Welcome friends and colleagues to stunning Vancouver and our historic 101st Annual Meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology! It’s hard to believe that a year’s time has passed since our centennial meeting in San Antonio, and that my reign as your President is coming to a close. What a true honor it has been, particularly as we bridge into a new era of personalized genomic medicine, with such remarkable possibilities in how we will conduct the future practice of pathology and the transfer of advances in knowledge of our field.

Our Annual Meeting is replete with opportunities to develop our clinical skills and knowledge base as pathologists. Our unique Academy has provided us with educational forums and learning opportunities for now more than 100 years. With the unflagging dedication of our leadership team, we will see innovations beyond what our founders could have possibly envisioned. We look forward to unveiling some of these during our time with you here in Vancouver.

In reflecting over this last year, I must enthusiastically highlight the induction of our new Executive Vice President, Dr. Bruce Smoller, who began his new post in August of 2011. He is an impressive leader whose accomplishments as a pathologist, coupled with his leadership abilities, will benefit USCAP well into our future. We feel very fortunate to have recruited him into this role.

In addition to the diligent work being performed by our long standing committees with which you may be familiar, we have had some exciting new developments over this past year that I would like to highlight here.

Our Education Committee, chaired by Dr. John Goldblum, has and is continuing to diversify the USCAP virtual Menu of educational offerings to include the USCAP eAcademy, which houses our eLibrary and APECS with hundreds of hours of professional education. This is “education on demand” in the most literal sense. As ACCME requirements continue to change, this Committee will also continue to work to host offerings in compliance with all national and state licensing agencies, which is no simple task.

Our Membership Committee, chaired by Dr. Linda Ferrell, has worked to revitalize the Ambassadors Council to create informed, energized and efficacious advocates for USCAP membership outreach.   The Committee has implemented new presentation tools and initiated a new Ambassador Training Session, all to more effectively educate prospective members about the benefits that USCAP membership offers. Most critical to the health of our Academy is attracting the next generation of pathologists. The Membership Committee has accordingly created a Resident’s Advisory Committee subcommittee, chaired by Dr. Laura Collins, to increase direct communication and awareness among our residents in training, while enriching the offerings at this Annual Meeting through the creation of many new programs designed specifically for residents.

Our Foundation Committee / Board, chaired by Dr. Jonathon Epstein, has created new Task Forces to work toward providing a comprehensive development structure to ensure the Academy’s future financial security. This next year will see continued building upon this structure, with implementation of an annual program that will provide additional needed funds to support the Academy in areas that might otherwise not receive funding.

Lastly (but certainly not least!) is our dynamic Innovative Educational Products Committee, chaired by Dr. Jeffrey Myers, the members of which deserve high commendation for their tireless work over the last year to bring the first major project of their labor to fruition, with the unveiling to occur at this historic 101st Annual Meeting. This is exciting indeed!

The above notes comprise a mere snapshot of a very grand production engineered by your United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. We are all working together very hard to serve, first and foremost, you, our members, and thus our profession, to the ultimate benefit of our patients, towards whom all of our efforts are directed. I encourage you to become engaged and to invite others to join our USCAP family.

Enjoy breathtaking Vancouver, the camaraderie of our peers, and the wealth of information that we hope you will gain through your presence and participation here.

With warmest regards,


Gregory N. Fuller, MD, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
President, USCAP