Dear , 

Join us as we reflect back on 2020! We are ringing in the new year by highlighting a few of APC's many activities and achievements in 2020...

January

• Among other important outcomes of the 2020 Winter Council meeting, APC Council and the Section Chairs keep strategic goals and priorities at the center of activities, approve managing a new organization in academic lab genomics, design an intensive academic leadership program, and reorganize the Advocacy Committee to work in greater concert with other standing committees and provide more frequent communication to members. The meeting, held in Palms Springs, California, kicked off with a memorable tour of the USCAP facilities, graciously hosted by David Kaminsky, MD, and the staff of USCAP.
  
  
• APC Past President, Barbara Ducatman, MD (Oakland University/Beaumont Hospital) and co-authors publish their groundbreaking article The Value Proposition for Pathologists: A Population Health Approach. In it, they describe how pathologists can improve patient outcomes and safety, and lower costs, through leadership in utilization management, precision medicine, and reducing diagnostic errors. This article is consistently among the top hits and downloads in Academic Pathology for 2020!
  
  
• APC’s Social Media Committee, led by residents Dana Razzano, MD (Yale University) and Yonah C. Ziemba, MD (Northwell Health), document their trailblazing research on how Twitter posts accurately reflect speakers’ intended messages from scientific presentations in their article Utilizing Social Media to Spread Knowledge: The Association of Pathology Chairs Experience at the 2018 Annual Meeting. #GreatYoungPathologists!
  
  
• APC works with the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) to co-lead the next Intersociety Council for Pathology Information (ICPI) Board meeting. Together, they anticipate improvements to the ICPI website and the creation of a mobile app to generate more connectivity between participants in ICPI-funded medical student interest groups and usage of residency program information and other pipeline resources.

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February

• APC publishes its first “annual report” version of Paths to Progress. What was APC’s twice-yearly newsletter grows to a comprehensive look-back on the year that was 2019, complete with plenty of photos and reminiscences. The many accomplishments of this small, but mighty, association are in clear, concise view in this handsome new publication!
  
  
• Sixteen abstracts are accepted for the 2020 APC Annual Meeting, which are later published in Academic Pathology. Eight top-ranked abstracts receive APC’s 2020 Inspiration Awards, which encourages poster authors to further their work and submit a manuscript based on their research to Academic Pathology. If accepted for publication, the Award provides for the article processing fee to be paid by APC or the Society of ’67, depending on author eligibility for the Open Access Award Program.
  
  
• Charles Timmons, MD, PhD (University of Texas Southwestern) and co-authors give comfort to graduating residents in their study of survey data collected from residency program directors on when new pathologists join the workforce, Entry of Graduates of US Pathology Residency Programs Into the Workforce: Cohort Data Between 2008 and 2016 Remain Positive and Stable.
  
  
• The SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads rapidly from intense, locally-concentrated outbreaks to become a worldwide pandemic, triggering one of the greatest epochs in laboratory medicine history.

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March

• Chairs and Program Directors gather at the USCAP meeting in Los Angeles for enjoyable networking and learning. APC hosts its second meeting of the Intersociety Pathology Council (IPC), whose membership includes over 20 pathology organizations.

• Eight pathology residents and three medical students are selected from 47 applications to be the Society of ’67’s Scholars Class of 2020! The Scholars Program provides opportunities for medical students and residents to familiarize themselves with careers in academic pathology and its missions of practice, research and education, through programming and interactions with national leaders at the APC Annual Meetings.
  
  

• Academic pathologists rise to meet the challenges of COVID-19 testing and patient care, using the APC listservs as a conduit to communicate real-time information to help colleagues stay current on their understanding of the disease and to address issues with testing and the supply chain.

• APC staff begin working remotely to safeguard their health, as COVID-19 infection rates increase and testing for the general public is scarce. Never missing a good learning opportunity, the staff practices with virtual meeting platforms, while holding team meetings to coordinate work.

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 April

• As more information about SARS-CoV-2 becomes available through government agencies, scientific journals, and other new outlets, APC creates a COVID-19 Resources page (prominently featured on the APC home page) as a repository of helpful links, articles, and documents to assist members in having those resources at their fingertips.
  
  
• APC held out hope of holding a face-to-face annual meeting in July. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus surges and public health policy weakens, APC Council and the Section Chairs come to terms with the new reality and quickly shift to planning a virtual meeting.
  
  
• APC works with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) on the first of many collaborations related to addressing COVID-19 issues. AAMC engages APC in discussions with Deborah Birx, MD, and sends a letter to the White House explaining academic laboratories’ unique relationship to their local health care systems, and the importance of addressing academic labs’ supply chain concerns.
  
