Fall 2001

From the Editor's Desk President's Message Committee Reports Comings and Goings Welcome New Members Other Announcements Call for Nominations and Applications Upcoming Meetings Current Positions Available Photos from the Interim Meeting in Memphis Deadline for Winter Newsletter - January 2, 2002 Please direct submissions to the Newsletter to Art Weinberg, Editor

In September, when I stepped down as lab director at Children’s (vide infra), I was given a Palm PDA (a 505, no less!). Those of you who don’t know what a Palm PDA is should proceed to the President’s message and don’t bother to read the rest of this editorial. Anyway, I began to notice the many wonderful things that fellow Palm-holders who were clinical colleagues had downloaded into their own PDAs, such as the Red Book, drug dosages etc. It became clear to me that either pathologists are truly Palm-poor or that I was woefully ignorant of where downloadable material relative to pediatric pathology could be found on the Web. And I am probably not the only one of our members who is struggling with this troubling predicament. So much power and so little content. Ted Pysher, the chair of the practice committee, and Hal Pinar, our web editor, are considering the suggestion that a worthwhile project for the Society might be to create a section on our website that links to other sites from which useful PDA downloads can be obtained. And it should even be possible for some enthusiastic members of our Society to create new content of particular value to pediatric pathologists, which could also be downloadable from this site. This content might include placental weights, fetal and neonatal morphometric norms, formulas for Rhogam dose (per Ted Pysher), tissues required for various COG protocols, pediatric lab reference ranges, and much more. Information such as this might even increase traffic to our site from general pathologists. Some of you may have already created content that you are willing to share or know of useful sites that  could be listed (and linked). This would not simply be another list of pathology-related web links, but links to particular sites with PDA downloadable information. Please let me know (weinberg@childmed.dallas.tx.us) if you think this is worthwhile and if you have useful links or content to share. I will pass the information on to the necessary important people.

President's Message
Ron Jaffe

There was something really special about the 2001 Interim Meeting in Memphis. The final impetus to go ahead and hold the meeting as scheduled, when things all around were not yet back to normal and apprehension was palpable, was the decision of the registrants to go ahead despite the difficulties. If most Society members were going to get to Memphis somehow, by plane, by car or on foot, then the show had to go on. In the final analysis, there were over 100 people in attendance. And for those who were there, it was an unforgettable experience. A sense of camaraderie bonded the troupers. The southern elegance of the Peabody Hotel took the edge off the rough trips. Where else would the entire room empty from one of Pepper Dehner’s finest talks to watch the Peabody’s famous ducks come down the elevator and waddle to the lobby fountain?

The bar has been raised for interim meetings, be warned, the expectations have reached new heights. St. Jude’s supported the local hosts most graciously, and Jim Downing and his crew, including Jesse Jenkins, put together a stimulating program with two useful and contemporary symposia. Ashley Hill was an inspired choice as organizer. This young woman is not yet well known in the Society, but will be - I want her on my committee! She made sure that everything flowed, and she made it look so effortless. I also now know the Memphis Pyramid, Beale Street on a Saturday night, the Flying Saucer and that Memphis barbecue is dry, all very useful pieces of information if I ever get to “who wants to be a millionaire”. Note that I did not mention Elvis even once.

Council took several actions that will significantly affect the Society. On January 1, we will change our management office. Our contract with George Degnon, who has served us well for many years, will terminate and the management office of the United States - Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP), with Jim Crimmins and Fred Silva at the helm, will take over this important responsibility. Art Weinberg, serving in an ad hoc capacity, was instrumental in assisting with the selection process. Hal Pinar will succeed Deb Perry as Secretary/Treasurer after the 2003 meeting and will participate in the transition to USCAP management. Council accepted an invitation from our colleagues, the Paediatric Pathology Society, to hold a joint meeting in Paris the first week of September 2005. Start planning to be there. Council also took action to support the institution of an outreach program that will help bring our collective expertise in pediatric pathology to areas of the country and the world where it may be of use. And a meeting of the Fellowship Directors, planned by Alba Greco, pinpointed recruitment to the profession as the single most pressing need for pediatric pathology. The group made a number of suggestions to address the issue that will be instituted through the committees of the Society.

