The 92th annual meeting of the USCAP was held in Washington DC and was by all accounts a success. Over 3100 pathologists attended the Washington DC meeting, finding some time between the busy educational schedules to roam DC in search of food, drink, history and sights. Most everyone was impressed by the turnout, the educational offerings, the fellowship, the hotel and the surroundings.

The registration of the meeting was third of our all-time record in USCAP attendance (last year's "Chicago"at 3194 "topped the charts", with 1999's San Francisco at 3172 coming in second). The 3115 attendees makes this meeting the largest gathering of Physician- Pathologists in the world. Eight percent of the registrants/attendees were from international countries outside of North America. The countries (and the numbers of international visitors from each country) included: England/UK/Ireland (86), Spain (49), Italy (41), Japan (38), France (34), Mexico ( 31), Germany (25), Korea (19), and Switzerland (17), Brazil (16), Argentina (16), Australia (13), Portugal (11), and the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (each 10), to name just a few. In all, pathologists from over 60 countries throughout the world were present at this truly international meeting. We had 92 cancellations from throughout the world (as of 4/7/03) (58 from North America, and only 34 from outside of North America).

Of the 3115 registrants, 2444 (79%) were Members (of which 559 were Junior Members). Three hundred and forty-six were pathologists in practice, and 282 house staff who were not USCAP members, Regular or Junior, respectively (yet).

Over 2055 scientific abstracts were submitted, an all-time record of submitted abstracts. 1516 were accepted after "blinded" peer review, also a record-60 more than last year) (73.8% acceptance). This percentage is generally dependent upon the space available at the hotel (which is booked 5-6 years in advance). Although the percentage is 74%, the abstract review scores were higher this year than last. 1236 were in poster sessions and 280 as platform sessions (this was an increase of 40-45 or so stand–up abstracts compared to last year). We try to accommodate as many quality platform sessions as space allows. Abstracts were submitted from throughout the world.

A record of 884 Pathologists-in-Training (students, house staff and fellows) attended various portions of the meeting. This was over 100 more than last year's all-time high. Three hundred and one scientific abstracts were submitted by pathology house staff/fellows from throughout North America and Europe for the prestigious Stowell-Orbison Awards. This tied the all-time high of 301 last year. There were four co-equal Stowell-Orbison Awards presented. The recipients are the Stowell-Orbison Awards and Certificates of Merit, and the Autopsy Award Winner are as follows:

ADASP/USCAP Autopsy Award: Dr. V Pansare, C Butler, G. Haas, D. Grignon and W. Sakr. Progression Model of Subclinical Prostate Cancer: Observations of Tumor Volume, Grade and Multicentricity in an Autopsy Series of 1027 Cases. Harper University Hospital, Karmanos Cancer Center, Wayne State University and Upstate Medical Univ/Syracuse. (#13).

Stowell-Orbison Awardees:
(in alphabetical order)

• L.Cheng, RB West, S. Zhu, SC Linn, TO Nielsen, JR Goldblum, R. Patel, BP Rubin, P Brown, D Botstein, M van de Rijn. Expression Profiling of Fibromatosis by cDNA Gene Array Analysis. Stanford, UBC/Vancouver, Cleveland Clinic, and Univ of Washington). (#28).

• J. Irving, L Brown, T. Magliocco, T. Longacre, B. Gilks, C Caldas, D. Huntsman. Amplification of a Novel BRCA2-Inactivating Gene, EMSY, in High Grade Ovarian Carcinomas. UBC/Vancouver, Univ. of Calgary, Stanford, and Univ. of Cambridge. (#879).

• M. Nakayama, CJ Bennett, WG Nelson, AM DeMarzo. High Resolution Mapping of CpG Island Hypermethylation of the GSTP1 Promoter in Normal, BPH, Proliferative Inflamatory Atrophy, High-Grade PIN, and Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate. Johns Hopkins. (#743).

• R.T. Pu, LE Laitala, DP Clark. Methylation Profiles to Differentiate Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions in Surgical and Cytological Specimens. Johns Hopkins. (#184).

Stowell-Orbison Honorable Mention:
(in alphabetical order)

• K.M. Kernek, S. Zhang, TM Ulbright, SD Billings, OW Cummings, JD Henley, H. Michael, M. Brunelli, G. Martignoni, JN Eble, L Cheung. Identical Allelic Loss in Mature Teratoma and Different Histologic Components of Malignant Mixed Germ Cell Tumors of the Testis. Indiana University and University of Verona. (#714).

• N.P. Agaram, BM Collins, L Barnes, D Lomago, D.Aldeeb, P Swalsky, S Finkelstein, JL Hunt. Molecular Mutational Analysis to Demonstrate that Odontogenic Keratocysts are Neoplastic. Univ. of Pittsburgh. (#991).

• R.S. Robetorye., SD Jenson, MS Lim, KSJ Elenitoba-Johnson. Characterization of a Novel Gene Identified by cDNA Microarray Analysis of Progressed Follicular Lymphomas. Univ. of Utah. (#1142).

