XXVI International Congress of the International Academy of Pathology

September 16-21, 2006, Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Québec, Canada

The 4th Asia Pacific IAP Congress
Beijing, China, August 23-26, 2005

The theme of the meeting was “Modern Pathology in the Age of rapidly Advancing Technology.”

The main hosts for the meeting were Profs. Bing Quan Wu and Jiang Gu of Peking University, and John Chan, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong. Lily Ma from Hong Kong spent some months in Beijing before the meeting putting the finishing touches to the arrangements for the formal and social functions. Miss Rachel Rue H. Lian, Secretary to Prof. Gu, and the Congress Organizing Company worked hard for the success of the Congress. They were ably assisted by a large number of local and overseas pathologists. The Congress was strongly supported by a large number of Company Sponsors.

Above: The 3 main organisers of the Congress L-R: Jiang Gu, Bing Quan Wu, and John Chan.

Jiang Gu and visitors to the Department with some of his Trainee pathologists.

The organisers attracted a galaxy of International speakers who set a very high scientific standard for the Congress. There were 300 international delegates and 400 delegates from within China. This was the first International pathology meeting held in China. It will undoubtedly have been a considerable confidence booster for the 10,000 pathologists in China. The meeting coincided with the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Journal of Pathology. This occasion was celebrated during the Congress by a special scientific session and a celebratory dinner.

Prof. Bing Quan Wu was the driving force behind getting this meeting held in Beijing and he spent a number of years preparing for it. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Pathology, Health Science Centre Peking University, (the leading medical school in China) Editor in chief of the Chinese Journal of Pathology and President, Chinese Division of the International Academy of Pathology. It was a personal credit to him that this meeting was so successful. The meeting celebrated many milestones for him, including the fact that it was his last official function as a pathologist. On the day of the formal congress banquet, to mark the end of a successful meeting Bing Quan celebrated his 75th birthday, so the dinner became a birthday party as well.

Jiang Gu with two of the Keynote speakers. (L) Clive Taylor, University of Southern California, “Vision 2020, Molecular Morphology” (R) Juan Rosai, Diagnostic Center, Milan, “Surgical Pathology: The Redoubtable Specialty.”

Speakers at the Lymphoma Session. L-R: Peiguo Chu, Konrad Muller-Hermelink, Sibrand Poppema, Dr. Liu, ,Suat-Cheng Peh, Lawrence Weiss, Jonathan Said, Katsuyuki Aozasa, Gandi Li.

Professor Jiang Gu succeeded Prof. Wu as Head of the Department of Pathology and Dean of the Health Science Center, Peking University in 2004. Jiang graduated from Peking University in 1978 and then spent a year at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London where he worked with Evan Pearce in Immunopathology. From there he went to work with Clive Taylor in the University of Southern California where his main research interest was in molecular biology.

Peking University was established in 1909. The Medical School began in 1912. It was influenced mainly by the German medical tradition. The Department now teaches medical students, dental and pharmacy students and there are 700 students in each year. Many of the text books used in Chinese medical schools are written by members of the staff of the Department. There is an active research programme, and the department provides a Surgical Pathology service to a number of teaching hospitals in Beijing. There is an active post mortem service, and this has been upgraded since the SARS epidemic. There is no China wide formal training for pathologists but this deficiency is being addressed. Jiang has introduced a scheme for having visiting Professors to share their experience and expertise with his staff by spending periods of a few months working in the department.

Below: Three keynote speakers L-R: Jeffrey Sklar (Yale University, USA) “Molecular Diagnosis: Current and Future Perspectives.” David Page (Vanderbilt University, USA) “Premalignant Breast Disease: Highlighting Atypical Hyperplasia.” Philip Allen, (Flinders Medical Centre Australia.) “The Surgical Pathology of Soft Tissues: A Worked Out Specialty?”

The speakers at the Uropathology session L-R David Grignon, Peter Humphrey, Jonathan Epstein, John Eble, Liang Cheng, Ximing Yang.

A group of visitors to Jiang Gu’s Department of Pathology, Peking University Health Sciences Center, of which he is Head and Dean. Photos of former Directors are on the wall behind. Prof. Bing Quan Wu is in the middle.

Another important medical service in China is provided by the Military Hospitals which are situated throughout the country. They employ about 600 pathologists and they train them in their hospitals. Professor Zianghong Li is head of pathology in the premier military hospital (the 301 Hospital) in Beijing. It was built in 1958 and it has been designated as the main hospital for treatment of athletes and visitors for the Olympic Games in 2008. The pathology department building was to be demolished starting from the week after the Congress. The new building is due for completion before the Olympic Games in 2008.

Jan van den Tweel and Kristin Henry, two of the speakers whose expenses were paid by the British Division of the IAP as a contribution to the Congress. The others were Alastair Burt, Roderick Simpson and Mike Wells.

Above: A visit to Beijing is not complete without climbing the Great Wall. Many people begin the steep climb. As the wall winds higher along the crest of the mountain, the walking area becomes narrower, and the walkers are fewer. As a reward they could buy a T shirt at this point to confirm their feat (below).

Entrance to the traditional Chinese Restaurant, the Baijia Dazhaimen Restaurant. This is a single storey, pavilion type building set in a garden designed in the style of the Qing Dynasty. Originally it was a family home situated in Suzhou St. in the Haidian District in central Beijing. It is famous for imperial court cuisine and the unique Baifu dishes.

Pedi cabs in the Hutong area.

Great Hall of the people on the Western boundary of Tian An Men Square, central Beijing.

Gate of Heavenly Peace, one of the large courtyards within the Forbidden City.
Below: Looking back towards the Meridian Wall at the entrance to the Forbidden City from Tian An Men square.

A face in the crowd in the Forbidden City - an elderly lady whose feet had been bound when she was young. A custom from a bygone era (taken with the cooperation of the lady.)

There are still many bicycles on the streets, but people said that there were thousands of them when they visited Beijing 2 or more years ago. Now there are relatively few, and they have been replaced by thousands of shiny, new cars from all over the world. This creates constant traffic jams. The comment on the number of bicycles was reinforced by an article in a Beijing news paper during the week of the Congress that reported the closure of one of the main bicycle manufacturing companies in China.

News from the Asia Pacific Group of the IAP

The next Conference meeting of this group will be held in Singapore May 27-31, 2007.

The first meeting was held in Sydney in 1995. The idea of forming this Group was conceived by Shinichiro Ushigome and his colleagues in Japan, Isei Ishikawa, Minoru Suzuki and Munetomo Enjoji. They approached Phil Allen and suggested that the meeting should be held in Sydney in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Australasian Division of the IAP. The committee of the Aust Div agreed to this and a successful first meeting was held.

The second meeting was held in Seoul, Korea in 2000 and it was arranged by Prof. Moon Ho Yang and his colleagues.

The third meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004 and was run by Thiti Kuakpaetoon and Pongsak Wannakrairot and their committee.

The following Divisions of the IAP are members of this group: Japanese, Australasian, Hong Kong, Korean, Indonesian, Chinese, Philipines, Indian, Thai, Taiwan, the Singapore and Malaysian Pathology Societies and the International Association of Chinese Pathologists.

All of the above organisations conduct active continuing education programmes throughout the year in their respective countries.

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