I generally come back from these meetings fired up with new proposals and fueled by the intensity of the back and forth interaction that characterizes our committee proceedings. The hard part is to maintain the momentum and to get around to doing the things that need to be done when Society business must compete for priority with other things on my desk. One of the ways to do this, I find, is to harness our committees and their members so that they pull together and continue to get things done. If there are any people out there, who are not yet involved in committees, but with energy to burn, please contact Henry Krous, who will work with you to find an assignment worthy of your energy and attention.

Committee Reports

Publications Committee
Beverly Rogers, chair

The publications committee met in Memphis and this note summarizes the content of our meeting.

Current Contents: An effort is underway to have the PDP listing in Current Contents transferred from the Clinical Sciences to Life Sciences section, which has greater visibility. Journals with higher impact factors are listed in Life Sciences. Our impact factor has doubled from 0.3 to 0.7 during the past year, which is very encouraging.

Pediatric and Developmental Pathology: Reorganization of the journal office and the editorial board is still in progress. Manuscripts remain in very short supply. A suggestion was made to have a two page “Instructive Case” section in the journal that might attract submissions by residents and fellows. Dr. Reyes-Mugica will pursue the suggestion of publishing CPC’s in the journal. ON-line First is scheduled to be brought on line by the second issue of 2002 (vol 5. no 2). The cost of color reproductions in the journal has been adjusted to make it more affordable for authors who have multiple color illustrations.

Perspectives in Pediatric Pathology: Volume 23 of this 27-year-old voice for pediatric pathologists was just published. There have been five individual articles published this year in PDP and articles are in the queue for 2002. The upcoming Perspectives volume on GI pathology will include articles on the alimentary tract, liver and pancreas and will be coordinated by Dr. Margaret Collins. Some of the recently published reviews from PDP will be updated and included in the compendium along with additional new articles. Drs. Dimmick and Singer will seek funding from commercial firms or foundations to support the bound volume.

Website/Newsletter: Dr. Pinar continues to regularly update the website and additional useful content is forthcoming. On line abstract submission will be developed in concert with USCAP as part of our management arrangement with the new central office. Additions to the web editorial board will be added as needed. Dr. Pinar states that maintaining the database is a chore and he will be streamlining this effort during the coming year.

Education Committee
Kathleen Patterson, Chair

The Education Committee responsibilities, as outlined in the Society bylaws, include a broad range of duties. The committee’s four subcommittees each focus on one or more of these duties.

CME subcommittee:

Over the past 6 months much of the Education Committee focus has been on updating and streamlining its CME responsibilities. The Society’s eligibility to grant CME credit rests on maintaining its accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). The standards by which the ACCME determines accreditation status underwent some major revisions in the past 2-3 years and our first reaccreditation survey under these new standards occurred in early September. Lisa Teot, the CME Coordinator, contributed many hours (not to mention headache and nervous tension) preparing the material required for the survey. She reports that the visit went “reasonably” well, with the ACCME’s final decision regarding reaccreditation status expected sometime in December. Meanwhile, a set of revised procedures (largely invisible to meeting participants) has been instituted to facilitate the fulfillment of these new standards.

Abstract subcommittee:

The abstract subcommittee includes 3 full committee members and 3 additional ad hoc members for abstract review. Cynthia Kaplan, the subcommittee chairperson reports that only 31 abstracts were received for review for the fall meeting with the vast majority being accepted for platform or poster presentation. This is in contrast with the 60% abstract acceptance rate for the past spring meeting. Many of the abstracts rejected for the spring meeting were of a quality equal to (or even superior to) those accepted for the fall meeting. Members are encouraged to submit abstracts for the fall as well as the spring meeting. This was the first time that abstract submission forms were downloadable from the SPP webpage; the spring meeting abstract format and procedure mirrors that of the fall meeting (as those of you submitting abstract already know). We hope to move to web based abstract submission in the near future, which will enhance the speed and accuracy of processing and transmitting the material to reviewers, publishers, etc. Stay tuned. And please direct any feedback (positive or negative) to Cindy Kaplan or myself.

