June 2018—Nobody has an annual meeting like ours. Nobody. And CAP18 will be no exception.
The CAP18 educational program features 85 courses presented by 128 outstanding faculty. A quick scan of the program reveals 42 new learning opportunities and another 38 returning by popular demand; attendees can earn as many as 34.25 CME credits and 30 SAM credits. Options include 13 lunchtime roundtables, three video microscopy courses, the scientific plenary, and a special lecture on Wednesday morning. Additional one-hour time slots have been held open for hot topics to be assigned closer to the meeting date. The CAP18 website, www.capannualmeeting.org, provides links to the curriculum, associated meetings, registration, and hotel and travel information. It’s all there.
R. Bruce Williams, MD
The CAP Curriculum Committee, an impressive team of 15 pathologists in every subspecialty supported by our fine CAP Learning staff, spends two years researching, brainstorming, and selecting speakers for each meeting. The content has to be cutting edge and it has to cover the breadth of our complex specialty. And because they are who they are, it has to be creative.
One goal that CAP Curriculum Committee chair Sarah M. Bean, MD, set for this meeting was to bring the outstanding networking that we have come to expect into the classrooms. You can see it in the course descriptions. The outcome is sure to be even more dynamic, interactive, and memorable learning and a more fully integrated experience overall, creating durable ties among those who attend.
At the CAP18 Sunday morning scientific plenary, three experts in physician wellness and resilience—moderator James S. Hernandez, MD, a pathologist; Bryan Bohman, MD; and Timothy J. Bono, PhD—will present what is known about physician burnout and how to advocate for greater awareness and thoughtful approaches to building resilience. This topic has been somewhat under the radar, I think, but an NEJM Catalyst story says that 54 percent of U.S. physicians reported at least one symptom of professional burnout in 2014 (Wright AA, et al. https://catalyst.nejm.org. Published March 30, 2018). A recent Medscape survey suggests that pathologists are doing better than most (Peckham C. www.medscape.com. Published Jan. 17, 2018). Maybe that means we are among those best suited to take the lead. Perhaps we have an ethical duty to address this in our institutions. CAP18 is a good place to get coffee with a colleague and talk about that.
This year, we meet for five days, Oct. 20–24, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. We are starting on a Saturday so more of our new-in-practice pathologists, who may be last in line for weekdays off, will be able to come. The Residents Forum, which convenes first thing Saturday morning, is open to all pathology residents and medical students. Both groups are also welcome to attend CAP18 courses at reduced rates.
The CAP House of Delegates meeting opens on Saturday morning—I hope everyone will attend at least part of it. The annual meeting of CAP members will take place Saturday afternoon. CEO Stephen Myers and I will give our annual reports then, and the CAP18 opening reception will follow.
CAP junior members will again have the opportunity to compete in a photo contest; winning art will be auctioned, with proceeds to benefit the CAP Foundation. At the Residents Forum career fair, leaders of major Chicago-area medical institutions will give presentations, as will a physician recruiter and others with insider stories on the job search. And the residents and new-in-practice lounge will be open Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday afternoons as well as Monday, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, for informal networking.
The CAP18 Abstract Program will feature more than 640 posters discussing clinical research and case-based experiences within 25 different specialties. Abstracts are judged by Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine section editors, who score for final review by Philip T. Cagle, MD, editor-in-chief. Posters will be displayed in the exhibit hall during four sessions, Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning. The first hour of each Poster Focus session is the best time to talk with the authors about their research.
Kevin Pho, MD, will headline the Sunday evening Spotlight Event. Dr. Pho, creator of the KevinMD blog, will talk about the use of social media to connect with other health professionals and patients and how to manage social media reputations.
Experts from the Council on Government and Professional Affairs will present courses and moderate roundtables across the advocacy landscape. The Pathologists Quality Registry, the CAP’s qualified clinical data registry to help pathologists successfully participate in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, will be presented and available for demonstrations. New research on population health will be discussed, and state-level leaders will have an opportunity to discuss challenges in the coverage of pathology services. A PathPAC reception to celebrate contributors and network with colleagues is planned for Sunday night.
On Tuesday morning, three groundbreaking pathologists will take the microphone for the second annual “inspiration stage.” Last year’s inaugural event was an instant hit and drew more than 4,800 Facebook Live views as word got around. This year, three pathologists will share experiences in counseling cancer patients one on one, providing support to colleagues who care for patients addicted to opioids, and improving women’s health. I expect these speakers—Lija Joseph, MD, Barbarajean Magnani, PhD, MD, and Crystal A. Moore, MD, PhD—will make an indelible impression. They are not to be missed.
The special lecture on Wednesday morning will be yet another highlight. The Curriculum Committee traditionally invites a renowned pathologist to present at each annual meeting. This year’s honoree is Britt-Marie Ljung, MD, professor emerita and past director of the Division of Cytopathology at the University of California San Francisco, who coauthored and taught the CAP Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Advanced Practical Pathology Program. Dr. Ljung will present a history of fine-needle aspiration biopsy along with strategies to procure optimum sample yield.
Finally, a word about the nearly 100 industry partners sponsoring booths in our exhibit hall this year. Please make time to stop in, even briefly, to show that you appreciate their support for our meeting.
[hr]
Dr. Williams welcomes communication from CAP members. Write to him at president@cap.org.