called the Academy a "Best Buy", using the term that is used in Consumer Reports Magazine for specific recommendations after evaluating products. I was so struck by this pronouncement that it has stuck with me even though it happened many years ago.

Think about it. Think about what you get for your money in the Academy of Pathology and compare that with what you might get for other dues that you pay to various state and national medical societies and also national pathology organizations. This is not a recruiting letter because you are already a member. These are my views about what a good deal we are getting as members. You should feel good about it too.

The Academy provides participants with new information both at the investigative and applied practice level of Pathology, and also provides an open forum for scientists to present and to discuss advances and the understanding of pathological processes. For members, and especially for junior members, these offerings are made at an affordable price both in respect to annual dues and fees at the meeting. Compare with other organizations if you have any doubt.

To sum up, you are a member of an extraordinarily well run organization which is run with incredible efficiency largely due to a succession of great and innovative Secretary-Treasurers and a small but highly skilled and dedicated staff. The offerings of the Academy cannot be made without the work of many others, including the volunteers who present the programs and courses each year. Therefore, my rating of the Academy as a consumer is nothing less than "Best Buy." Jack P. Strong, M.D. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

Jack P. Strong, M.D. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

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Can't remember which month you read that article in Modern Pathology about applying a diagnostic immmunopanel for mesothelioma or that review article in Laboratory Investigation on common cytogenetic abnormalities linking malignant fibrous histiocytomas and leiomyosarcomas?

Don't waste time heading to the library to pour through index medicus or sending your secretary on a table of contents search in the departmental library! The answer is at your fingertips right on your computer desktop now that both of the Academy's worldclass journals are available on-line through Stanford University LibraryÕs High Wire Press. As an USCAP member you have free access to an active on-line subscription to the same paper journal you receive as a member benefit. DonÕt forget to check the On-line Tips section of both journals websites for instructions on better web browsing.

You will find how to take advantage of opportunities to search the archives for articles by key subject words, author, and year; to read abstracts and full text with images or to download PDF or HTML versions of articles onto your computer; to search for similar articles in the same journal or PubMed; to search Medline for articles by the same authors; to download articles to your citation manager; and best of all to continue your education on the topic of interest by linking via Medline or directly by hyperlink without a subscription to the full text of cited references contained in any of the 128 electronic versions of medical and scientific journals handled by High Wire Press.

You can also customize your on-line subscription to alert you when new articles cite the current article of interest and to receive monthly by email the table of contents of new issues of the Academy's journals the moment that they are published. The Academy is proud to offer these value rich electronic tools to further your practice, educational and research needs. See this and much more to come at www.uscap.org or www.uscapjournals.org

Richard J. Zarbo, M.D. Chairman, Publications Committee

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There are up to 19 prestigious awards available for presentation to Junior Members/housestaff in pathology at the USCAP Annual Meeting. Most of these awards are for outstanding scientific abstracts presented at the meeting. The awards range from $250 to $1000 (and of course are prestigious enough to be added to their CV's). Briefly, the Awards are:

1) The Stowell-Orbison Awards are available to medical students, residents, fellows, or PhD candidates in Pathology. The competition offers up to four awards of $500 each for the best poster presentation of scientific abstracts at the USCAP annual meeting. In addition to these cash awards, up to four Certificates of Merit may also be presented.

2) The Autopsy Award is given by the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology and the USCAP for the best poster based on autopsy material presented as part of the Stowell-Orbison Competition. Applicants may win this award alone, or they may win it in addition to a Stowell-Orbison Award.

3) Companion Societies' Pathologist-in-training Awards: Nine Companion Societies (representing the subspeciality areas of cardiovascular, cytopathology, gastrointestinal, hematopathology, infectious disease, liver; pulmonary, renal, and ultrastructural pathology) offer awards for posters or platforms presented at the annual meeting in the particular area of interest of the respective societies. Most of these are for $500.