Workshop/Symposium subcommittee:

Edith Marley, the subcommittee chair, put together an excellent educational program for the spring 2002 meeting, which the committee approved. The symposia are intended to focus on new advances in scientific knowledge of interest to the pediatric pathology community. This year’s symposium, entitled Topics in Pediatric Neuropathology: New Directions, will be directed by Hannah C. Kinney, Children’s Hospital Boston. Included in the symposium are:

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Children; Dawna D. Armstrong, MD, Texas Children’s Hospital

Periventricular Leukomalacia; Rebecca D. Folkerth, MD, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

Malformations of the Developing Human Cerebrum; Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Abnormalities of the Ventral Medulla in the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS); Hannah C. Kinney, Children’s Hospital Boston, MA.

Two new workshops were approved; these workshops address frequent requests gleaned from prior meeting evaluations and should provide valuable practice-related updates for pediatric and surgical pathologists.

Update on Problems and Controversies in Placental Pathology with Rebecca Baergen, MD, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY and Ona Faye-Petersen, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL

Pediatric Soft Tissue Pathology: Diagnostic Principles, Challenges, and New Concepts with Cheryl Coffin, MD, Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, UT

Extramural subcommittee:

The role of the extramural subcommittee is to focus attention on our educational interactions with other scientific groups and societies. At the Memphis meeting, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) pathology committee suggested including COG-related topics in the SPP meetings, as a forum for pathologists who cannot attend the COG meetings. Pursuant to these discussions, the Education Committee will consider the possibility of devoting one workshop at SPP meetings to relevant COG pathology topics. Your input (positive or negative) would help in our considerations of this proposal. You can address your thoughts to me or to Sue Hammond, the extramural subcommittee member focused on the COG liaison.

Practice Committee
Ted Pysher, Chair

The Practice Committee had several e-mail exchanges over the spring and summer, and met on September 20, 2001 prior to the Fall Meeting of the SPP. Drs. Mary Davis, Debra Heller, John Hicks, Gloria Kohut, Leon Metlay, Hector Montefiore, Robert Novak, Ted Pysher, and Raja Rabah were in attendance.

Slide Survey: Registration forms for the 2002 Slide Survey will accompany membership dues statements. The charge for the Slide Survey will increase from $150 to $155 for 15 cases as a result of increasing postal charges, but the format will otherwise be unchanged. Dr. Kohut, chair of the Slide Survey Subcommittee, will be polling subscribers who have discontinued the survey in the last few years to see what can be done to rekindle their interest. Members with suggestions in this regard should contact Dr. Kohut at gloria.kohut@spectrum-health.com. Dr. Novak, Slide Survey coordinator, is preparing a previous slide survey for display on the SPP Website. Members are encouraged to visit this site and respond to the questionnaire on future uses of Slide Survey materials that has been developed by Dr. Hicks.

Position Paper on Pediatric and Perinatal Autopsies: The Practice Committee has been working on a position paper on pediatric and perinatal autopsies since the spring meeting, and forwarded a revised draft to Council at the fall meeting. This draft is posted in the “Members Only” section of the SPP website, together with links to supporting documents on the websites of the College of American Pathologists and the Royal College of Pathologists. SPP members are encouraged to review the position paper and send comments to Dr. Pysher at pctpyshe@ihc.com. Members with consent forms or informational brochures that might be of use to others, or who know of other useful links on this subject are encouraged to contact Dr. Metlay at lmetlay@acu.pathology.rochester.edu who will be coordinating the links attached to the position paper.

Survey of Practice-Examination of Tonsils and of Inguinal Hernia Sacs: Dr. Margaret Collins summarized preliminary results from 17 responses that she received on this subject. The data will have to be refined, and members wishing to contribute to this survey should contact Dr. Collins at colv5q@chmcc.org.

