Transitioning towards a new Competency-based Continuous Professional Development model
This presentation will summarize the contemporary challenges to the current CPD system,
review the educational principles and anticipated outcomes for a transformed CPD and the role that competency based medical education may play in enhancing learning that leads to continuous improvement of practice, performance and patient outcomes. Given the recent dissemination of the Future of Medical Education in Canada CPD project report entitled ” “A National System to Support Learning and Continuous Improvement for Physicians in Canada: A new way forward”, the presentation will illustrate how competency-based continuing professional development will contribute to enabling an enhanced CPD system, satisfy provincial medical regulatory authority expectations and address the health needs of patients. This session will be of value to all practice physicians and those responsible for leading, developing or implementing CPD activities or interventions for pathologists.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the potential role for competency frameworks in supporting physician learning and practice improvement
- Explain to a colleague the overarching principles and key outcomes guiding the transition to a competency-based CPD system
- Share three practical educational strategies designed to support physicians to identify and address their individual practice needs
Craig Campbell
Dr. Campbell is a specialist in Internal Medicine, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Principle Senior Advisor, Competency-based Continuing Professional Development in the Office of Specialty Education at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Campbell is responsible for the development of a strategy to implement a competency-based CPD model to support learning and assessment of physicians in practice. Dr. Campbell’s research interests are focused on developing and implementing tools and strategies to promote the use of external data and feedback to enhance competence and performance of individual physicians, groups or health care teams. Dr. Campbell is a Fellow of the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) and member of the editorial board for the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
Biomarkers in Gynecological Pathology: Tales from the Morphomolecular Frontier
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Blaise Clarke
Pipeline 2019: Integration of predictive biomarker testing into Pathology Practice
The session will be used to meet six main objectives:
- Describe the landscape of cancer biomarker testing in Ontario in 2019.
- List important biomarkers currently required for key disease sites as well as those for newly approved therapies.
- Summarize the laboratory methods used to assess biomarkers in pathology samples with consideration of pre-analytic, analytic and post-analytic factors, cost-effectiveness and resource utilization.
- Discuss additional improvements needed to fully integrate biomarker testing into Pathology practice.
- Describe innovations and adaptations employed in Pathology to meet the demands of biomarker testing
- Summarize the general trend of biomarker testing algorithms given the increasing number of therapeutic targets for cancer
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Give an overview of how pathology labs provide cancer biomarker testing for patients
- Discuss pros and cons of the various laboratory methods used in biomarker testing
- Summarize the key elements of an optimal biomarker testing algorithm
- List important biomarkers beginning to emerge for new cancer treatment indications
Jean-Claude Cutz
Dr. Cutz received his MSc in Pharmacology, MSc and MD degrees at the University of Toronto.
He completed his Anatomic Pathology residency at McMaster University in 2002 and was the first graduate of the CIHR strategic training program in Molecular Oncologic Pathology.
He has been staff pathologist at St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton since 2005 with subspecialty interest in Pulmonary and Molecular Pathology. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University. He is active in lung cancer research and development of molecular and immunohistochemical diagnostic tests. Significant contributions include publications in New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
Challenges of Diagnosis of Lymphoma in the Community Setting
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Christopher Howlett
Placental Pathology in Maternal Hypertensive Disorders
Maternal hypertensive disorders have a complex classification system that includes: chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, preeclampsia with severe features, HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome, eclampsia/toxemia, and chronic hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia. Onset can be early or late, using 34 weeks as dividing gestational age.
In normal pregnancies, the maternal blood vessels are converted from high resistance low capacitance vessels to high capacitance low resistance vessels. Maternal hypertensive disorders affect the placenta because this physiologic conversion of uteroplacental blood vessels in the uterus does not occur. This reduces the maternal blood flow to the placenta. That reduction in blood flow results in placental ischemia. This ischemia causes release of sFLT-1 and sENG, both antiangiogenic factors, that bind to proangiogenic factors, VEGF and PIGF, and increase endothelin-1 which is a vasoconstrictor. This biochemical cascade results in the classic clinical features of maternal hypertension, edema and proteinuria.
The placenta is typically small for gestational age by weight with a thin umbilical cord, and features of maternal maternal malperfusion including placental infarcts, distal villous hypoplasia, accelerated villous maturation, increased syncytial knots, increased perivillous fibrin, trophoblast giant cells persisting in decidua basalis, and villous agglutination. Risk of placental abruption; acute, subacute and chronic is increased.
