The 92nd annual meeting of the USCAP was held in Washington DC at the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel. The older part of this hotel (then called the Sheraton) was the venue for the 1976 International Congress of the IAP. That meeting was a very important one in the history of the IAP and the USCAP. It was chaired by Kash Mostofi who contributed so much to the post World War II resurgence of the IAP and the USCAP. Sadly, Kash lay dying in a Washington Hospital during the meeting. He died shortly afterwards. The IAP mourns his passing.

Louis Dehner (President of the USCAP) with Julia Bridge (University of Nebraska), recipient of the Young Investigator Award for her work on cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics in solid tumours.

The number of registrants at the meeting was the third highest on record. (Last year’s “Chicago” at 3194 “topped the charts”, with 1999’s San Francisco at 3172 coming in second). The 3115 attendees makes this meeting the largest gathering of Physician- Pathologists in the world. Eight percent of the registrants/attendees were from countries outside of North America. Some of the 60 countries represented, and the numbers from each country, were as follows: England/UK/Ireland (86), Spain (49), Italy (41), Japan (38), France (34), Mexico ( 31), Germany (25), Korea (19), Switzerland (17), Brazil (16), Argentina (16), Australia (13), Portugal (11), and the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (each 10). We had 92 cancellations (as of 4/7/03) 58 from North America, and only 34 from outside of North America. It was pleasing to see that 559 Junior Members attended.

Over 2055 scientific abstracts were submitted, 60 more that the previous record. 73.8% were accepted after “blinded” peer review.
A record of 884 Pathologists-in-Training (students, house staff and fellows) attended various portions of the meeting. This was over 100 more than last year’s all-time high. 301 scientific abstracts were submitted by pathology house staff/fellows from throughout North America and Europe for the prestigious Stowell-Orbison Awards. This tied the all-time high of 301 last year. There were four co-equal Stowell-Orbison Awards and one Autopsy Award presented.

A group of awardees. Rear L-R. David Hardwick, Stephen Vogel, Richard Kempson, James Downing. Front L-R. Kamal Ishak, Elaine Jaffe, Julie Bridge.

Some winners of the Stowell-Orbison Castleman and Vogel Awards.

766 registrants attended the Long Course directed by Drs. Jonathan I. Epstein and Peter A. Humphrey entitled “Prostate Cancer Pathology and Pathobiology”.

The Nathan Kaufman Timely Topic Lecture was presented by Dr. Irv Weissman, Professor of Pathology at Stanford University. His lecture was entitled: “Stem cells: past, present and future”. Over 1000 pathologists were present.

The Maude Abbott Lecture was presented by Dr. James Downing of St. Judes Medical Center. His lecture was entitled: “Oncogenic Transcription Factors in Acute Leukemia.” It was a sparkling display of the marriage of basic science and clinical science, and the lecture was very well presented. It was attended by well over 1200 pathologists.

Several Special Awards were presented. Dr. Richard Kempson received the Distinguished Pathologist Award, and Dr. Kamal Ishak won the President’s Award. The F. Kash Mostofi Award was presented to Dr. Elaine Jaffe. The Young Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Julia Bridge for her studies on the cytogenetics of soft tissue tumors. The Biosketches (Biographies) of these outstanding individuals are on our USCAP Website: www.uscap.org

Winner of the Benjamin Castleman Award (for the best published paper in the field of human pathology) was Dr. Jerome T. O’Connell and the F. Stephen Vogel Award (for the best paper in one of our Academy’s journals, either Laboratory Investigation or Modern Pathology) by a house staff member was Dr.Dinesh Rakheja for his paper.

The 16 evening Specialty Conferences which are organ-based were held from 7:30-9:30 PM, which was a testimony to the continuing endurance of the meeting’s registrants.

The case histories and images/slides were placed on our USCAP Website many weeks before the annual meeting, and all of these handouts presented at the annual meeting in DC are now online (the entire handout-text, references, etc,) were placed up on our USCAP Website on Friday March 28, the final day of our annual meeting, at 10 AM EST.

Dr. Pepper Dehner served a distinguished and active term as President of the USCAP. He turned the gavel and the presidency to Dr. Virginia LiVolsi as the new President of the Academy. By vote of the USCAP membership, new members of the USCAP Council are Julia Bridge, James Downing and Victor Reuter.

By vote of membership at the annual meeting in DC, Drs. Sylvia Asa was elected Vice President and Ricardo Lloyd as President-Elect.

The older section of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel which was the site of the 1976 IAP Congress (when it was called the Sheraton Hotel). In 1976 the Editor was almost overwhelmed by the size of this hotel. It was the biggest he had ever seen by a long way (how one’s conceptions change!)

Two well known senior Paediatric Pathologists. Roc Kaschula (Capetown, South Africa) and Harvey Rosenberg (Houston, USA).

