To paraphrase the Olympics, “It was the best International Congress of the IAP ever.”

Well, maybe hyperbole, but the recent hosting by the Australasian Division of the IAP, of the International Congress of the IAP was a great event. It took place in a Brisbane that had decided to turn on its best face. The weather was perfect. There were no clouds all week, until the last day when everyone was packing up to go home, when it seemed appropriate that things should finally turn grey and sad. Southbank was a splash of colour as spring presented itself ready for the meeting. There were concerts in the park, markets everywhere, and pathologists on every street carrying their identifying satchels.

The Four Presidents responsible for the XXV Congress: Shinichiro Ushigome, IAP President; Bob Eckstein, Scienbtific Program President; Warick Delprado, Australasian Division President; Robin Cooke, Congress President.

Some of the older generation of Brisbane Patholgists with some of the next generation.

The Brisbane Convention Centre was chosen to host the event for a number of reasons, one of which was the layout of the spaces between the lecture theatres. There was plenty of open space, with places to sit, to talk, and to meet with colleagues, previous, current and new. The whole venue functioned beautifully. The audio -visuals were recognised by everyone as the best and smoothest service at any meeting. The catering services worked well; food for lunches was actually quite good.

But the most spectacular thing about the whole meeting was the effort put in by all the members of the Australasian Division, and the rewards that flowed from all that effort. The number of people involved in the scientific programme was huge – from the convenors of the topics who had worked so hard for months, actually for years, to all the presenters who prepared things on time, who showed up on time, and who presented so well. The academic programme of the meeting was at such a level as to set new standards for an International Congress.

Robin Cooke, Andrew Folpe, Richard Scolyer, Michal Michal, Bob Eckstein.

Attendance at the meeting was extraordinary. A high proportion (over 90%) of the Australian and New Zealand pathologists attended at least part of the meeting. Whilst the registration arrangements for numbers of days for members of the Division was the subject of comment, the possibility of three day registrations meant that there was a “changing of the guard” in the middle of the meeting. There were still lots of people attending the sessions at the end of the week. One very famous overseas speaker commented that it was unlike any International Congress he had previously spoken at; usually by the fourth and fifth days at previous meetings, speakers were talking to empty rooms. At the Brisbane meeting, the auditoriums were still full on the last day.

So, congratulations to all who made it happen, thank you to all who attended, and I hope everyone had as good a time as all the people I spoke to were having. The knowledge gleaned from the meeting will help in our practices for many years.

Warick Delprado
President of the Australasian Division of the IAP.

Robin Cooke, David Weedon. And Rear Admiral P. Sivadas, 2ic of the Indian Medical Corps and a former President of the Indian Division of the IAP.

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I have heard only very positive comments about the Breast component, and the Congress in general, which is nice but perhaps people would not tell me their negative comments! It was generally regarded as well organised with good projection. The only room which was not as good was the upstairs large room used for several well attended talks on Lymphoma and Breast in which the flat floor seating prohibited those at the back from seeing the projected slides too well (too small). Most people found it difficult to attend all the sessions they wanted to – so many concurrent sessions and some suggested that a “quarantined” morning or afternoon for recreation could have been included for the “guilt free break.”

Hawkes Bay NZ Wine tasting

A number of the Europeans complained about the cold lunches and I explained that was the way we usually ate at lunchtime, but clearly some missed their hot meals!

At my sessions the numbers were good – about 150 – 200 I think. (Although this was difficult to estimate in the large arena.) There were only about 50 for the proffered papers.

The slide seminar was well attended – about 130 I think. The format was generally well accepted and the quality good, but some people did say they preferred having a copy of real slides. I expect it is just a matter of time for this to become accepted and the CD technique was great for including cytology cases.

John Pearn, Brisbane and Waney Squire, Oxford, England.

Rick Fraser, Robin Cooke and Marcello Franco. Rick and Marcello are the designated presidents for the IAP Congresses in 2006 and 2010.

Most speakers made a big effort although a few were limited by language difficulties. My main headache was a late “pulling out” of the first speaker on the Monday due to illness – little one can do, but too late for a replacement (although I tried very hard.)

Overall we should be very proud everything went so well. I think the general cheerful and helpful demeanour of the Australians was well recognised and applauded.

Wendy Raymond
Convenor of the Breast Sessions

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Invited Speakers:

Skin Pathology
Dr David Weedon, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Brisbane, Australia

Head and Neck Pathology and Molecular Pathology
Dr Jennifer Hunt, University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Pittsburg, USA

Respiratory Pathology and Quality Measures
Dr Henry Tazelaar, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

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Special
Pre-Congress Day for Registrars

PROGRAMME for the TRAINING DAY for PATHOLOGY TRAINEES October 10 at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre
Chairman: Robin Cooke
Pathology Trainees Co-ordinator: Joanna Perry-Keene
Sponsored by: The Queensland Cancer Fund, The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and the Retired Pathologists of Brisbane.

9.30 - 10.10
Gunter Kloeppel
Pancreatic Tumours

10.10 - 10.50
Leon Barnes
Squamo-proliferative lesions of the Head and Neck

10.50 - 11.30
Jiang Gu
The Pathology of Sars

11.30 - 12.10
Dillwyn Williams
The Pathology of the Thyroid Cancers from the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster.

12.10 - 12.25
Gene Baillie
The US Approach to Evaluation of Pathology Trainees

12.25 - 12.30
Joan Faoagali and Debra Graves
Welcome from RCPA

12.30 - 1.30 Lunch

1.30 - 1.35
Shinichiro Ushigome
Welcome by the President of the IAP.

