Incoming Executive of the IAP 2006: Kon Muller (Pres), Florabel Mullick (Pres elect), David Hardwick (Sec), Jack Strong (Treas).

This was an outstanding meeting saluting the hundred year history of the International Academy of Pathology and particularly the role of Dr. Maude Abbot in starting this international organisation, originally called the International Association of Medical Museums. Australians were very prominent in the program as symposium chairs and speakers.

To salute the hundred year history of the IAP, the Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease by Maude Abbot was reproduced with an introduction by Richard Fraser of the McGill Pathology Department, also the Congress President. For the Congress, Robin Cooke edited “Scientific Medicine in the 20th Century”, giving an overview of the history of the IAP. A particularly interesting section was Meet the Presidents, commencing with James Carroll, elected first President of IAMM in 1907, and with short biographical comments on all the Presidents down to the present day.
Among the many excellent sessions at the meeting was a symposium on Pathology Education. An important issue raised by Bill Hartmann of the American Board of Pathology was assessing competency in diagnostic pathology. This is a world-wide challenge, particularly as pathologists move across the world and it is one that will not disappear.

Robin Cooke being awarded a gold medal of the IAP by David Hardwick at the International Congress.

As incoming IAP President I attended a range of executive, education and other meetings. On many occasions across the week, the role of IAP in taking pathology education to the wider world was stressed, particularly to underserved areas. Schools of Pathology are a great concept which has emerged over the past few years, led by the British division of the IAP and by pathologists in Hong Kong. The British and Arab Schools of Pathology are providing excellent educational programs for the Middle East while Hong Kong has concentrated on educational programs for directors of Chinese laboratories. This is a concept that the Australasian division might consider, particularly on ways in which we can take pathology education and training into countries in the Pacific and others to our near north in South East Asia. We have been successful in fostering pathologists from nearby regions to attend our annual IAP June meeting. Perhaps it is now timely to see how we can build wider educational programs in our own region.

At the IAP business meeting, Robin Cooke was awarded a gold medal for his outstanding service to the IAP, particularly in producing International Pathology which originally started as a news bulletin. This is a great salute to Robin who is to be congratulated on this major award.

For registrars and consultants, the Knowledge Hub for Pathology, the Pathology Portal, is a development by USCAP which covers extensive educational material in all areas of Anatomical Pathology. This is virtually a huge textbook of pathology on-line and can be accessed via USCAP website, www.USCAP.org. I am sure registrars will find this of great value when searching for Anatomical Pathology information, as will consultants of many years experience.

The Montreal IAP congress was an excellent meeting in the context of its historical development and the educational home of Maude Abbot. The next IAP congress will be in Athens in October, 2008.

H Konrad Muller
President IAP

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The IAP Board. Left to right: Warick Delprado (Past Pres), David Ellis (SA), Rayleen Jovanovich (Secretariat), Stephen Fairy (Hon Sec), Jan Kencian (Qld), John Pedersen (Pres), Jan McLean (Sec), Bob Eckstein (Vice President IAP), Vicki Howard (NSW), Richard Jaworski (NSW), Kon Muller (Pres elect IAP), Robin Cooke (Editor News Letter), Brett Delahunt (Pres elect). The membership of the Division now stands at 572.

The 2006 meeting was based around urological oncology, with the main speakers being Professor William Murphy and Dr David Grignon, discussing prostate, bladder and kidney malignancies. Both these American speakers were brilliant at articulating the information in their own ways. Their presentations were different but very informative. The overseas speakers devoted a specific session to the trainee pathologists, which was attended by more than 60 participants. This was again well-received and will be repeated next year.

John Pedersen presenting Warick Delprado with an award for his McGovern Lecture.

Warick Delprado gave us an erudite lecture on an ‘Australian viewpoint of prostatic malignancy,’ which was typical of his ability to educate using the most modern technology. The verbal feedback from the attendees was very positive.
The AGM was well attended and I was grateful for the constructive viewpoints put by our members. The main focus of the discussion concerned the future structure of the meeting and building on our membership. I hope that the AGM will grow in importance. It is important that the members articulate their wishes.