  
• APC’s Leadership Development & Diversity Committee expands and updates the Leadership Development and Diversity Library with the latest publications on diversity and inclusion, leadership development, and workforce pipeline.
  
  
• Following the guidance of APC’s Fellowship Directors Ad Hoc Committee, APC continues to collect data on unexpected or unfilled fellowship program openings (within approximately 18 months of matriculation) to evaluate trends over time. All pathology fellowship programs, including ACGME-accredited and non-accredited programs, are encouraged to submit their unfilled positions and to follow-up with the APC office when the openings are filled. Over 130 programs have participated.

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May

• Registration opens for the re-envisioned 2020 APC Live Online Conference. Informed by the progressive approaches that UMEDS members are using in their now-virtual medical school classes, APC adopts a “flipped- classroom” approach to the annual meeting. Attendees will view pre-recorded presentations BEFORE entering discussions in the Live Online Conference. With a bit of imagination, the pre-planning done by Sections and their speakers will still be deployed in the new format! (And all of the presentations, recordings and chats are archived!)
  
  
• APC collaborates with the University of California San Diego’s Office of Continuing Medical Education for joint providership of 23.75 hours of CME-eligible content online. This CME program is open to anyone (regardless of whether they attended the Live Online Conference) through July 5, 2021 as part of the APC 2020 Online Learning Program. Enroll now to catch up on CME credit during this holiday/new year slow down!
  
  
• Nine exhibitors and partners continue their vital support of the APC 2020 Live Online Conference! Their online exhibit experience includes promotional videos, session sponsorships, and dedicated exhibit hours to meet with attendees virtually. Three partners plan corporate workshops that take place during the Live Online Conference and several others opt for Industry Events hosted by APC later in the year. APC is very grateful to our exhibitors and partners for maintaining a commitment to the organization and its members through these challenging times!
  
  
• APC launches its Members in the News and COVID-Related Members-in-the-Media Library to showcase their member media presence. For a sampling, see these members featured on the APC homepage.
• Karen Kaul, MD, PhD, Chair, NorthShore University Health System, multiple media clips and publications (since March 2020)
• James Musser, MD, PhD, Chair, Houston Methodist Hospital, CBS News Sunday Morning (04:07 of 05:44 segment, May 10, 2020)
• Gary Procop, MD, Vice Chair, Cleveland Clinic, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC (transcript; video broadcasted on March 16, 2020)
• Xiao-Ming Yin, MD, PhD, Chair, Tulane University, President's "Heroes & Helpers" (May 1, 2020)

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June

• APC Honors 2020 Distinguished Service Awardees (including the first Distinguished Service Award in GME Administration). Each awardee will be honored at their respective Section Business Meeting during the APC 2020 Live Online Conference!
  
  
  
  
• APC honors the 2020 Inspiration Award winners, whose posters are recognized for achieving the highest possible ranking by the 2020 APC Organizing Committee! If you missed them in July, you can still visit the pre-recorded poster presentations archived on the meeting website.
  • Poster #01. Kevin A. Carnevale, MD, et al., Des Moines University, Pathology Teaching in Different Undergraduate Medical Curricula Within and Outside the United States
  • Poster #02. Kamran M. Mirza, MD, PhD, et al., Loyola University Health System, Social Media Transforming Pathology Pedagogy: #TwitterHomework during #PathElective
  • Poster #03. Sherri Flax, MD, et al., University of Florida College of Medicine, Medical Director Boot Camp: A Practical Approach to Medical Directorship Training for Residents
  • Poster #04. Sumire Kitahara, MD, et al., Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, Consultative Interpretation for Lupus Anticoagulant by Expert Pathologists Reduces False-Positive Rates in the Era of Direct Oral Anticoagulants
  • Poster #10. Naomi Hardy, MD, et al., University of Maryland Medical Center, Assessing Impostor Syndrome in an Academic Pathology Program
  • Poster #11. Laura M. Wake, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Elective Certificate Tracks in Pathology Residency Training Meet the Needs of an Evolving Field
  • Poster #13. Emilio Madrigal, DO, et al., Massachusetts General Hospital, The MGH Passport: A Management Platform for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones Program
  • Poster #15. Brandi C. McCleskey, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Use of a Co-Enrollment Course to Improve Pathology Exposure in UME

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July

• APC executes its first virtual meeting with 463 registrants and high marks from attendees. Pre-recorded presentations are available for attendees two weeks in advance of the meeting. Programming kicks off with special COVID-19 sessions for each section to share experiences and lessons learned. Key conference features are the ability to see colleagues for the first time since the start of the pandemic, keynote speaker participation in robust discussion sessions, and audience engagement through chatting and live interactions.
  