1.35 - 2.15
Robert Osamura
Immunoperoxidase Staining in the diagnosis of Tumours

2.15 - 2.4
Jan van den Tweel
The interpretation of bone marrow biopsies in Haematopoietic Malignancies

2.45 - 3.20 Afternoon Tea

3.20 - 4.00
Francis Jaubert
Tumours of Childhood

4.00 - 4.40
Florabel Mullick
Drug and Chemical Related Cancers

4.40 - 5.20
Fred Silva
Educational Material offered by the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology

5.20 - 5.30
Discussion on the day’s programme

The lectures on Sunday before the Congress were attended by about 100 trainees from all States of Australia and from New Zealand. It is almost unheard of to be able to assemble such a galaxy of International speakers free of charge to the audience for a Sunday session. I hoped that the registrars would be stimulated and inspired by these eminent pathologists. Some of them assured me that they were, indeed, stimulated and inspired. I would like to thank personally all the speakers and the sponsors for making the session so memorable.
Robin Cooke

The Speakers were:
Gunter Kloeppel:
Professor and head Dept of Pathology, Univ. of Kiel, Germany. He is Managing Editor of Virchows Archives, the main European Journal of pathology. He was Secretary, then President of the European Society of Pathology. His longtime interest has been in pathology of the Pancreas. He has co-authored the AFIP Fascicle and the WHO book on Pancreatic Tumours.

Jiang Gu:
Dean, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China. Where he spends 9 months of the year, and Clinical Professor at the State University of New York-Health Science Centre, New York for the other 3 months. He graduated in Medicine in China, obtained a PhD from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, and then spent some years in Post graduate training in the USA at the NIH, Washington. His main interest is in Molecular Oncology. His team investigated the pathology of the Sars Epidemic in China.

Dillwyn Williams:
Recently retired Professor of Pathology and Head of Department, University of Cambridge, England. He has had a lifetime interest in the Pathology of Thyroid diseases, starting with the elucidation of the pathology of Medullary Carcinoma of the Thyroid. Before Cambridge, he was Professor of Pathology at the Welch National University, Cardiff, Wales. He was President of the Royal College of Pathologists, and a member of many prestigious committees in the UK. He was invited to investigate the Thyroid Carcinomas that arose after the Chernobyl radioactive disaster and he is still continuing his research on this.

Robert Osamura:
Professor and head of Pathology and Associate Dean, Tokai University School of Medicine, a prestigious private University in Tokyo, Japan. He spent 5 years doing postgraduate studies in the USA and is an expert on Molecular Biology, especially in relation to Endocrine Diseases. He is the Editor of a number of Endocrine and Immunohistochemistry Journals. He is the immediate Past President of the Japanese Division of the IAP.

Jan van den Tweel:
Professor and head of Pathology, University Medical Centre in Utrecht, Holland. His specialty interest is Haematopathology, with special interest in the pathology of the bone marrow. 12 years ago he founded the European Bone Marrow working group. He is Chairman of the Committee advising on the recognition of Specialist Qualifications in Pathology in all the countries of the European Union. He is chief examiner for the annual registration examination for Pathologists who already hold a specialist qualification in their own country. He was President of the XXIV International Congress of the IAP.

Francis Jaubert:
Professor and head of Pathology, Hopital Necker, Enfants Malades, Paris, France. This is the biggest Children’s Hospital in Europe and a referral centre for cases from all over France. It has a considerable contact with the former French colonies, and attracts patients from all over the world. During his professional lifetime, Francis has had continuing interests in Respiratory diseases and Cancers in Children. He was formerly President of the French Division of the IAP and President of the XXII International Congress of the IAP. He is the incoming President of the IAP. He has played an active role in taking continuing education programmes to the countries of the former Soviet Union and to French speaking African Countries.

Shinichiro Ushigome:
Emeritus Professor, Jikei University, Tokyo, one of the oldest Medical Schools in Japan. He is the President of the IAP. Before that he was Secretary, then President of the Japanese Division of the IAP. He was President of the XXIII International Congress of the IAP. He has been very active in promoting co-operation between the IAP Divisions in SE Asia. As a result of these efforts, this group has run 3 successful meetings, and the fourth one is to be held in Beijing in 2005. His pathological interests have been in Bone and Soft Tissue Tumours.

Florabel Mullick:
Principal deputy Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, USA. Honorary Secretary of the International Academy of Pathology. She heads one of the best known and prestigious Institutes in the world. Born in Spain, she has spent most of her professional life at the AFIP. Over many years she has been instrumental in fostering continuing education in many countries, particularly the countries of Latin America. To-day she will speak on the subject of her lifelong research interest.

Fred Silva:
Full Time Secretary of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. Under his direction the membership of the USCAP, especially of young pathologists, has soared. Before taking this job, he was Chairman and Professor at a number of different large Universities in the USA. He is an acknowledged teacher and lecturer. His lifelong interest has been Renal Pathology. He will be giving the keynote lecture at the Congress on Thursday on “Ethics in Pathology” This is another one of his longtime interests.

Leon Barnes:
Graduated from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas. He is Professor and Chairman, Department of Oral Pathology and Medicine, and Chief, Division of Head and Neck / Endocrine Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian-Shadyside Hospital. He is co-editor of the WHO “Pathology and Genetics of Head and Neck Tumours.” and Editor of “Surgical Pathology of the Head and Neck” 3rd Edition, 2001.

Gene Baillie:
Graduated from the University of Nebraska. He is the immediate Past President of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. He has been in Private Practice Pathology in Anderson, South Carolina all his professional life. He designed one of the first computer programmes for reporting Anatomical Pathology, and he continues his interest in this area. He has had a lifelong interest in Postgraduate Education in Pathology. In recent years he has worked as a volunteer pathologist in a number of Mission Hospitals in Korea, Taiwan, and Africa.

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