Newswise — Northfield, IL — A record number of health care organizations will provide collaborative education opportunities for pathologists and other physicians at the annual meeting of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) later this month. Health care societies will sponsor 14 medical education sessions and two organizations will hold meetings at the site of CAP16 – The Pathologists’ Meeting™. As an example of the potential of such collaborative relationships, CAP will celebrate its 10-year relationship with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which has advanced excellence in cancer care and treatment.

“Pathologists collaborate every day with other physician specialties and the CAP follows that example, like our members, for the goal of healthier patients,’’ said Richard C. Friedberg, MD, PhD, FCAP, President of the CAP. “The relationship between oncology and pathology is critical to obtaining accurate diagnosis for patients and understanding of cancer in both the clinical and research settings. Our collaboration with ASCO has fostered excellence in the fields of pathology and oncology for 10 years. We want to showcase that relationship as a model for all medical specialties where communication between the lab and clinic is essential to improved patient care. These dozen organizations joining us at CAP16 also help us spread this spirit of collaboration and we look forward to four days of learning with and from them.”

The CAP and ASCO convened a joint panel in 2007 that generated a set of breast cancer guidelines that changed the practice of oncology. The organizations have since partnered on additional guidelines in lung, colorectal and other cancers that have been credited with saving lives through more accurate diagnoses.

Eleven societies, including ASCO, will sponsor collaborative educational courses at CAP 16. Among the courses and the faculty:

• AABB, formerly the American Association of Blood Bankso Your Turn: Management of the Bleeding Patient -- Theresa A. Nester, MD, FCAP and Thomas DeLoughery, MD

• American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) o Body Fluid Chemistry Analysis: Who Knew It Could Be So Complicated? -- Deanna D.H. Franke, MT (ASCP), PhD, DABCC and Darci Block, PhD, DABCCo Autoantibodies: A Case-Based Approach -- Jim Faix, MD, FCAP and Stanley Naides, MDo Autoantibody Shop: Top Ten Tests Used in Diagnostic Immunology -- Jim Faix, MD, FCAP

• American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) o Primary Human Papillomavirus Testing: A New Era in Cervical Cancer Screening? -- Barbara A. Crothers, DO, FCAP and Mohiedean Ghofrani, MD, MBA, FCAP

• American Society for Hematology (ASH) CAP/ASH o Guidelines for Initial Work-up for Acute Leukemia -- Daniel Arber, MD

• American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) o Molecular Oncology Tumor Board -- Daniel G. Haller, MD, Bhoomi Mehrotra, MD, and Stanley R. Hamilton, MD, FCAP

• Arkadi M. Rywlin (AMR) International Pathology Slide Seminar Club o Slide Seminar: Problem Cases in Surgical Pathology -- Saul Suster, MD, FCAP, Kumarasen Cooper, MBChB, FCAP, Ivan Damjanov, MD, PhD, FCAP, Thomas Krausz, MD, FCAP and Paul E. Wakely, Jr., MD

• Association of Pathology Chairs (APC) o From Pathology Training to Effective Pathology Practice: How to Get There -- Donald S. Karcher, MD, FCAP, W. Stephen Black-Schaffer, MD, FCAP, Barbara S. Ducatman, MD, FCAP, Gene N. Herbek, MD, FCAP, and Nicole D. Riddle, MD, FCAP

• Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP)o Sequence Gazing: Variant Calling and Interpretation for Next-Generation Sequencing -- Eric J. Duncavage, MD, FCAP and Ian D. Hagemann, MD, FCAPo CAP-IASLC-AMP Molecular Testing Guideline for Selection of Lung Cancer Patients – Revision, -- Neal I. Lindeman, MD, FCAP

• Rodger C. Haggitt Gastrointestinal Pathology Society (GIPS)o Gastric Pathology: A Practical Approach for the Practicing Pathologist -- Michael S. Torbenson, MD and Tsung-Teh Wu, MD, FCAP

• Pancreatobiliary Pathology Society (PBPS)o H1667 Hot Topics in Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology of the Pancreas and Biliary Tract -- Michelle D. Reid, MD, FCAP, Alyssa M. Krasinskas, MD, FCAP, and Volkan Adsay, MD, FCAP

• Pulmonary Pathology Society (PPS)o Emerging Issues in Lung Cancer Predictive Biomarkers: Complementary Perspectives from Pathology and Medical Oncology -- Phil T. Cagle, MD, FCAP and Eric H. Bernicker, MD

The Chinese American Pathology Association (CAPA) and Pulmonary Pathology Society (PPS) will both hold meetings on Sept. 24, a day before CAP16 begins. Several CAP committees will also meet on Sept. 23 and 24.

Pathologists will discuss their emerging and future roles in immunotherapy treatment of cancer at the meeting’s opening Scientific Plenary on Sept. 25. Prize-winning author and cancer specialist Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD, will give the meeting’s keynote address later in the day. Dr. Mukherjee won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. He is also the author of The Gene, the newly published book on the history of genetic research.

CAP16 will be held at the Wynn Las Vegas/Encore hotels in Las Vegas Sept. 25–28. The event will feature more than 1,500 attendees, almost 100 continuing medical education (CME) courses, and presentations of dozens of awards for leaders in health care.

About the College of American Pathologists As the leading organization for board-certified pathologists, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. With 18,000 physician members, the CAP has led as the gold standard in laboratory accreditation for more than 50 years with more than 7,900 CAP-accredited laboratories in 50 countries. The organization also provides proficiency testing to 20,000 laboratories worldwide. Find more information about the CAP at cap.org. Follow the CAP on Twitter at @pathologists.###