Staffing and Activities Survey of Pathology Departments in Children’s Hospitals: Dr. Gareth Jevon has received only a few responses from this survey. Members who would be willing to share statistical information with the Practice Committee are encouraged to contact Dr. Jevon at gjevon@cw.bc.ca.

Nominating Committee
Henry Krous, Chair

The nominating committee approved the following slate of officers:

President Derek deSa
Secretary-Treas Deborah Perry
Sec-treas elect Hal Pinar
Councilor at-large Cindy Kaplan
Councilor at-large Elizabeth Perlman

Long Range Planning Committee
Derek deSa, Chair

A meeting of the committee was held on Saturday 22nd Sept, 2001 in the Hernando de Soto Room, Peabody Hotel [Memphis TN]. Those present were Drs R. Jaffe, D. Parham, C. Timmons, A. Lacson, D. deSa (chair). Regrets were received from-Drs E. Gilbert-Barness, D. Perry, C. Langston, J. Rutledge and T. Stocker. The precirculated agenda was accepted.

The meeting was held after the meeting of the Fellowship Directors and Council. Several of the issues that were discussed had been debated in part at those earlier meetings. The committee had the opportunity to read position papers prepared by Drs. Parham, Timmons and de Sa and had access to material presented at Council and at the Fellowship Directors meeting.

RECRUITMENT INTO THE SPECIALTY

The committee discussion re-emphasized the problems faced throughout North America in attracting and retaining young pathologists into our specialty. It is believed that this problem is part of the larger problem faced by pathology as a whole. The problem will get worse if more medical schools adopt the current trend towards reducing the amount of pathology taught to medical students. At the present, there are twice as many vacancies as fellows in training in pediatric pathology, and the gravity of the situation is apparent.

The committee recommended that (1) Society Members should make every effort to ensure that pathology education in the medical school curricula is not reduced, (2) externships/summer studentships in pediatric pathology should be offered to medical students, (3) members should be available as mentors to students and residents in pathology, (4) members should emphasize their role in pediatric/perinatal education through participation in the activities of associated services/clinics, including the provision of CPC’s. (5) members should be involved in the early didactic teaching of residents in pathology. It was recognized that many members perform as mentors for residents and this practice was applauded.

The Committee supported, most enthusiastically, the proposal passed by Council (20th Sept), to endow an essay competition for residents, based on a case reports, with the three winners being offered the chance and financial support to present their material as a poster at the spring meeting.

INVOLVEMENT OF NEW MEMBERS IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY

The concern has been expressed that new members do not always find the Society a welcoming place, and that their involvement in the activities of the Society is not optimized. The concern has also been expressed that many members of the Society (newer or of some duration) are not involved in the Society’s committees. During the discussion it became apparent that there was room for strengthening the role that each member could play in the Society.

The committee recommended that (1) the resident/new member’s breakfast at the spring meeting be continued and publicized, (2) that members be made aware of the different activities of our various committees and be asked to list the types of activities in which they would like to be involved. A box incorporating this query could be added to the letter informing new members of their acceptance to the Society. It is recognized that committee chairs will continue to be integrally involved in the final selection of committee members.

The question of mentoring new members was raised. It is recognized that for many new members, this is not an issue since senior members of their department often act as mentors. However, there are members who operate in relative isolation and might feel the need for a mentor, even if not in the same city. In addition, members from overseas might appreciate the ability to contact a “mentor” in North America.

The committee recommended that a poll be taken of the membership to identify those who would like to participate in a mentoring program in either capacity ( mentor or mentored), and an attempt be made to develop such a program within the Society.

THE PRACTICE OF PEDIATRIC PATHOLOGY

It was recognized that the practice of pediatric pathology is undergoing another period of critical review, with budgetary and workload considerations being exacerbated by issues of “informed consent”. The problem inherent in defining workload in pediatric/perinatal pathology as opposed to workload in pediatric hospitals was raised. The workload models suggested by the Royal College of Pathologists (London) and CAP guidelines were suggested as possible templates to be studied. It was emphasized that there is a need to take academic activities into account as well as the rapid development of technological advances that could change communication between members.