The 2007 meeting involves three overseas speakers. The two main speakers are Professor, Sir James Underwood, who will present on Saturday (his topics will be general) and Dr Stephen Swerdlow, who will present on Sunday (his topic will be malignant lymphoma.) We are also fortunate to have Dr Alastair Burt, who will give the McGovern lecture on liver disease.

Stephen Fairy, Roy Roger Maraka (IAP guest from Papua New Guinea) Eka Buadromo (IAP guest from Fiji), John Pedersen.

Stephen Fairy, William Murphy (US), John Pedersen.

Brett Delahunt, John Pedersen and David Grignon (US).

A group from Christchurch: Jenny Clayton, Alastair Murray, Jessica Ng, Justine Gearry, Pat Renait, Nicole Smith, Martin Whitehead.

The companion meetings continue to be an integral part of the overall meeting. These fill the Friday programme and surround the keynote lecture which will be given by Professor Underwood.

We will continue to build on the Master Class sessions. Professor Underwood will be involved on Friday evening. On Saturday and Sunday morning we will initiate new Master Class sessions. This will involve a local pathologist discussing a ‘practical approach’ concept. The inaugural Saturday talk will be by David Challis on renal biopsies. David needs no introduction to most pathologists in Australia. He is a brilliant speaker who is able to make this difficult topic understandable. This will be followed by a similar session on Sunday morning at 8;00am, under the auspices of Professor Richard Scolyer, on difficult pigmented lesions. Richard has the ability to make the impossible possible.

The purpose of introducing more Master Class sessions is to expose our registrars to direct contact with some of the great teachers available overseas and in Australia. We hope that this intimate association will inspire as well as educate our future pathologists. Australian pathologists are held in high regard around the world and it is important for our meeting to help maintain the standard. We see it as a mentoring programme, which we hope will engender greater communication between states and overseas.

The executive hopes these topics will be attractive to the pathologists and those in training. The weekend gives everyone an opportunity to greet old friends and to meet new ones, whilst being educated by some of the best pathologists in the world.
We are very pleased and honoured to have Professor Konrad Muller elected as President of the International Academy of Pathology at the 2006 IAP Congress in Montreal. Prof. Muller has had significant input into medical education in Australia at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has an international research reputation and has been a President of our local IAP division.

At the same meeting Professor Robin Cooke was awarded the Gold Medal of the IAP for his outstanding contribution to the Academy. We fully endorse this as Robin has made a long standing contribution to our Division. All the photos that appear in the newsletter are taken by Robin. He is recognized by and has an influence on pathologists in Australia, in our region and internationally. Robin also produced the Centennial Book for the 100th anniversary of the IAP, which was available at the Congress in Montreal. This recognition is well deserved.

We are lucky to have such pathologists who are prepared to put so much effort into the IAP. It is a great achievement for our division.

John Pedersen

Winning Registrar poster Catherine Francis.

Winning Registrar poster Reimar Junckerstorff.

Equal winners of the Award for a Registrar poster. Catherine Francis (PALMS, Royal North Shore Hospital) and Reimar Junckerstorff (Path West Lab Med, Uni of Western Aust.)

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Invited International Speakers:

Professor, Sir James Underwood, London, UK
Professor of Pathology and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sheffield, SHEFFIELD, UK
Topic: GENERAL PATHOLOGY

Dr Steven H Swerdlow, Pittsburgh, USA
Director, Division of HematopathologyUPMC Presbyterian, Pathology Department, PITTSBURGH, USA
Topic: LYMPHOMA

Dr Alastair Burt,
NEWCASTLE, UK
Vincent McGovern Memorial Lecture
Liver Club

Professor Sir James Underwood

James Underwood is Emeritus Professor of Pathology and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sheffield. Having graduated in medicine in 1965 at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, he returned there to begin his training in pathology. His subsequent career included a Medical Research Council Fellowship at the Chester Beatty Research Institute in London and a Wellcome–Ramaciotti Research Fellowship at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He was appointed to the Chair of Pathology in Sheffield in 1983. His interests span breast pathology, chronic inflammatory liver diseases, the role of the autopsy and medical education.

