Message from the President

Brett Delahunt President from 2007-2009

Report on the 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Division of the International Academy of Pathology Darling Harbour, Sydney, June 1-3, 2007.

John Pedersen completed his two year term as President of the Australasian Division, IAP, with the organisation of the successful 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting.


As has become a tradition, the first day of the ASM was dedicated to the meetings of the Division's specialty companion clubs. This year fourteen clubs met in sessions from 9am to 7pm and the breadth of pathology on offer was a tribute to the dedication of the program convenors. The popular grey-green master class for trainees was continued in 2007 and those present enjoyed the presentation by Professor Sir James Underwood, Professor Emeritus, Sheffield University and past President of the Royal College of Pathologists. Professor Underwood also gave the Keynote Lecture of the day which focused on the nature of the diagnostic process and the causes of errors in pathology reporting.

As an innovation to this year's ASM, two additional master classes for trainees were added to the programme on Saturday and Sunday mornings prior to the commencement of the day-long theme sessions. On Saturday, Associate Professor David Challis presented a practical approach to the interpretation of renal biopsies, while on Sunday Professor Richard Scolyer gave a comprehensive account on the pathology of melanoma. Despite the proximity of the meeting to the Fellowship examinations of the RCPA, these sessions were well attended by pathology trainees, who benefited from the advice of acknowledged experts.

Professor Underwood was principal presenter for the Saturday program. His lecture on the uses and abuses of human tissue in the United Kingdom provided a comprehensive overview of the medico-legal environment in that country and gave an account of recent controversies regarding storage and use of pathological specimens. This thought-provoking address provided a timely warning for pathologists and generated considerable discussion, both during the session and for some time afterwards. In his slide seminar Professor Underwood discussed ten cases on the general theme of gastrointestinal pathology and this was accompanied by a professionally produced full-colour handout and accompanying CD rom, both of which were expertly edited by our own Professor Robin Cooke. Professor Underwood chose hepatitis c as the theme of his second lecture and delighted his audience with a comprehensive description of the epidemiology, pathology and prognostic features of this widespread and clinically important disease. The theme of liver pathology was continued for the Vincent McGovern memorial lecture which was presented by Professor Alastair Burt of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Professor Burt discussed liver fibrosis with an emphasis on pathogenetic mechanisms, diagnostic features, treatment and prognosis.

The distinguished pathologist award of the Australasian Division, conferred by the President in recognition of a sustained outstanding contribution to pathology and to the division, was this year awarded to Professor Prithi Bhathal. In presenting the award, Dr Pedersen highlighted the outstanding contribution made by Professor Bhathal in the fields of heptopathology and medical education.


John Pedersen, James Underwood, Stephen Fairy

John Pedersen, Alastair Burt, Stephen Fairy

Some former Presidents of the Aust Div Kon Muller, Dominic Spagnolo, Brett Delahunt, Robin Cooke, Stephen Swerdlow,(visitor), David Ellis,(Committee), Phil Allen, Richard Jaworski, Bob Eckstein, Warick Delprado

Prithi Bhathal recipient of the Distinguished Pathologist Award

Warick Delprado presenting Jan Mc Lean with a token of appreciation at the AGM

The guest speaker for the Sunday sessions was Dr Steven Swerdlow from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine whose presentations on B-cell lymphomas and cutaneous lymphomas provided lucid expositions of these difficult areas in pathology. These lectures were supplemented by a comprehensive slide seminar on haematopathology aptly titled "from the commonplace to the zebras."

Planning for the 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Division is well advanced with the meeting scheduled for May 30 – June 1, 2008. The guest speakers will be Dr Zachary D. Goodman of the Armed Forces Institute, Washington DC and Dr Stacey E. Mills from the University of Virginia. Dr Goodman, who will speak on the general theme of liver pathology, is an internationally recognised authority and author of the AFIP fascicle on "Hepatic and bile duct Neoplasia."

Dr Mills will present lectures on bone pathology and is well known as the editor-in-chief of Steinberg's Diagnostic Surgical Pathology, editor of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology and author of the AFIP fascicle on Bone Tumors. For his slide seminar, Dr Mills will focus on Diagnostic problems in general surgical pathology, with an emphasis on Head and Neck pathology. In addition to these keynote speakers, a comprehensive educational program is planned along with a variety of social gatherings.

The IAP is the only Australasian organisation dedicated to educational activities for anatomical pathologists and relies on the profession for support. The executive is keen to increase membership of the Division over the next year, and to facilitate this a favourable member's registration rate has been set for the 2008 ASM.
Support the Division by becoming a member in 2007 and participating in the 2008 meeting – I look forward to seeing you all there.