  
  
  
• Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances of mentoring online, the Senior Fellows Group remains committed to providing valuable mentorship to new Chairs in conjunction with the APC Live Online Conference. Eleven new Chairs meet with Senior Fellows virtually and discuss topics selected based on the new Chairs’ preferences (as surveyed before the meeting). Topics include faculty issues, aligning departmental missions and activities, institutional interface, and personal issues. Congratulations to the new Chairs appointed in 2020! 
  
  
• APC’s Practice & Management Committee, in cooperation with the Advocacy Committee, prepares a Statement on the Value of Academic Labs during COVID-19 which remains resonant and timely throughout the pandemic.

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August

• APC receives its first-ever corporate donation to the Society of ’67 from PDM. PDM donates $5,000 to a new PDAS Fellowship Award Program that will sponsor early career administrators' attendance at APC annual meetings. The goal of the program, initiated by an anonymous donor, is to develop the pipeline of future department administrators and encourage PDAS members to contribute to the Society of ’67.
  
  

• APC’s Leadership Development & Diversity Committee, in partnership with the Senior Fellows Group, launches their first women chairs survey collecting data to characterize what has facilitated or impeded their career success. The survey aims to understand what factors may help to increase the number of women in leadership positions in academic pathology. The data will be reviewed and analyzed to produce a scholarly article summarizing the findings.

• APC invites the Class of 2020 Society of ’67 Scholars to join the Graduate Medical Education, Undergraduate Medical Education, Practice & Management, and Research Committees, making the voices of trainee members an integral part of their discussions.

• Residency Program Directors, Robert Hoffman, MD, PhD (Vanderbilt University) and Charles Timmons, MD, PhD (University of Texas Southwestern/Texas Children’s Hospital), transform their originally planned in-person Discussion Group into a virtual Discussion Group on the perennially important issue of effective and ethical screening of residency applications, which attracts nearly 80 program directors, associate program directors, and program coordinators.

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September

• The Entrustable Professional Activities Working Group makes the decision to postpone the start of their pilot study until July 2021, in light of persistent demands on program directors’ time, training residents and supporting their health care systems under the duress of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  
• APC proudly assists the founders of the Genomics Organization for Academic Laboratories (GOAL) in achieving entity recognition by the Internal Revenue Service. While GOAL applies for non-profit status, APC serves as GOAL’s fiscal sponsor. The purpose of GOAL is well-aligned with APC in that its mission is to facilitate the advancement and standardization of personalized molecular diagnostics at academic and non-profit organizations through leveraging inter-laboratory interactions and to advance patient care with access to genomic testing through sustainable, cost-effective and streamlined collaboration among academic laboratory departments.
  
  
• The E&M Coalition, led by the American College of Radiology and the College of American Pathologists, invites APC to join their efforts to advocate for specialties facing significant reimbursement cuts in 2021, as a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule to increase Evaluation & Management (E&M) payments with reimbursement cuts to offset them.
  
  
• The Editors of Academic Pathology issue a Special Call for COVID-19 papers, plus an Article Processing Fee (APF) waiver competition, which draws over 20 abstracts. APC gives four fee waivers to the highest-ranking articles and the Society of ’67 contributes Open Access Awards to four trainees who submitted abstracts for consideration. Look for these special issue articles, which will be published in early 2021!
  
  
• The GMEAS Council initiates a “GMEAS Census Survey” to collect baseline data covering a wide range of topics about GME program administration and coordinator demographics, which are critical to advocate for the profession. The GMEAS 2020 Census Survey results are filed in the GMEAS Dropbox. GMEAS Council intends to refine the Census questions and periodically collect data from GMEAS members to analyze trends over several years.

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October

• APC’s Research Committee launches their first survey since 2009 on research trends in academic pathology departments. This expanded survey includes questions on practice-advancing research and physician-scientist training opportunities. The latter will be provided to AAMC as part of their data collection efforts to increase medical students’ awareness of research opportunities.
  
  
• The Educational Case Review Board celebrates the extraordinary milestone of publishing the 100th Educational Case in Academic Pathology. The Pathology Competencies for Medical Education (PCME) and their associated Educational Cases continue to grow in popularity as a teaching standard and educator tool for medical school curricula.
  
  
• APC’s Graduate Medical Education Committee, in cooperation with the Advocacy Committee, submits comments in opposition to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s proposed rule of establishing a fixed time period for certain classes of non-immigrant visas, including J-1 visas. The response emphasizes, “Due to the uncertainty of outcomes in applications for extension, APC anticipates crippling disruptions to resident and fellow training in pathology, with devastating impact on the pipeline of pathologists in the U.S."
  
  
• GMEAS Council begins hosting regional meetings via Zoom. Members from each region have the opportunity to network with colleagues and discuss timely issues. To serve members year-round, GMEAS Council will host regional meetings quarterly and maintain the GMEAS Dropbox Folder with indispensable materials, templates, and examples for coordinating programs!
  