Additional activities of the Academy:
Our USCAP Website:
Our Website has been very active. In January 2003 we received 340,000 “hits” and the rate for February was “off the scale” (with about 15% of the hits being international). This is compared with approximately 100, 000 to 150,000 hits just a year ago. There are many educational offerings (free to all) on our website including: All the 16 evening Specialty Conferences, almost all of the Companion Societies (in a week or two), many ended Short Courses, and of course, all the accepted/presented cutting-edge scientific abstracts for the past two years (and they are searchable by topic, author, disease, technology, etc). There are “links” to a dozen of our other IAP divisions, most of the Companion Societies, and other important institutions involved in pathology and pathology education. Dr. Zarbo discussed the numerous offerings (including meeting planner for the Annual meeting) at our Business Meeting in DC.

Journals:
After submission of 11 outstanding applications, the Search Committee for the new Editor-in-Chief of Laboratory Investigation is nearing completion. An announcement will be made quite shortly. Also, the USCAP journal’s publishing house selection will also be made quite soon. Both of the Academy’s journals continue to be in the “top ten” of pathology journals by Science Citation impact figures.

International Efforts:
The USCAP continues to work with AIPNA (The Association of Indian Pathologists of North America) and Dr. HK Ng in Hong Kong to make available electronic links to the USCAP Website/Journals and the HighWire electronic online Stanford link. Individuals have been contacted regarding the Academy’s altruistic associations with underserved pathologists in underserved communities. Thus far, over 40 pathologists at 40 medical schools in PR China are receiving these altruistic contributions. Of course, through the efforts of Mr. Jim Crimmins and Jo Ann Johnson, for the past two decades or more, the central Augusta office has sent many educational materials to over 20 world-wide Divisions of the IAP.

“Sustaining the Academy” continues to do well. Over $40,000 in voluntary contributions has been received (and matched 1 to 1 by the USCAP Council) for the altruistic development of our “outreach” and electronic endeavors. These endeavors include waiving registration at our annual meetings for underserved pathologists. Of course, these monies are in addition to the bequest of Dr. Leland Stoddard of $50,000 for this purpose as well.
The Long Term Strategic Planning Initiatives under the direction of Dr. David Hardwick (Group I) and Dr. Jeffrey Myers (Group II) will be hosting meetings (“advances”) this August, 2003.
The USCAP’s summer pathology course entitled “Diagnostic Pathology” (with 14 outstanding faculty) will be held in Bar Harbor, Maine from July 12-18, 2003. It is Directed by Drs. Sylvia Asa and Greg Fuller. Most, if not all, of the educational materials/images will be distributed to the participants/registrants in CD-ROM style. Thus the registrants will receive thousands of digital images of the presentations.

Special acknowledgment is due to the entire Education Committee (under the Direction of Dr. Victor Reuter, New York City) and to the large and ever-growing group of abstract reviewers for compiling this wonderful meeting; to all of the chairs and moderators of the many sessions; and to the extraordinary and ongoing efforts of our permanent staff in Augusta, Georgia, notably James Crimmins, Jo Ann Johnson and Carolyn Lane.”
As I said at the Business Meeting at our annual meeting in DC: “In spite of hurricanes, blizzards, 9/11, computer worms, charging for abstract submissions, and now war, pathologists keep coming. I guess Pathologists do what Pathologists have to do. What they learn often helps somebody. I’m proud to have Pathologists as my colleagues and to be called a Pathologist.”

Take care.
Fred Silva, Secretary-Treasurer/Executive Director, USCAP..

[May I presume to speak on behalf of those colleagues, and to say that we are proud to be associated with you, Fred, and to be able to call ourselves Pathologists, too. Editor]

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View of Bangkok. Skytrain running north, freeway running east and beneath them the main business street running south to the river. The Rama 6 park is on the right. The first three white buildings on the left are the medical facilities attached to the Chulalongkorn University consisting of two hospital buildings – the King Bumiphol and Queen Sirikit and then the Medical School.

This meeting was organized and run by Thiti Kuakpaetoon and his able and hard working committee. They arranged a very interesting and appropriate programme. About 250 delegates attended. They represented most of the IAP Divisions in the region. Speakers came from almost all the participating Divisions. The local speakers were strongly supported by keynote speakers from Europe. Some financial support was received from firms which contributed to the Trade display. A grant from the Education Committee of the IAP made it possible for the organisers of the Meeting to invite the only pathologist in Cambodia and the only pathologist in Laos to attend the meeting. Both of these men were very grateful for this educational opportunity.

On the 2 days before the main meeting, there was a comprehensive course on the Diagnosis of Diseases affecting Lymph Nodes. This was conducted in the newly completed pathology department of the Chulalongkorn Hospital which is situated “across the road” from the Conference hotel – the 5 star Dusit Thani. While the hospital is easily visible from the hotel, getting there involved the interesting exercise of crossing 10 lanes of Bangkok traffic, which has to be seen to be believed. The Faculty for this course was Konrad Muller-Hermelink, Wurzburg, Germany; Tony Leong, Newcastle, Australia; Suat Cheng Peh, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Pongsak Wannakrairot from the Chulalongkorn Hospital itself.