Brett Delahunt, President

32nd ASM
Poster Awards
 

Pathologist First prize
No.1 Molecular Testing For Synovial Sarcoma
Benhur Amanuel, Dept Anatomical Pathology, Pathwest Laboratory Medicine, Nedlands, WA Australia
A T Deyrup, C E Hill, C Foulks, A Blasingame, S Li, S W Weiss
Dept Anatomical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Benhur Ammanuel and his poster on Molecular testing in Synovial Sarcoma

Pathologist Commendations
No. 12 Detection of Chromosome 1p and 19q Deletions and EGFR Amplification in Glial Tumours by Interphase FISH in Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue
Michael Gonzales, Susan Dale, Marleen Susman, NeuroPath Laboratory, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
No.18 The Development of Stellate Cells in Human Liver
Christine Loo and Xiao-Juan Wu
Dept of Anatomical Pathology, South Western Area Pathology Service, Liverpool, NSW

Poster by Dr. Tamosin Leecy (inset) and Stephen Rainer awarded a commendation

Registrar Category First Prize
No.19 Bk Virus Detection in Renal Transplant Patients Using Sv-40 T Antigen Immunostaining: A Single-Centre Experience
Daniel McKay, Anne Beaty, Moira Finlay
Dept of Anatomical Pathology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville Vic

Poster by Christine Loo and Xiao-Juan Wu awarded a commendation

Registrar Commendation
No.30 Her-2 Protein Expression and Gene Amplification in Uterine Serous Papillary Carcinoma
C L Smith, P Gilham, I Parkinson, T J Dodd
Division of Tissue Pathology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, SA
P Singh, Dept of Gynaecology Oncology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA
G Cheetham, Z Rudzki, Division of Molecular Pathology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, SA

Caroline Smith and her poster awarded a registrar commendation

Australasian Division
of the International Academy of Pathology Limited

Committee Members
 

President	Professor Brett Delahunt
Past President	Dr John Pedersen
President Elect	Dr Richard Jaworski
Secretary	Dr Stephen Fairy
Treasurer	Dr Jane Nankervis
Editor Newsletter	Professor Robin Cooke
Vice President Australasia	Dr Robert Eckstein
Councillors:
New South Wales	Professor C Soon Lee Dr Vicki Howard
Queensland	Dr Jan Kencian
Victoria	Dr Duncan MacGregor
South Australia	Dr David Ellis
Western Australia	Dr Bastiaan De Boer
Tasmania	Dr Gina Skuza
New Zealand	Dr Peter Bethwaite

Annual subscription
 

Renewal notices will be sent out in December to cover year 1 January, 2008 – 31 December, 2008. The subscription rate is $143.000 (including GST).
Please reach for your cheque book as soon as possible and post the cheque to the Secretariat IAP, 203 Albion St.
Surry Hills, NSW 2010

Report on the visit of Prof. Sir James Underwood to Brisbane, June 6-9, 2007
 

8am weekly registrar and staff slide teaching session at PAH

James gave a series of excellent lectures and discussions. He was exposed to registrars and consultant staff at both the main teaching hospitals in Brisbane. He addressed the senior administrators of pathology in Queensland Health and the senior administrators at S&N pathology.
He was interested to visit the two new medical schools at the Gold Coast and to see that both of them were establishing museums of pathology specimens to assist in the teaching of pathology.
He gave a Head of School lecture at the University of Queensland Medical School. His topic was "Autopsy: Lessons from the dead for the living." There was a very big audience which comprised an extremely wide range of experts in many different fields. There have been only a few such lectures and I think it is fair to say that this was the most successful one so far.
The Brisbane sector of his visit was funded by the Qld branch of the RCPA thanks to the assistance of the Qld councillor, Joan Faoagali.

Robin Cooke

Bond University, Gold Coast, Lloyd McGuire, (Prof at Bond), Alfred Lam, (Prof at Griffith) Chris del Mar, (Dean of Bond Medical School) Konrad Muller, James Underwood, Robin Cooke, Gordon Wright (Prof at Bond).

Royal Brisbane Hospital: Some pathologists and registrars Front: Gael Phillips, Diane Payton, James Underwood, Tom Robinson Back: Robin Cooke, Sunil Lakhani and registrars.

The Weedon Pathology Museum Bond University, Gold Coast

University of Queensland Mayne lecture theatre with a large audience to hear the James Underwood lecture on "Autopsy: Lessons from the dead for the living."

University of Queensland, James Underwood, Sunil Lakhani, (Prof at Uni of Qld.) David Wilkinson (Head of the Medical School)

Invited visitors to the June 2007 ASM

Seth Fose from Papua New Guinea
Seth is a final year student in the 5 year training course leading to the M. Med in pathology which is a specialist qualification in PNG.
He is from the Enga Province in the Western Highlands of PNG. He had his primary and secondary education in a number of different towns in PNG, and attended the University of PNG in Port Moresby for his medical training.
Before returning to PNG after the Sydney meeting he spent a week in Brisbane at the central laboratory of Pathology Queensland. Mahendra Singh was mainly responsible for his programme during this week. (Thanks Mahendra)
In October this year Seth attended the annual meeting of the PNG Medical Society. He presented a paper entitled, "Coroners' autopsies on violent deaths in Port Moresby 2002-2006."
The main points he made were as follows:
In this period there were 1277 autopsies. Through much of this period he has been assisting the specialist forensic pathologist in performing these autopsies.
Of the 1277 autopsies, 877 were on violent deaths. 84.5 % of these were males.
The causes of the violent deaths by percentage were as follows:
Domestic violence 37
Road traffic accidents 29
Firearms 24
Suicide 3
Miscellaneous 7
The theme of the Medical Society this year was "Oral and head and neck diseases." As is usual, after the meeting the sub societies each hold a one day meeting. The Pathology Society of PNG had about 30 people attending their meeting and Seth was one of the organisers of this. Their theme was "Laboratory diagnosis of Head and Neck pathology."

