Nine honored for exceptional service

cap today

October 2006
Feature Story

Mary E. Kass, MD
Eric F. Glassy, MD

John F. Madden, MD, PhD

Mark S. Synovec, MD

Gregory S. Henderson, MD, PhD

Hans J. Peters, MD

Jennifer L. Hunt, MD

Rosemary Edwards, MD

Amy M. Sheldon, MD

Mary E. Kass, MD, immediate past CAP president, was named the 2006 Pathologist of the Year at a Sept. 10 ceremony at CAP ’06 in San Diego.

Dr. Kass received the College’s highest honor for her outstanding leadership. During her term as president, she led the College to the successful negotiation of the $32 million contract with the National Library of Medicine for SNOMED CT and established the CAP annual meetings. She also brought together the leaders of all major pathology organizations in 2004 to form the Future of Pathology Group.

Before her election as president-elect in 2001, Dr. Kass was a two-term member of the Board of Governors. During her tenure on the Board, Dr. Kass served on several committees. She chaired the Council on Scientific Affairs, the Board Review Program Committee, Credentials Committee, Pathology Staffing Committee, Ad Hoc Laboratory Accreditation Program Technology Project Planning Team, and the Public Affairs Committee. She was also a member of the CAP Executive and Finance committees.

Dr. Kass spent her professional career in the Washington, DC, area where she was chair of the Department of Pathology and director of laboratories, Washington Hospital Center. She was chair of the hospital’s Peer Review, Quality Assurance, and Infection Control committees. She is a past president of the Washington Society of Pathologists, and was vice chair of the Governance Committee, Medstar Board, and chair of the Quality Committee of the MedStar Board.

Eric F. Glassy, MD, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to the practice of pathology and the CAP. Dr. Glassy was presented with the award for his work on three CAP publications—Color Atlas of Hematology, Color Atlas of Hemoglobin Disorders, and Color Atlas of Body Fluids—and for his years of service to the College. He has served as the chair of the Hematology/Clinical Microscopy Resource and Publications committees. He was also a member of the CAP’s Education Committee and the Council on Membership and Advocacy.

Dr. Glassy is with Affiliated Pathologists Medical Group in Southern California. He leads the information systems at Pathology Inc., a large private anatomic pathology laboratory.

John F. Madden, MD, PhD, was awarded the Outstanding Service Award for his years of service as a member of the SNOMED International Standards Board, chair of the Surgical Pathology Convergent Terminology Working Group, and SNOMED representative on the Board of the Health Information Technology Standards Panel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Madden is an associate professor of pathology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, and medical director for informatics, Duke University Health System Laboratories.

Mark S. Synovec, MD, was honored for his dedication to political and community life and for his extraordinary public service throughout the nation.

He received the Public Service Award established in honor of the late Frank C. Coleman, MD, for his work on the Council on Government and Professional Affairs and the Economic Affairs Committee as well as for serving as a delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates. The Public Service Award is the College’s highest honor for accomplishments and dedication to political and civic life and to public service in the United States.

Dr. Synovec has served as chair, vice chair, and delegate for the state of Nebraska at the CAP’s Resident Forum. In addition, he serves now on the Council of Government and Professional Affairs, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and the Professional and Economic Affairs Committee.

Dr. Synovec is the medical director of Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center Laboratory, Topeka, Kan., and president and associate pathologist of the Topeka Pathology Group, PA.

Gregory S. Henderson, MD, PhD, was awarded the Distinguished Patient Care Award for his exceptional dedication to patient care in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He was the lone physician on site at the New Orleans Convention Center in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Henderson is associate chairman of the Ochsner Health System Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, New Orleans, and section head of anatomic pathology. In addition, he is a member of the Medical Executive Committee at Ochsner Clinic Foundation.

Hans J. Peters, MD, was honored with the Laboratory Accreditation Program Service Award for conducting more than 135 inspections and for his service as Gulf regional commissioner, deputy international commissioner, and liaison to the American Association of Blood Banks Standards and Inspections and Accreditation committees. Dr. Peters has served as the deputy international commissioner for civilian laboratories since January 2000.