• D. Xu, J Du, C Schultz, H Ratech. Ultra-Fast Detection of Clonal immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Gene Rearrangements by DNA Melting Curve Analysis in B-Cell Malignant Lymphomas: A Prospective Study. Albert Einstein/Montefiore. (#1184).

766 registrants attended the Long Course directed by Drs. Jonathan I. Epstein and Peter A. Humphrey entitled " Prostate Cancer Pathology and Pathobiology. Early perusals of the critique form show that this course was well done and well liked by the registrants. The Long Course book/ handout was 266 pages in length containing both text and powerpoint presentations.

Fifty-seven half-day Short Courses were presented and very well attended (number three on the all-time list in terms of attendance, just short of last years Chicago's record attendance and the second largest attendance (San Francisco in 1999). The total registration of short courses attended was 4178; that is the number of courses attended times the number of attendees. Thus the average number of pathologists attending each Short Course was about 73. With the addition of Short Courses on Wednesday (in addition to the traditional Thursdays and Fridays) over 1000 individuals attended at least one session on Wednesday alone. Two all-day Special Courses, one on Beginning Molecular Pathology (headed by Drs. Julia Bridge and Margie Scott) attracted 187 registrants) and the Advanced Molecular Pathology Course (Chaired by Drs. Fred Barr and Ethel Cesarman) (attracting 154 registrants) were well received.

Twenty-one Companion Societies presented their educational endeavors on Saturday night and Sunday. The total registrations (number of attendees times the number of Companion Societies) was 2078, only about 50 less than last years record attendance. The New Companion Society was the International Society of Breast Pathology. Approximately 500-600 individuals were at this new Companion Society presentation.

The Nathan Kaufman Timely Topic Lecture was presented by Dr. Irv Weissman, Professor of Pathology at Stanford University. His lecture was entitled: "Stem cells: past, present and future".

Over 1000 pathologists were present. The Maude Abbott Lecture was presented by Dr. James Downing of St. Judes Medical Center. His lecture was entitled: Oncogenic Transcription Factors in Acute Leukemia. It was a sparkling display of the marriage of basic science and clinical science, and the lecture was very well presented. It was attended by well over 1200 pathologists.

Several Special Awards were presented. Dr. Richard Kempson received the Distinguished Pathologist Award, and Dr. Kamal Ishak won the President's Award. The F. Kash Mostofi Award was presented to Dr. Elaine Jaffe. The Young Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Julia Bridge for her studies on the cytogenetics of soft tissue tumors. The Biosketches (Biographies) of these outstanding individuals are on this website.

Winner of the Benjamin Castleman Award (for the best published paper in the field of human pathology) was Dr. Jerome T. O'Connell for his publication "Pseudomyxoma Peritonei is a Disease of MUC2-Expressing Goblet Cells" in the American Journal of Pathology 161: 551, 2002 and the F. Stephen Vogel Award (for the best paper in one of our Academy's journals, either Laboratory Investigation or Modern Pathology) by a house staff member was Dr.Dinesh Rakheja for his paper: Long-Chain L-3-Hydroxyacyl-Coenzyme A Dehydrogenase Deficiency-A Molecular and Biochemical Review published in Laboratory Investigation 82: 815, 2002.

The 16 evening Specialty Conferences which are organ-based were held from 7:30-9:30 PM, which was a testimony to the continuing endurance of the meeting's registrants. The case histories and images/slides were placed on our USCAP Website many weeks before the annual meeting, and all of these handouts presented at the annual meeting in DC are now online (the entire handout-text, references, etc,) were placed up on our USCAP Website on Friday March 28, the final day of our annual meeting, at 10 AM EST.

Dr. Pepper Dehner served a distinguished and active term as President of the USCAP. He turned the gavel and the presidency to Dr. Virginia LiVolsi as the new President of the Academy. By vote of the USCAP membership, new members of the USCAP Council are Julia Bridge, James Downing and Victor Reuter. By vote of membership at the annual meeting in DC, Drs. Sylvia Asa was elected Vice President and Ricardo Lloyd as President-Elect.

Additional activities of the Academy are:

Thanks to our USCAP Ambassadors in l68 University-based House Staff Programs/Departments the Academy is happy to announce that we have, in less than four years recruited approximately 2000 Pathology House Staff/Fellows as Junior Members of the Academy. (For comparison purposes, in the summer of 1999 we had about 500 Junior Members). As you know, the USCAP, invests in our future pathologists by subsidizing their $25/year Junior Members dues (which allows them to receive all our mailings, one of our Academy's journals-with its online electronic link to HighWire, and reduced charges for all our educational offerings, and to vote/serve on committees, etc). We are proud to have these future practicing pathologists in our organization. Many Pathology House Staff Programs are paying for this Junior Membership for their house staff as a type of "book fund".