Siale Akauola from Tonga
Siale is the only pathologist in this island Kingdom, and for the past 4 years he has been the medical superintendent as well as the pathologist. After completing his secondary education he had the option of attending the medical school in Suva, Fiji or the Medical Faculty of the Uni of PNG in Port Moresby. He chose the latter. He completed a residency training in PNG and then was granted a 3 year WHO Fellowship to undertake the 3 year DCP course offered by the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. In 1996 he returned to be the pathologist at the 200 bed main hospital in Nuku Alofa, Tonga. Before returning home he spent a week at the Royal North Shore Hospital with Bob Eckstein. (Thanks Bob)

Follow up on the visitor from PNG in 2006
Roy Roger Maraka completed his M Med (Uni of PNG) at the end of 2006 and is now the first resident pathologist in Honiara in the Solomon Islands. Stephen Weinstein recently led a group from Pathology Queensland to visit him. They provided him with a working histology laboratory and offers of further assistance as required.

Notes from the Editor

The 5th Asia Pacific IAP Congress was held in Singapore May 27-31, 2007
This was a highly successful meeting which attracted about 550 delegates. Congratulations to the organisers especially Gilbert Chiang and Angela Chong. The next meeting will be hosted by the Indian Division in 2009 in the city of Cochin in the state of Kerala along the south west coast of India. Kerala is one of the most picturesque states in India. There are nice trips that can be done from the city. The Convention centre is fairly new and there is plenty of accommodation up to 5 star hotels.
Bob Eckstein the IAP vice President for Asia reported that there was a large contingent from the Australasian Division in spite of the fact that it ran over into our local meeting. He asked that future meetings be aware of this problem and tabled the meeting dates for our meeting for the next few years.

Fellowships for visitors to our Annual Scientific meetings
The Executive Committee is calling for nominations from members of the Australasian Division for deserving candidates who might be offered an invitation to become visiting Fellows.
Visitors should be pathologists or pathologists in the late stage of training from our neighbouring countries especially PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Laos and Cambodia.
The Division will cover the cost of a return economy airfare and accommodation while they are in Australia, with a $500 donation for incidental expenses.
Fellows will attend the ASM and then spend the following week in a pathology department in Australia before returning home.
Overseas speakers for the 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting
Zachary Goodman from the AFIP Washington. His topic will be "Liver diseases."
Stacey Mills from the University of Virginia. His topic will be "Bone diseases and Head and Neck pathology."
Pathologists Overseas
This non profit organisation of volunteer pathologists needs the following people for 2008.
Ghana: A pathologist to do relieving work.
Peru: A relieving pathologist from July 2008 to January 2009
Bhutan: Scientists with expertise in quality assurance in clinical chemistry and / or haematology, and a cytologist to help with the training of screeners.
For further information contact Stephen Weinstein, at the Gold Coast hospital. Stephen_Weinstein@health.qld.gov.au

Farewell to Amiel Christie
Amiel has had a long and varied career in pathology, mostly in private practice in Sydney and Woolongong. He is now 87 and "it is time to give up." He made a special visit to the Annual Meeting this year to say a fond farewell.
Amiel did a year of postgraduate training in London in the 1950's where he worked as a registrar with Rupert Willis who had just retired from Melbourne Uni and taken up an appointment in England. Having completed a monumental book on the "Pathology of Tumours" Willis was at that time the most famous Australian anatomical pathologist. A number of Australians worked with him in London.
During his time there Amiel performed the post mortem examination on the first case of Q fever diagnosed in the UK. Willis came to the autopsy room to check the post mortem findings. As was the common practice at that time, the checker did not put on gloves, and examined the organs with bare hands. Rupert did this and he got Q fever. Amiel, the mortuary attendant and the nurse who laid out the body also got Q fever. Amiel was so sick that he had to spend 3 months in the Lake District recovering. When he returned to the Royal Marsden Hospital he found that a fellow registrar had taken his notes and written up the case. This man came to a "sticky end" and had to leave the country. When I was reading this case report a few years ago I could not understand why I did not recognise the name of the author, because at that time in Australia, it was possible to know almost all the pathologists by name. Amiel solved my dilemma when he told me this story after seeing the poster I exhibited at the meeting a few years ago on Ted Derrick who identified Q fever, described its clinical features and found the organism that caused it.

Robin Cooke

The USCAP Virtual Slide Box
 

If you go to the USCAP Website: www.uscap.org you'll find the NEW USCAP VIRTUAL SLIDE BOX containing hundreds of virtual slides which can be viewed either as unknowns or by listed diagnoses...all for free....and with hundreds more to come in the future.....
Take a look.
Take care.
Fred Silva, EVP-USCAP