4) F. Stephen Vogel Award is in recognition of an outstanding paper by a resident or fellow published in one of the Academy's two journals, Modern Pathology or Laboratory Investigation, during the preceding calendar year. The Awardee must be a member, in good standing, of the USCAP for at least a year prior to receiving the award, possess an MD or international equivalent degree and be a pathologist-in-training in a program accredited for residency at the time the scientific investigation on which the article is based was started and substantially completed. Applicants should be the first author, or document a significant contribution to the paper.

5) The Benjamin Castleman Award is granted for an outstanding paper in the field of human pathology published in English. The Awardee must be a pathologist or a pathology resident or fellow who is no older than 40 years of age. This award is sponsored by the Massachusetts General Hospital and the USCAP.

As a member you should have recently received the Preliminary Meeting Announcement for the 2002 Annual Meeting in Chicago. This booklet contains additional information and application forms for these awards. Winners of the 2001 awards are published in this edition of The Academy Newsletter. Would you please call these awards to the attention of your house staff. Thank you.

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Highlights from the 2001 USCAP
Annual Meeting

Dr. J.Z. Huang, University of Nebraska Medical Center was also a recipient of a Stowell-Orbison Award for his scientific abstract.

Dr. J.Z. Huang

The recipients of the Stowell-Orbison Awards for outstanding scientific abstracts presented by pathologists-in-training at the 2001 Annual Academy meeting pictured from left to right below are: Drs. L Basso (University of Padua, Italy), N. Simone, (NCI/NIH, Bethesda, MD), T.O. Nielsen, (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.), Deborah Powell, President of the USCAP, and L. Diaz, Northwestern University (Autopsy Award Winner).

Recipients of the Stowell-Orbison Awards

Dr. A.M. Shaaban, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, England, was the recipient of a Stowell Orbison Certificate of Merit for her scientific abstract.

The other recipients of Certificates of Merit who are not pictured are:

Dr. J.L. Frater, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH; Dr. K.M. Hiatt, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC; and Dr. D.K. McGregor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Dr. Pei Hui, presently at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center received the F. Stephen Vogel Award for the most outstanding paper by a resident or fellow published in one of the AcademyÕs two journals. His paper entitled ÒPathogenesis of Placental Site Trophoblastic Tumor May Require the Presence of a Paternally Derived X ChromosomeÓ was published in Laboratory Investigation (80: 965-972, 2000) and was based upon his work performed at Yale UniversityÕs Department of Pathology.

Dr. Pei Hui

The Autopsy Award was presented to Dr. Leslie Diaz (left), Northwestern University, Chicago, for the abstract entitled Ò Pathology of the Spleen in AIDS Autopsies: Comparing the Pre- and Post-Anti-Retroviral ErasÓ by Diaz, L., Kuman, A., Murphy, R., and Variakojis, D. This award is presented by the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology (ADASP) and the USCAP to the pathologist-in-training for the best poster based on autopsy material presented as part of the Stowell-Orbison Award. Dr. Timothy Smith (right), Professor of Pathology and Director of Anatomic Pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC is the Secretary-Treasurer of the ADASP.

Dr. Leslie Diaz (left) and Dr. Timothy Smith (right).

Dr. F. "Kash" Mostofi, former Secretary-Treasurer and President of the Academy, AFIP, flanked by the two most recent recipients of the F.K. Mostofi Award for Distinguished Service to the Academy - Drs. Virginia LiVolsi (Professor of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania) and Fred Silva (Secretary-Treasurer/Executive Director, USCAP). Dr. LiVolsi was this yearÕs recipient for her many excellent contributions to the Academy and its educational programs.

Fred Silva, Dr. F. "Kash" and Mostofi, Virginia LiVolsi

Dr. Ralph Hruban, Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University received the Young Investigator Award for his career-work on the biology and the pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma. The Young Investigator Award recognizes a body of investigative work which has contributed significantly to the diagnosis and understanding of human disease. Awardees must be under the age of 45 in order to be eligible for this prestigious award. The award is being presented by Dr. Deborah Powell, President of the USCAP.