The committee recommended that the practice committee’s survey of the membership be renewed and that the membership be informed of the critical importance of this survey in establishing realistic benchmarks for future staffing (and possibly survival). It is recognized that recent events has placed a renewed emphasis on the need for improved methods of obtaining “Informed Consent”, and the inevitable difficulties that are associated.

The committee recognized the value of the position paper reviewed by council on perinatal /pediatric autopsies and requests, but suggested that, in addition, the members offer their own forms to the practice committee. It was recognized that this is an issue where ethics committees of hospitals could probably offer some useful advice, as well.

The Committee recognized that there was a need for continuing efforts, through our members who sat on the autopsy committee of the CAP, to address the issue of appropriate reimbursement for autopsies in the perinatal age group.

The committee recommended that the executive of the Society set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the possibility of incorporating technological advances e.g.telemicroscopy, into the activities available to members.

RELATIONS WITH THE CHILDRENS ONCOLOGY GROUP (COG)

The committee recognized that there was an unusually fortuitous situation with the formation of the new COG , and in the creation of an elected chair of the pathology group. There was a chance, not always available before, to develop strong and continuing links with the COG. Issues that could be discussed include the issue of an exchange of information and the reimbursement of pathology departments for the specimens submitted.

The committee strongly supported the recommendation of Council that the education committee offer a workshop slot (spring meeting) to the pathology group of COG , so that the membership could be made aware of new protocols etc., and that the deliberations of any symposia /working groups of COG that are relevant to the membership be published in the “Current Review /Current Practice” section of Pediatric and Developmental Pathology. The committee encourages the membership to bring concerns to the new David Parham, the new COG pathology chair.

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

The long range planning committee had received submissions on this topic from an ad hoc committee appointed by Council (Drs.Buchino,Becroft, Joshi, and Kaschula), as well as a shorter position paper from its chair.

The Committee accepted the thrust of these two very similar reports, and the initiative of Council to seek funds for an overseas pathologist to attend the spring meeting and possibly travel to some centers in North America.

Awards Committee
Jeffrey Goldstein, Chair

The Vawter Pathologist in Training Award was presented to Dr. Amy Heerema, University of California, San Francisco for her paper: EXPRESSION OF BETA-CATENIN IN LANGERHANS' CELL HISTIOCYTOSIS.

The Neustein "Novel Technology" Award was presented to Dr. Alan Yeoh, Dept of Pathology, Hartwell Centre for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN for his paper: MOLECULAR FINGERPRINTING FOR SUBCLASSIFICATION IN CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA USING THE AFFYMETRIX GENE-CHIP.

Expression of Beta-Catenin in Langerhans’ Cell Histiocytosis A.Heerema, MD; K. Chew CT; C. Florendo BS; P. Treseler, MD, PhD. University of California, San Francisco.

Background: The molecular pathogenesis of Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (LCH) is unknown. Because the E-cadherin/beta-catenin complex is present at the membrane in normal Langerhans’ cells (LC), recent hypotheses have implicated beta-catenin, (the mediator of wnt signal transduction pathways and oncogenic factor in familial adenomatous polyposis and other cancers,) as an oncogenic factor in LCH. Dysregulation of beta-catenin leads to free protein available to the nucleus where it activates transcription of oncogenes including c-myc, recognized immunohistochemically by strong cytosolic and nuclear staining of beta-catenin in neoplastic cells. Methods: Immunoperoxidase assay for beta-catenin (Transduction Laboratories, Lexington KY) in 19 cases of LCH (16 pediatric and 3 adult.) LCH involved multiple organs (MO, 3/19), multiple bone sites only (MB, 4/19), hypothalamic-pituitary only (HP, 2/19), and solitary bone site (SB, 10/19).

Conclusions: B-catenin membrane expression in LCH is similar to normal Langerhans’ cells. Our studies do not support the hypothesis that beta-catenin is the molecular determinant of oncogenesis in LCH. The presence or absence of membrane staining does not correlate with clinical presentation.

