Wednesday, September 23, 2026. 12 PM-1 PM ET
Roundtable presenters Dr. David Sacks MB, ChB, FRCPath, Chairman, Steering Committee National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP), and Priya Sivaraman, PhD, Senior Technical Product Manager, Tosoh Bioscience
Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY
Thursday, September 24, 2026 11 AM-12 PM CT
This session explores the evolving role of RAS in precision oncology, from the biology of RAS mutations to the expanding landscape of targeted therapies. Through expert presentations, real-world case discussions, and interactive audience polling, participants will examine best practices for RAS biomarker testing across solid tumors, including lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. The session will highlight practical considerations for tissue and liquid biopsy, strategies to address testing gaps, and the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration to ensure timely identification of patients who may benefit from RAS-targeted therapies.
Webinar presenters David Braxton, MD, Chief of Molecular Pathology Services, Hoag Family Cancer Institute & Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, and Carlos Becerra, MD, Research Director for Medical Oncology, Margaret Given Larkin Endowed Chair for Developmental Cancer Therapeutics, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY
Wednesday, September 30, 2026. 1 PM-1:30 PM ET
Roundtable presenters John Longshore, PhD, Head of Scientific Affairs, Global Oncology Diagnostics, AstraZeneca, and Flora Berisha, MS, Executive Director, Global Head of Diagnostic Partnering and Development, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, and Mark D. Ewalt, MD, Associate Medical Director for Laboratory Operations, Diagnostic Molecular Pathology, Molecular Diagnostics Service, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Isabel Preeshagul, DO, MBS, Thoracic Medical Oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY
Thursday, October 1, 2026 1 PM-2 PM ET
This presentation will explore the value of in-house CGP, offer insights into the benefits and drawbacks of incorporation, and provide information about important practical factors when considering in-house implementation of CGP.
Webinar presenter Allison M. Cushman-Vokoun, MD, PhD, FCAP, Medical Director, Molecular Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Laboratory, Director, Division of Diagnostic Molecular Pathology and Human Genetics, Henry F. Krous Professor of Pathology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY
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
Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY
October 2023—A CAP accreditation program requirement that microbiology laboratories use current antimicrobial susceptibility testing breakpoints, which was added to the checklist in 2021, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2024.
September 2023—A casual comment made in a routine exchange in an Avera McKennan Hospital laboratory sparked a five-year campaign to bring down the urine culture contamination rate. “I feel like all I do is report contaminated cultures,” a microbiology technologist said in 2016.
June 2023—A bad-news, good-news, bad-news, good-news bass line thrums through the ongoing story of Candida auris as it continues to spread in the United States. Initially identified in Japan, in 2009, in an ear specimen—hence the auris—the yeast was first reported in the United States in 2016. Like certain other pathogens, C. auris’ domestic presence appeared to be linked to travel-related cases, then quickly spread, first to the metropolitan regions of Chicago and New York City and now to more than half the states. That’s worrisome. Yet the spread hasn’t been unbridled. Early fears that it would sweep indiscriminately through all patient populations have not been realized. “It’s not as virulent as albicans,” says Sixto M. Leal Jr., MD, PhD, director of the clinical microbiology laboratory and of the fungal reference laboratory, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a member of the CAP Microbiology Committee. “It’s about as virulent as Candida glabrata. It’s not too much of a significant threat if you’re healthy.”
June 2023—For Lyme disease testing, immunoblots became optional in 2019 when the FDA cleared enzyme immunoassays for use as part of a modified two-tiered testing algorithm. “It was a historic event in the world of Lyme diagnostics,” says Elitza Theel, PhD, D(ABMM).
March 2023—When it comes to molecular syndromic panels for pneumonia, there’s both upside and downside, says Neil W. Anderson, MD, D(ABMM), associate professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
January 2023—For the central microbiology laboratory serving Barnes-Jewish and four other hospitals in the St. Louis area, validating and implementing a new blood culture system and moving to a shorter incubation time came at a perfect time: right before the pandemic.
November 2022—In mid-October, flu was picking up, with high levels of activity in Texas, Georgia, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and New York. Elsewhere, it was still on the lower side, with less known about what was to come but plans in place. And questions, too, about laboratory testing as it relates to SARS-CoV-2, “which is going to be a challenge,” says David Peaper, MD, PhD, D(ABMM), a member of the CAP Microbiology Committee.
October 2022—It might be possible to tot up, using only the number of toes on an ordinary foot, how many labs are feeling full of vim and vigor these days, open to concepts like creative destruction and get those creative juices flowing and have fun with it—slogans once easily uttered but now tiring to enact. Nevertheless, Margie Morgan, PhD, D(ABMM), would like her colleagues to at least consider the possibility of inspiration in the microbiology laboratory. In particular, Dr. Morgan, medical director of microbiology and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, has some thoughts about using a new automated system to facilitate rapid microbial identification from positive blood cultures. The Arc system, from Accelerate Diagnostics, is composed of the Arc module and blood culture kit and concentrates organisms recovered in positive blood cultures for direct testing on MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Dr. Morgan and colleagues have been using the system since February.
August 2022—The atypia in Epstein-Barr virus-positive mucocutaneous ulcers can mimic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or classical Hodgkin lymphoma, a diagnostic pitfall that can result in overtreatment. And esophageal ulcers in immunocompromised patients should trigger cytomegalovirus immunohistochemistry in addition to GMS and herpes simplex virus-1 and -2 stains.
July 2022—Gut pathogens, their histologic features, and a GI pathology and microbiology team approach to diagnosis were the focus of a CAP21 session, “What’s Bugging the Gut?” Maryam Zenali, MD, Alina Iuga, MD, and Christina Wojewoda, MD, presented a series of cases and highlighted the features, the differential diagnoses, and the integrated workups. Three of their cases follow here, with others to be reported in an upcoming issue.
