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Webinars and Sponsored Roundtables — Register Now

Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 11 AM-12 PM ET
Hear experts review the biological and clinical significance of the HER2 expression continuum in breast tissue, providing a clearer understanding of how these variations might impact diagnosis, and discuss the emerging importance of documenting HER2-low and HER2-ultralow categories using a validated IHC assay.

Webinar presenters Keith Wharton, MD, PhD, Global Medical Affairs Leader–Pathology, Roche Diagnostics Solutions, and Hannah Y. Wen, MD, PhD, Director, Breast Pathology Fellowship, Associate Team Leader, Breast Pathology Team, Attending Pathologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Roche.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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Thursday, October 29, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the evolving role of PD-L1 testing in HNSCC and ovarian cancer.

Webinar presenter Georgios Deftereos, MD, Professor of Pathology, Associate Director of the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Director of Molecular Cytopathology, University of California, San Francisco

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Agilent.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the challenges of detecting NRG1 fusions and how RNA-based testing can support more comprehensive fusion identification in clinical practice.

Webinar presenter Benjamin Weinberg, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Attending Physician
specializing in gastrointestinal medical oncology

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Diaceutics.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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Monday, November 16, 2026, 12:30 PM-2 PM ET
Hear experts discuss a multidisciplinary approach to oncopathology for HER2
assessments for solid tumors in the absence of a companion diagnostic.

Webinar presenters Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, Chair, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics Medical Director, Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and Emina E. Torlakovic, MD, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canadian Biomarker Quality Assurance, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Carol Cheung, MD, PhD, JD, FRCPC, Deputy Director, Canadian Biomarker Quality, Assurance—Programme canadien d’assurance de la qualité des biomarqueurs

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. This program is being sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. and AstraZeneca. The speaker is being compensated for the presentation. The program is not CME accredited and may not be used for CME accreditation.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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From the President’s Desk

November 2024—There’s a shortage of physicians in the U.S.—across specialty areas and including pathology—and the reaction has been rather predictable: nonphysicians are pushing hard to fill those voids. Scope of practice is a major issue facing physicians today, and pathologists are no exception. In other specialties, we’ve seen nurse practitioners and physician assistants step up to take on more and more responsibilities that were once reserved for physicians. For certain tasks and under the supervision of a physician, this is not only appropriate but welcome. In pathology we have pathologist assistants performing valuable tasks in support of pathologists with a real impact on patient care. All of these nonphysicians are important for patient care and for easing the burden on physicians who are stretched too thin.

Clinical pathology selected abstracts

November 2024—Pathology training programs are meant to prepare trainees for the workforce by imparting medical knowledge and developing skills in diagnostic interpretation in anatomic pathology. Yet transitioning to the workforce can be challenging for some new graduates. To address this, many training programs have begun teaching management and leadership skills that are required on the job. In addition, the College of American Pathologists New in Practice Committee developed online educational material to provide practical advice for those starting their pathology careers.

Anatomic pathology selected abstracts

November 2024—Inactivating alterations in switch/sucrose nonfermentable (SWI/SNF) chromatin remodeling complex subunits have been described in multiple tumor types. Recent studies focused on SMARC subunits of this complex to explain their relationship with tumor characteristics and therapeutic opportunities. Pancreatic cancer with these alterations has not been well studied, although isolated cases of undifferentiated carcinomas have been reported.

Molecular pathology selected abstracts

November 2024—Many people with an intellectual disability do not receive a molecular diagnosis following genetic testing. While 1,427 genes have been confidently identified as etiological for an intellectual disability (ID), all but nine of them are protein coding. To identify noncoding etiologies of ID, the authors conducted a genetic association analysis using whole genome sequencing data on 77,539 participants in the 100,000 Genomes Project. The study included 29,741 probands and 4,782 affected relatives assigned by expert clinicians to one or more of 220 specific disease classes encompassing a wide range of pathologies.

Q&A column

NOVEMBER 2024 Q. Our laboratory was cited for a deficiency because the manufacturer and methodology of our tumor marker assay was not available to clinicians. What is the reasoning behind this requirement? Read answer.
Q. For patients who have a hematocrit level greater than 55 percent, is it okay to use a CBC (hematocrit) that was not collected at the same time as the citrate sample? For example, can we use a CBC collected within 24 hours for an inpatient and a CBC from a previous visit for an outpatient? Read answer.

Newsbytes

November 2024—A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a conventional two-dimensional photograph of a surgical specimen can convey only so much information to a pathologist or surgeon. Overall geometry and margin status are difficult to interpret from static, single-perspective images.

Letters

November 2024—In “Lab test use: what 1 billion claims tell us” (August issue, page 1), you detailed the conclusions of a research study that analyzed insurance claims from effectively the entire U.S. adult population. The study found what it had sought, that 14.4 million individuals tested had undergone excessive laboratory testing, which is low-value care that poses patient risks and wastes resources. In reviewing the study data and analyses, I found that the methodology did not accurately estimate overuse and that the study overlooked the conclusion the data was screaming for: We are screening far too few people for chronic diseases and need to invest in access to care.

Put It on the Board

November 2024—The College of American Pathologists on Oct. 7 filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases American Clinical Laboratory Association, et al., v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al., and Association for Molecular Pathology, et al., v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al. Plaintiffs in these consolidated cases challenge a final rule setting out the FDA’s plan to regulate LDTs as medical devices under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. “The Final Rule imposes draconian new restrictions—and crushing compliance costs—on the development and use of LDTs,” the CAP says in its amicus brief.

Harm or help? Maternal AFP race adjustments

October 2024—Using a race adjustment in maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein screening has physicians sitting on the fence these days. Including race in calculating risk for open neural tube defects has been a longstanding practice in medicine. Adjusting for higher rates of AFP levels seen in Black pregnant patients, proponents say, allows this population to receive equitable care. That premise lies on one side of the fence. On the other are those who maintain the practice is suspect, even harmful, and that the routine use of a race-based adjustment should stop. With the experience of dropping raced-based adjustments to estimated glomerular filtration rates still fresh in many minds, physicians are now deciding whether to keep or drop the adjustment for maternal serum AFP, even ahead of any potential changes to guidance by groups such as the CAP. Little wonder. Because as anyone who has ever sat on a fence knows, it can easily become a shaky, even painful, perch.

 

New system for hemolysis detection at point of care

October 2024—Werfen launched in July its Gem Premier 7000 with iQM3 blood gas testing system that for the first time makes hemolysis detection possible at the point of care. “Not having the capability to detect hemolysis at the point of care has been a gap in the field for quite a long time,” says Heather Stieglitz, PhD, D(ABCC).

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