  
• As a member benefit, APC offers its first Industry Updates meant to keep members up to date on the latest products or services from commercial companies or other organizations. Visiun presents information on “Streamlining Lab Operations with Data Analytics” and Sectra presents information on “Implementing Digital Pathology in the US for Routine Diagnostics.” Members can access recordings of both events on the APC’s Past Virtual Events webpage.

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November

• APC hosts a Virtual Town Hall entitled “Pathology Leadership of Academic CLIA Labs” with more than 80 members registering for this event. Lydia Howell, MD, APC President and Chair (University of California, Davis) serves as the moderator and facilitates discussion on a variety of experiences in dealing with new CLIA-certified labs on university campuses. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and amplified concerns for academic pathology and maintaining best practices in the delivery of health care, making this a timely discussion!
  
  
• The UMEDS Toolbox is updated with new resources from the APC 2020 Live Online Conference. The UMEDS Toolbox is managed by UMEDS Council and offers members-only access to materials organized for medical educators, including UME-focused presentations from previous APC Annual Meetings and other resources.
  
  
• The APC Graduate Medical Education Committee and the PRODS Council prepare testimony to the ACGME External Stakeholder Congress on Support of GME Faculty and Staff.  The testimony emphasizes ways to gain quality and efficiency in program coordination and direction that are developed through surveying PRODS and GMEAS members.
  
  
• More department chairs are added to the Members in the News and COVID-Related Members-in-the-Media Library on the COVID-19 resources section on the APC homepage.
  
  
• David Roth, MD, PhD, Chair, University of Pennsylvania, NBC News - Facebook GLOBAL HANGOUT: Ask the Experts: Testing Times (September 24, 2020).
• Valerie Fitzhugh, MD, Interim Chair, Rutgers University (New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), quoted in New York Times article, "Nevada Halts Use of Rapid Coronavirus Tests in Nursing Homes, Citing Inaccuracies" (October 7, 2020)
  
  
• APC hosts two new Industry Updates given by the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants and Foundation Medicine. Members can access recordings of these and other events on APC’s Past Virtual Events webpage.

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December

• APC collaborates with the College of American Pathologists to launch the Program Directors' Toolbox. The Program Directors’ Toolbox provides residency and fellowship training program directors and faculty with on-demand access to educational content, program administration tools and other resources to share knowledge and innovative practices across institutions. The debut of the “PD Toolbox” is coming in January!
  
  
• APC hosts a Discussion Group entitled “Funds Flow in Academic Pathology: We’re Different” with 75 APC members registering, primarily Chairs, Vice Chairs, Administrators, and Senior Fellows. Michael L. Talbert, MD (University of Oklahoma) serves as the moderator and facilitates discussion and reporting on funds flow models and their impact on education, research, and clinical operations at different institutions.
  
  
• PDAS Council organizes and hosts their Holiday Virtual Celebration where new members are welcomed, happy PDAS memories are shared, member birthdays are celebrated, and ugly sweaters are donned. This marks the second virtual event hosted by PDAS Council aimed to enhance the PDAS member community, with more events planned for 2021! Don’t forget, PDAS Council curates resources for department administrators in the PDAS Dropbox Folder!
  
  
• After months of preparation, APC and ASIP prepare to launch ICPI’s new website and mobile app, which will encourage students to learn more about careers in pathology and stay current on new resources, awards and events sponsored by ICPI’s and IPC’s member societies. Stay tuned in 2021 for more information about these and other APC activities that support the pipeline to pathology!
  
  
• The Society of ’67 announces the 2020 Pathology Trainee Project Grants in Health Services Research and Education recipients from over 40 applications, who will receive almost $10,000 in project grants! Since its inception in 2017, the Society of ’67 has awarded $42,000 to recipients of Trainee Project Grants; $110,000 to 39 pathology residents and 20 students in the Scholars Program; and committed over $40,000 to Open Access Awards for more than 50 early career authors to publish their scholarship in Academic Pathology. It’s not too late to make your year-end contribution! Thanks to all who have donated to make these successful programs possible!

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Thank you!

In this season of holidays, gratitude, and reflections, we give THANKS to our members, donors, and all who serve the APC in leadership and volunteer roles. We appreciate all of the work you do on a daily basis to promote and advocate for academic pathology! – APC Staff

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The 12 Months of APC...

Thank You!

In this season of holidays, gratitude, and reflections, we give THANKS to our members, donors, and all who serve the APC in leadership and volunteer roles. We appreciate all of the work you do on a daily basis to promote and advocate for academic pathology!

– APC Staff

Association of Pathology Chairs | [email protected] | www.apcprods.org