Sir James won the Royal Society of Medicine Book Award (2000) and the British Medical Association Medical Book Competition (2005) for his internationally popular undergraduate textbook General and Systematic Pathology. In 2005, he was awarded the Cunningham Medal by the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology. In 2006, he was honoured, jointly with Sir Roddy MacSween and Professor Mike Wells, with the Gold Medal of the International Academy of Pathology for achievements as Editor of Histopathology.

James was President of the Royal College of Pathologists (2002–2005). He was awarded a Knighthood for services to medicine in the 2005 New Year Honours list.

Steven H. Swerdlow

Dr. Steven H. Swerdlow is an internationally recognized hematopathologist who is a graduate of Brandeis University and Harvard Medical School. After doing his general pathology training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, he did a hematopathology fellowship with Dr. Robert D. Collins at Vanderbilt University followed by a research fellowship in the Department of Medical Oncology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, England. He is currently a Professor of Pathology and Director of the Division of Hematopathology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Steven recently completed his terms as President of the Society for Hematopathology and as a member of the Executive Committee for the European Association for Haematopathology. He is a member of the International Lymphoma Study Group, and the Lymphoma Research Foundation Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium and a former Council member of the US Canadian Academy of Pathology. Dr. Swerdlow has received two resident teaching awards and is listed in America’s Top Doctors, the Best Doctors in America and Who’s Who in the World.

The author of numerous original publications, reviews, book chapters and two books, Steven has concentrated on multiparameter investigations of many of the small B-cell lymphomas and the post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders. He was an active participant in the creation of the 2005 WHO - EORTC consensus classification for cutaneous lymphomas.

He is a sought-after speaker providing both educational and entertaining lectures and courses for all of the major American pathology organizations as well as for varied institutions and both the Society for Hematopathology and European Association for Haematopathology.

Currently he is hard at work as a member of the steering committee responsible for the next edition of the WHO Bluebook on Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues.

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A Prestigious Award for our International Congress in 2004

The XXV IAP Congress in Brisbane 2004 won ‘Event of the Year – more than 500 delegates’ at the Meetings and Events Australia National Awards ceremony in May 2006.
Congratulations. Stephanie Gurr, Congress organiser from Event Planners.

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31st Annual Scientific Meeting
Poster Winners

First Prize – Scientist
“Chemopreventive and Procarcinogenic Effects of Sulindac in Muse Models of Colorectal Cancer”
Joseph Daniel, Jane Dahlstrom, Elaine Bean, Graeme Young, Maija Kohonen-Corish

Commendations – Scientists
“Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Overexpress Hedgehog Signalling Components”
S Biankin, S Eggleton, P Crea, S Henshall, R Sutherland
“An Alternative Hypothesis for Progressive Fibrosis in Nash – Hepatic Progenitor Cell Expansion and a Periportal Ductular Reaction Correlate with Fibrosis”
M Richardson, J Jonsson, E Brunt, B Neuschwander-Tetri, P Bhathal, J Dixon, M Weltman, H Tilg, A Moschen, E Powell, A Clouston

First Prize – Registrar (shared)
“Eosinophilic Duodenitis: A Clinicopathological Case Series”
Catherine Francis, Anthony Gill, Robert Eckstein
“Hormone Receptor (Hr) and Her-2 Status in Breast Carcinoma. A Comparison of Results from Core Biopsies and Subsequent Surgical Excision Specimens”
Reimar Junckerstorff, Benjamin Wood, Jennet Harvey, Felicity Frost, Peter Robbins and Gregory Sterrett

Commendation
“Fibroblastic Polyps: A Clinico-Pathologic and Immunohistochemical Study of 20 Cases”
Kelly McClymont, Ian Brown

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