Dr. Peters is a consultant in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Columbus, Ga. Previously, he was the director of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at St. Francis Hospital, Columbus.

Jennifer L. Hunt, MD, was honored with the CAP Foundation Lansky Award for her devotion to the field of molecular pathology and her promotion of the science and education of pathology. The award is presented to a board-certified pathologist who has demonstrated respected leadership consistent with the goals of the CAP Foundation and who has made significant contributions to the field.

Dr. Hunt is the associate editor and section editor of the head and neck pathology and molecular pathology sections of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. She is an editorial board member of Advances in Anatomic Pathology and Endocrine Pathology.

Dr. Hunt has written many research manuscripts and book chapters and presented at national and international meetings. She is the chief speaker for the Australia Pathology Convention on molecular pathology and head and neck pathology.

She began her involvement in the CAP as a junior member of the Publications Committee and she continues to serve as a member of that committee. She has served as a member of the Internet Editorial Board, a Pennsylvania delegate for the Residents Forum, a member of the editor search committee for the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, and an abstract review board member for the College.

She is the head of surgical pathology at the Cleveland Clinic and associate professor of pathology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She also serves as the director of the Head and Neck and Endocrine Pathology Service and the Anatomic Pathology Molecular Diagnostics Unit.

Rosemary Edwards, MD, was one of two recipients of the 2006 CAP Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award. The grants this award provides are used to fund pathology and medical services to underprivileged patients in an underdeveloped area of the world. The CAP’s award supports the collaborative vision of Dr. Edwards and the rural community of Fondwa, Haiti, for improving HIV/AIDS education, testing, and treatment.

This grant will allow Dr. Edwards to provide funding to the Association Peasants of Fondwa Primary Care Medical Facility and make it possible to buy educational supplies and diagnostic materials. The Medical Facility advances pathology’s role within the health care system in Haiti.

This project was developed through community-based participatory research, including a focus group of representatives from the formal and informal health care sectors of the community, in-depth interviews with long-term Fondwa Community Volunteers and the Fondwa Clinic director, and Dr. Edwards’ direct observations during her volunteer session.

With this grant, Dr. Edwards and health care workers in Fondwa will be able to implement a comprehensive community HIV/AIDS program administered by Partners in Progress, a nonprofit organization based in Western Pennsylvania. The program includes an educational outreach initiative, will offer voluntary testing and counseling using the World Health Organization’s recommended HIV Rapid Testing Protocols for under-resourced populations, and links people in need to treatment and supportive care services.

Dr. Edwards served as an interim director and professor at the University of Fondwa, Haiti, where she lived and volunteered from January through July 2006.

She is a physician consultant for Association Peasants of Fondwa Primary Care Medical Facility, which is the organization that seeks to implement the community HIV/AIDS curriculum and treatment. She is on the medical staff at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania.

Amy M. Sheldon, MD, was one of two recipients of the 2006 CAP Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award. The grants this award provides are used to fund pathology and medical services to underprivileged patients in an underdeveloped area of the world. The CAP’s award supports the collaborative vision of Dr. Sheldon and the St. Agnes Hospital Foundation and United Hearts for Health and Consultants Laboratory of Wisconsin to greatly improve the medical care of the community of Rosita in Nicaragua.

This project was developed through United Hearts for Health, a faith-based organization that seeks to alleviate pain and suffering in regions that lack basic medical care. Dr. Sheldon became involved in the project’s efforts after she participated in a medical mission trip to Rosita, Nicaragua, last February.

This grant will allow her to purchase much needed equipment for the Rosita Hospital and to expand its pathology services. Pap smear screening will be a focus.

Dr. Sheldon is chief of pathology at St. Agnes Hospital, Fond du Lac, Wis., and is on the medical staff of Waupan Memorial Hospital.