Some of the Congress organizing team – Mongkol Uiprasertkul, Pongsak Wannakrairot, Voranuch Thanakit, Thiti Kuakpaetoon, Tumtip Sangruchi, Samreung Rangdaeng

Delegates from China - Prof Wu and Dr. Fang

The Conference was officially opened by Professor Shinichiro Ushigome, President of the IAP. Professor Ushigome was one of the key initiators of the first meeting of Asia Pacific Divisions of the IAP. His attendance at the meeting had the added significance that he is the first Asian President of the IAP.

A 2 day, post congress Cytology Workshop was held in the seaside town of Hua-Hin, 200 kms south of Bangkok. This was attended by 150 delegates.
During the meeting, a committee meeting of 15 representatives from the participating Divisions was held. Representatives from Indonesia and the Philippines were welcomed for the first time. The other Divisions represented were: Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, China, and the hosts – Thailand. This committee congratulated Dr. Thiti and his helpers on the organisation of this meeting. It was decided that further meetings would be held every 2 years in the year in which there was no Congress of the IAP. The next meeting of this group will be held in Beijing, China, in August 2005. The 3 delegates from Beijing distributed advance publicity for this meeting. The President of the Beijing meeting will be Professor Bing Quan Wu, Professor, Dept. of Pathology, Beijing University, Editor in Chief of the Chinese Medical Journal of Pathology, and President of the Chinese Division of the IAP.

Delegates from Malaysia

Delegates from the Philippines led by Elizabeth Nuqui and Marissa Orillasa

The Scientific programme was important and useful, but the occasion allowed delegates to meet socially, to extend friendships that were formed from past meetings, and to make new contacts that will be the basis of friendships and collaborations in the future.

Compiled from information supplied by Thiti Kuakpaetoon and H.K. Ng

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In a new development in 2002, Council of the British Division of the IAP endorsed the support of African Pathology in three new projects.
Firstly it is to provide financial and educational support to African Pathological Societies. It will provide speakers, and fund their travel, to the annual ADIAP meeting in South Africa and for the biennial APECSA meeting. Professor Peter Furness, the Divisional Editor, became the first BDIAP goodwill ambassador to the Mombasa, Kenya, APECSA Congress this last October.

He reports:
“The Association of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (APECSA) held their sixth Congress at the Leisure Lodge Beach Hotel from 17th – 20th October 2002. The meeting was entitled “Evolving Images in Pathology” and the local organising committee, chaired by Dr J Rajab, had put together a remarkably diverse set of images. Starting with a Memorial Lecture to Professor Kasali, the meeting moved on to cover not only all the subspecialties of Pathology but it also extended from cutting edge molecular biology to simple but remarkable epidemiological studies of problems specific to sub-Saharan Africa, with many insights into their pathogenesis. I for one had never previously appreciated the complex interplay of environment and genetics in the condition I had been taught at medical school to call “Bantu siderosis”.

Topics given special emphasis included the involvement of pathologists in disaster management, the impact of new and emerging diseases and the potential of new technologies. There was considerable interest in the need for improved quality assurance and standardisation of laboratory testing.
Four external speakers attended the meeting. Professor Colleen Wright was supported by Stellenbosch University, Professor Simon Naylor by Roche and Professor Ojwang by Witwatersrand University. I was supported by the British Division of the IAP. Our contributions were gratefully received, but I at least left the meeting feeling that I had learned a good deal more than I had contributed. Not for the first time, I was humbled by seeing how much can be achieved with dedication and enthusiasm despite limited resources. Of course, we shared much more than just bare scientific facts. The organisation of the meeting was relaxed and the setting, on one of the best beaches in the world, was idyllic. In such a location, the high level of attendance at all the sessions was particularly eloquent testimony to the quality of the contributions!”
Our Division is also supporting a lecturer to the next ADIAP meeting in Johannesburg in July this year.

Secondly, the BDIAP is sponsoring two studentships in Pathology for disadvantaged African countries. These pathology training posts will be based in South Africa because the BDIAP Division has the great support of Professors Martin Hale, IAP Vice-President for Africa, and Roc Kaschula, who have considerable contacts with those countries targeted for support. The excellent training, and monitoring thereof, in South Africa is a major factor in this decision. Furthermore the current exchange rate between Sterling and Rand means that there are considerable financial advantages in placing the training posts there. Arrangements are now in hand for the establishment of these posts and BDIAP Council has agreed to support these for the foreseeable future.

Thirdly, BDIAP Council is also looking at more generic ways of supporting Pathology education, both training and continuing professional development, in Africa. It has agreed to assist the transfer of books and journals to pathology departments in African countries via Bookaid.
It is early days in these developments and the pathology service in many central and southern African countries remains either non-existent or perilously close to collapse. The BDIAP hopes that these small measures may provide succour and support to pathology in these countries.

Professor Neil A Shepherd, General Secretary and Professor Peter N Furness, Divisional Editor, BDIAP

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