Molecular fingerprinting for subclassification in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia using the Affymetrix gene-chip. AEJ Yeoh, S Shurtleff, D Patel, K Williams, C Cheng, M Rellings, W Evans, CH Pui, C Naeve, J Downing. Dept of Pathology, Hartwell Centre for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Memphis, TN

Current laboratory findings used to stratify treatment for children with ALL include WBC counts, immunophenotype, karyotype and chimeric oncogene fusion transcripts. These analyses require multiple laboratory platforms that demand substantial technical expertise and expense but yet are still unable to accurately predict all patients who will relapse or be cured. They also offer little insight into the molecular pathway defects that result in leukemogenesis and hence few opportunities to develop molecular targeted therapy. Global expression analyses of leukemia blasts provides a powerful tool to define the specific molecular fingerprints of various types of leukemia by providing simultaneous quantitation of thousands of mRNA transcripts in leukemic blasts and may identify better treatment and prognostic indicators. Using the Affymetrix HG-U95A genechip to study the expression profile of 33 newly diagnosed ALL patients in SJCRH: 4 T-cell, 7 TEL-AML1, 2 E2A-PBX1, 1 BCR-ABL, 3 hypodiploid, 5 pseudodiploid, 9 hyperdiploid and 1 case of normal cytogenetics, we identified panels of genes that are highly expressed in each subgroups. Using linear discriminant analysis with variance, we could cluster these subgroups in distinct 3-D space. To extend these results, we are analyzing the gene profiles of a large group of uniformly treated patients in order to define profiles that are predictive of clinical and laboratory features, genetic subtype and therapeutic outcome.

The Lotte Strauss Award lecture was given by Dr. Rusung Tan, Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of British Columbia, and Medical Microbiologist and Virologist for the Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia. He described recent investigations from his laboratory characterizing the molecular pathways involved in natural killer cell activation. Dr. Tan received the Lotte Strauss award as senior author of the paper: Cutting Edge: Defective natural killer cell activation in X-linked lymphoproliferative disease, published in the Journal of Immunology.

Comings and Goings

Beverly Rogers assumed the role of Director of Pediatric Pathology and Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical School as Art Weinberg handed over the reigns after 31 years of bemusement. He will assume new responsibilities as Medical Director of Clinical Informatics at Children’s in addition to hanging out in the pathology department trying to be microscopically useful.

Van Savell will move from Arkansas back to Texas in January to join the staff at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi.

Don and Estelle Singer have left Rhode Island to divide their time between Madison and Austin. Don has become a card-carrying member of the faculty of the University of Wisconsin and the Singers will be spending lots of quality time with family in Wisconsin and Texas.

Paul Dickman will be moving to Phoenix at the end of February to become Chairman of Pathology and Medical Director of Laboratories at Phoenix Children's Hospital (PCH). PCH has existed for 20 years but used the facilities of Good Samaritan Hospital, contracting for services such as pathology. They now will have their own facility, which will consist of an extensively renovated hospital and physician office building on 22 acres in downtown Phoenix. The new hospital is scheduled to open at the end of April 2002. He hopes to add additional staff in the near future.

Welcome New Members

Other Announcements

Effective January 1, 2002, the SPP will have a new management office and address:

United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP)
3643 Walton Way Extension
Augusta, GA 30909-4533
Fax: 706-733-8033
Phone: Not yet available (the SPP will have a direct line) 

Tapes from the Memphis meeting available:
2-volume videotape sets of the Perinatal Section Symposium on "Mechanisms and Chronology of Acute Perinatal Asphyxia, given in Memphis, TN, on September 23, 2001 are available for purchase. Each set is $25.00 plus shipping. To order, contact Ona Faye-Petersen, MD, Symposium Director, via email, at onamarie@path.uab.edu or by fax (205-975-5205). Please respond as soon as possible.

Call for Nominations and Applications

The Lotte Strauss Prize recognizes meritorious work by an individual 40 years of age or younger in a subject germane to pediatric pathology, published or accepted for publication during the 2001. The winner, who will receive a $1000 cash prize and expenses to attend and present at the fall 2002 meeting of the Society, will be announced at the spring 2002 SPP meeting. Nomination requires submission of five copies of the completed paper, a letter from the nominee, sponsor (if the nominee is not an SPP member), and five copies of the nominee's curriculum vitae. If anyone has any questions please contact or call Dr. Goldstein at the number below.