Dr. Ralph Hruban and Dr. Deborah Powell

Dr. Todd Kroll (left), presently at the Brigham & WomenÕs Hospital/Harvard, was the recipient of the Benjamin Castleman Award for the best published paper in the field of human pathology. The Award was presented by Dr. Bob Colvin, Chair of the Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Dr. KrollÕs paper was entitled PAX8-PPARyl Fusion Oncogene in Human Thyroid Carcinoma published in Science (198: 1357-1360, 2000). It should be noted that the applications for this prestigious award were numerous with many outstanding individuals having papers published in premier journals such as Nature, Science, American Journal of Pathology, and the Journal of Immunology, to name only a few.

Dr. Todd Kroll and Dr. Bob Colvin

Drs. Margaret Billingham, Professor of the Departments of Pathology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Stanford, and Leopold Koss, Professor of Pathology, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, were the recipients of the AcademyÕs Distinguished Pathologist Award in recognition of distinguished service in the development of the discipline of pathology: Dr. Billingham for her seminal work in cardiac pathology and cardiac allograft transplantation rejection and Dr. Koss for his outstanding and far-ranging work in cytopathology.

Dr. Victor Reuter (Acting Chief, Surgical Pathology Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center), is Chairman of the USCAP Education Committee. This committee is responsible for the entire educational program for the annual USCAP meetings and, under his leadership, has instituted many new educational offerings and is instituting several electronic initiatives such as the online submission of scientific abstracts and CD-ROM and website education. Great job Victor!

Three Presidents of the Academy (left to right) Dr. Ronald DeLellis (2001-2002), Professor of Pathology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University Dr. Deborah Powell (2000-2001), Professor of Pathology and Executive Dean, University of Kansas Dr. Harvey Goldman (1999-2000), Professor of Pathology, Harvard/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Dr. James Madara, William Patterson Timmie Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, gave the Nathan Kaufman Timely Topics Lecture entitled ÒThe Biology of Mucosal InflammationÓ. His elegant lecture was very well received and appreciated by the audience of about 2000 pathologists.

Dr. Sharon Weiss (right), Past President of the Academy and Professor of Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, and Dr. Deborah Powell, USCAP President. Dr. Weiss presented this year's Maude Abbott Lecture. Her topic was ÒSoft Tissue Sarcomas: Lessons from the PastÐChallenges for the FutureÓ. This lecture was attended by almost 2000 individuals. At the end of her magnificent presentation, Dr. Weiss received a one-minute standing ovation by all those in attendance.

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In Memoriam

Ramzi S. Cotran

Dr. Ramzi Cotran, who was the Academy's President from 1993-1994, died on October 23, 2000 at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of 67.

He was the Chair, Department of Pathology at Brigham & Women's Hospital and ChildrenÕs Hospital, and Frank B. Mallory Professor of Pathology at Harvard University, Boston, MA. Ramzi was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost academic pathologists and Chairs of pathology in the United States and the world.

He was co-author of the most well-known and widely read pathology textbook in the world. He served the USCAP in many ways and gave the Maude Abbott Lecture in 1996. At the 90th Annual Meeting of the USCAP in Atlanta in March 2001, Dr. Cotran received a special posthumous recognition from the Academy with the first-ever USCAP President's Award for extraordinary service to the discipline of pathology and to pathologists throughout North America.

Dr. Cotran was born in Haifa, Palestine and received his medical training at the American University of Beirut. He came to Boston to pursue post-graduate studies in pathology and nephrology. In 1974 Ramzi was named pathologist-in-chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, a position he served for 27 years, transforming his department from a small clinical service to a distinguished academic department with superb clinical services.

Dr. Cotran authored more than 180 research papers and served as president or chairman of countless national and international professional organizations in pathology and nephrology. He was a Life-Long Trustee of the American Board of Pathology and was an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ramzi received both Harvard Medical School's Lifetime Achievement Award in Mentoring and the Dean's Award for Support and Advancement of Women Faculty.

Last year a Professorship at Harvard Medical School was established in his name. Ramzi was a great mentor and friend to all of us. No Chairman in recent memory has trained and mentored more individuals to positions of high academic esteem, including Chairs of the Departments of Pathology, than Ramzi. He touched the lives of countless colleagues and trainees over the years.

We shall miss him and his wise counsel greatly.

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