Our USCAP Website: Our Website has been very active. In January 2003 we received 340,000 "hits" and the rate for February was "off the scale" (with about 15% of the hits being international). This is compared with approximately 100, 000 to 150,000 hits just a year ago. There are many educational offerings (free to all) on our website including: All the 16 evening Specialty Conferences, most all of the Companion Societies (in a week or two), many ended Short Courses, and of course, all the accepted/presented cutting-edge scientific abstracts for the past two years (and they are searchable by topic, author, disease, technology, etc). There are "links" to a dozen of our other IAP divisions, most of the Companion Societies, and other important institutions involved in pathology and pathology education. Dr. Zarbo discussed the numerous offerings (including meeting planner for the Annual meeting) at our Business Meeting in DC.

Journals: After submission of 11 outstanding applications, the Search Committee for the new Editor-in-Chief of Laboratory Investigation is nearing completion. An announcement will be made quite shortly. Also, the USCAP journal's publishing house selection will also be made quite soon. Both of the Academy's journals continue to be in the "top ten" of pathology journals by Science Citation impact figures.

International Efforts: The USCAP continues to work with AIPNA (The Association of Indian Pathologists of North America) and Dr. HK Ng in Hong Kong to make available electronic links to the USCAP Website/Journals and the HighWire electronic online Stanford link. Individuals have been contacted regarding the Academy's altruistic associations with underserved pathologists in underserved communities. Thus far, over 40 pathologists at 40 medical schools in PR China are receiving these altruistic contributions. Of course, through the efforts of Mr. Jim Crimmins and Jo Ann Johnson, for the past two decades or more, the central Augusta office has sent many educational materials to over 20 world-wide Divisions of the IAP.

"Sustaining the Academy" continues to do well. Over $40,000 in voluntary contributions has been received (and matched 1 to 1 by the USCAP Council) for the altruistic development of our "outreach" and electronic endeavors. These endeavors include waiving registration at our annual meetings for underserved pathologists. Of course, these monies are in addition to the bequest of Dr. Leland Stoddard of $50,000 for this purpose as well.

The Long Term Strategic Planning Initiatives under the direction of Dr. David Hardwick (Group I) and Dr. Jeffrey Myers (Group II) will be hosting meetings ("advances") this August, 2003.

The USCAP's summer pathology course entitled "Diagnostic Pathology" (with 14 outstanding faculty) will be held in Bar Harbor, Maine from July 12-18, 2003. It is Directed by Drs. Sylvia Asa and Greg Fuller. Most, if not all, of the educational materials/images will be distributed to the participants/registrants in CD-ROM style. Thus the registrants will receive thousands of digital images of the presentations.

Next year's annual Spring USCAP meeting will be held in Vancouver, Canada from March 6-12, 2004. The International Society of Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology will join us as our twenty-second Companion Society. The all-day Long Course will be held Wednesday and dedicated to Gonadal Pathology (Ovary and Testicle) (Chaired by Drs. Robin Young and Thomas Ulbright). The Special Courses will remain the Beginning and Advanced Molecular Pathology courses and over 60 Short Courses will be presented, in addition to the 16 evening Specialty Conferences. Next year's Nathan Kaufman Timely Topic Lecture will be given by Dr. David Walker on Bioterrorism. The Maude Abbott Lecture will be given by Dr. Aiden Carney. Recipients of next year's Distinguished Pathologist Award are Drs. Daria Haust and Kolman Kovacs.

There are several additions to our USCAP Committees. The New Chair of our USCAP Education Committee is Dr. Jeffrey Myers. The newest members of the Education Committee are Henry Tazelaar (Mayo), Ed Jones (UBC-Vancouver), Steven Tahan (BI-Deaconess) and Marc Ladanyi (Sloan-Kettering Memorial). There are two new members on the Publication Committee: Drs. Jose Costa and John Pfeiffer. The Finance Committee will be Chaired by Dr. David Hardwick, and new members include Daniel Knowles and William Gardner.

The new at-large member of the Nominating Committee (under the direction of Dr. Pepper Dehner) is Peter Humphrey. Additional members of other USCAP committees include: Drs. Linda Ferrell and Randy Gascoyne on the Young Investigator Award Committee, and Drs. Joel Greenson and Laura Lamps on the F. Stephen Vogel Award Committee. Dr. Ronald DeLellis, past Past-President, will represent the Academy to the American Registry of Pathology. Other USCAP Committee members will be announced and are on our USCAP Website.

As Dr. Harvey Goldman (Boston), a past President of the USCAP has indicated "Every years seems like a millennial year for our society when we consider the monumental efforts made by so many people. Special acknowledgment is due to the entire Education Committee (under the Direction of Dr. Victor Reuter, New York City) ) and to the large and ever-growing group of abstract reviewers for compiling this wonderful meeting; to all of the chairs and moderators of the many sessions; and to the extraordinary and ongoing efforts of our permanent staff in Augusta, Georgia, notably James Crimmins, Jo Ann Johnson and Carolyn Lane."

As I said at the Business Meeting at our annual meeting in DC: "Hurricanes, blizzards, 9/11, computer worms, charging for abstract submissions, and now war and pathologists keep coming. I guess Pathologists do what Pathologists have to do. What they learn often helps somebody. I'm proud to have as my colleagues pathologists and to be called a Pathologist." Take care.

Fred Silva,
Secretary-Treasurer/Executive Director, USCAP