Please send submissions by January 1, 2002 to:

Jeffrey D. Goldstein M.D.
Wolfson Children's Hospital
800 Prudential Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32207
(904) 202-8104
(904) 202-8110 (Fax)
JGOLDSTE@bmcjax.com <mailto:JGOLDSTE@bmcjax.com>

Young Investigator Research Grant
Call for Applications

Goals:

1. To foster research within the SPP by providing funds to young investigators in pediatric pathology.
2. To fund a pilot project which will lead to long-term research support from other granting agencies.

Use of Funds: The funds are to be used to facilitate basic or applied research by a young investigator in the field of pediatric pathology. Research into any aspect of pediatric disease will be considered, including morphological, biochemical, behavioral, physiological, genetic, and epidemiological studies. Appropriate expenditures include capital equipment, reagents and supplies, research-related travel, salary supplementation, service costs (e.g., electron microscopy, histology), and animal care costs. Indirect costs are not allowed.

Eligibility: Applicants must be

• a MD or DO 
  AND
• either a resident or fellow, full-time, in an accredited pathology training program or a faculty/staff person in pediatric pathology for less than 5 years 
  AND
• either a member of the SPP or sponsored by a member of the SPP

Amount of Award: An annual award of $10,000 will be made.

Selection Process: Complete applications must be received by the Research Committee no later than February 1, 2002. They will be reviewed by the Committee and the award will be announced at the SPP meeting in March. Consideration will be given to scientific merit and the background and career goals of the applicant. Award funding will begin July 1, 2002.

Application Instructions: Application Instructions can be downloaded directly from the SPP website (http://www.spponline.org/grants.asp). Completed applications should be sent to:

Raj P. Kapur, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Laboratories, CH-37
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, Washington 98105
Phone: (206) 526-2103
Fax: (206) 527-3840
kapur@u.washington.edu

Background: The Society for Pediatric Pathology and Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati established the Short-Term Study Stipend to honor A James McAdams, M.D, by promoting opportunities for pediatric pathologists to learn investigative techniques that are not available at their institution.

1. To honor the memory of A. James McAdams, M.D.
2. To facilitate training of pediatric pathologists in investigative techniques available at other institutions.

Use of Funds: The funds may be used to offset travel and living expenses incurred by a pediatric pathologist who visits another institution in order to develop new research skills related to either clinical or laboratory investigations.

Eligibility: Applicants must be

• a MD or DO 
  AND
• either a resident or fellow, full-time, in an accredited pathology training program or a faculty/staff person in pediatric pathology for less than 5 years 
  AND
• either a member of the SPP or sponsored by a member of the SPP

Amount of Award: An annual award of up to $2,000 will be made to support travel and living expenses for up to one month.

Selection Process: Complete applications must be received by the Research Committee no later than February 1, 2002. They will be reviewed by the Committee and the award will be announced at the SPP meeting in March. Consideration will be given to scientific merit, the background and career goals of the applicant, the expertise and/or resources available at the remote institution. Award funding will begin July 1, 2002.

Application: An application can be downloaded directly from the SPP website (http://www.spponline.org/grants.asp). Completed applications should be sent to:

Raj P. Kapur, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Laboratories, CH-37
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, Washington 98105
Phone: (206) 526-2103
Fax: (206) 527-3840
kapur@u.washington.edu

Upcoming Meetings

Please see the Meetings page on this SPP site for the most up-to-date information.

Current Positions Available

Please see the Positions page on this SPP site for the most current list of open positions.

Photos from the Interim Meeting in Memphis

Stephanie Young took some beautiful photographs in Memphis, but after three hours of trying Art Weinberg couldn't get the Microsoft program to cooperate in sending the photos from the CD-ROM to the Newsletter. Thanks for trying, Stephanie!