This session will be of value to general and anatomic pathologists, residents, and PAs who examine the placenta in their daily practice.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- List the placental pathologic features of maternal hypertension
- Explain how the maternal blood flow affects placental pathology
- Discuss the variety of maternal hypertensive disorders
- List the components of maternal malperfusion
Janice Lage
Dr. Lage is an experienced placental pathologist having worked in this field for over 30 years. She took her medical school training at Washington University, St. Louis, and her residency in Anatomic Pathology at Stanford University and Washington University, St. Louis. She undertook an American Cancer Society Fellowship in Surgical Pathology at Washington University, St. Louis. Following her training, she became a staff pathologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA in the Women’s and Perinatal Pathology Division where she worked with Drs. Shirley Driscoll and Raymond Redline. From there, she went to Georgetown University, then to the Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of Mississippi. She served as Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the latter two institutions. In addition to general placental pathology, she has a specific interest in gestational trophoblastic disease. She has published over 120 scientific manuscripts, and participated in leadership and educational courses for USCAP, ASCP, ISGYP, and CAP (US). She is a member of the OMA and OAP.
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In 2017, Dr. Lage was recruited to The Ottawa General Hospital and University of Ottawa where she served as gynecologic pathology lead and then as Director of Anatomical Pathology. She moved to St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto this year. She is board certified in Anatomic Pathology by the American Board of Pathology and is a Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Managing the Clinical Laboratory – The Path to Success as Laboratory Medical Director
This presentation will provide an
overview of the role of the Laboratory Medical Director in strategic planning, setting goals and objectives and planning for technical and financial resources for laboratory operations. This will be of particular interest to pathology residents and pathologists entering practice who plan to pursue a role in laboratory administration.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Discuss the roles and responsibilities of the Laboratory Medical Director
- Summarize strategic planning concepts
- Discuss laboratory budgeting concepts
- Summarize the laboratory accreditation process
Russell Price
Dr. Russell Price is a RCPSC certified General Pathologist and is Laboratory Medical Director at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie Ontario where he has held a number of senior medical administrative positions. He is past president of the Ontario Association of Pathologists and is a speaker on laboratory administration at the CAP Resident Review Course.
CCO Updates
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Aaron Pollett
OMA Lab Section Update
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Victor Tron
Biomarkers in Gynecological Pathology: Tales from the Morphomolecular Frontier
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Gulisa Turashvili
Technology Improvements, Evolving Practice, Mitigating Threats: Update on Canada’s Blood Supply
The objective of the presentation is to enable attendees to be capable of describing how the blood system in Canada is structured and funded, how practice patterns are impacting blood product mix and use patterns, and what impacts recently / soon to be implemented technology improvements will have on blood safety and system efficiency. The session will be of value to pathologists, pathology trainees, and medical laboratory technologists.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Summarize how Canada’s blood supply is structured
- Describe how changing practice patterns are impacting blood product utilization
- Detail how planned and recently implemented improvements will impact system safety and efficienc
Robert Skeate
Dr. Skeate completed his medical degree, Clinical Pathology residency, and Transfusion Medicine subspecialty fellowship at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He was on staff with the American Red Cross blood center in St. Paul, and cross appointed at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology’s Division of Transfusion Medicine until 2009 when he moved to Toronto. He joined Canadian Blood Services and has held several positions with the organization with his work focussed on blood product and donor safety, transfusion medicine education, and restructuring of medical services delivery.
He is now Associate Medical Director for Education and Special Projects, serves as the director of the Canadian Blood Services portion of the Transfusion Medicine training programs in Canada, is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Transfusion Medicine subspecialty training committee, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and active participant in the QUEST research group which investigates strategies to improve blood safety and optimize blood product utilization.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning: what are the implications for pathology?
Artificial intelligence (AI) in various forms is already impacting our daily lives in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Undoubtedly, AI will have an increasing role in healthcare, and pathology is no exception. Advances in digital pathology and computer vision technology are key enablers for AI-powered diagnostic pathology applications. This talk will discuss where we are now with AI technologies, future directions, and how we as pathologists can prepare ourselves for technology-driven changes in our practice. This session will be of value to practicing general and anatomic pathologists, laboratory directors, and pathology residents and fellows.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain basic concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning
- List several current and potential applications of AI in healthcare
- Discuss opportunities and threats of AI technologies in the pathology setting
Corwyn Rowsell
Dr. Corwyn Rowsell is a Staff Pathologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at University of Toronto. He is one of three members of the GI pathology group at St. Michael’s Hospital responsible for therapeutic endoscopy cases. Previously, he spent 8 years as part of the GI and hepatobiliary pathology team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where he helped develop national consensus guidelines for management of GI neuroendocrine tumours. In addition to gastrointestinal pathology, Dr. Rowsell has had a long-standing interest in quality assurance in pathology, having previously served on the provincial advisory committee for the Quality Management Program and as Chair of the Pathology Scientific Committee at the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare. Recently, he has been working collaboratively with a computer engineering team on the development of AI-enabled pathology screening and diagnostic technologies.