The placenta provides a wealth of information, retrospectively about the fetus and prospectively regarding the infant. Its examination is an essential component of the autopsy in cases of fetal or infant death, often gives useful insights of the diagnosis and treatment of sick newborns, and reflects the impact of maternal disorders on pregnancy. Yet, most pathologists have had little or no education or training in the examination of the placenta, including its histologic appearance in health and disease, and particularly the range of appearances with gestational age. Pathological examination of the placenta is probably the most under-utilized pathologic assessment of any human tissue.

This focused course provides the unique opportunity to learn from two experts in an intimate mentoring environment, and to close the practice gaps that reflect deficits in teaching and learning the extraordinary variants of placental pathology and how they relate clinically to infant and maternal management.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Theonia K. Boyd, M.D.

Thoracic specimens are commonly encountered in clinical practice derived from biopsy and surgical procedures on pulmonary, cardiovascular and mediastinal tissue. The panorama includes neoplasms and non-neoplastic entities. The fact that many of these require evaluation for medical diseases of the thorax provokes anxiety among pathologists, particularly where subspecialty pathologists are not readily available. The last five years contributed a dizzying array of updates in classification, nomenclature and reporting guidelines. Therefore, it’s time for pathologists to update their knowledge and skills in the diagnosis of thoracic pathology in an intimate mentoring environment that unites experienced experts with pathologists desiring a contemporary review of modern thoracic pathology.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Joseph J. Maleszewski, M.D.

This inaugural co-branded interactive microscopy course presents the synergistic union of expert surgical pathologists from the prestigious Arthur Purdy Stout Society and from USCAP, collaborating (through education of pathologists) to eliminate a variety of practice gaps in diagnostic surgical pathology. For example, there is a misdiagnosis rate of about 10% in breast biopsies, but for some notoriously problematic lesions, the rate is even higher.

A review of the literature and the collective clinical experience of this faculty as consultant surgical pathologists have clearly documented areas in diagnostic surgical pathology that remain problematic even for experienced pathologists. Examples include the categorization of proliferative breast lesions, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, small glandular proliferations in the prostate, and soft tissue lesions. With the frequent use of core needle biopsy, pathologists are often faced with the challenge of distinguishing these entities on small specimen samples.

The value of this course is its intent to eliminate diagnostic errors by highlighting pitfalls and approaches to resolve them using routine microscopic examination of H&E-stained sections and immuno-stains. The role of newer adjunctive molecular tests will also be discussed where appropriate. Thus, this course addresses medical knowledge and competence with the goal of improving clinical practice.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Laura C. Collins, M.D.

The sub-specialized diversity of gynecologic pathology covers numerous sites, diseases and cancers with nuanced details regarding classification of disease, intra-operative consultations, newly-described tests, and staging of gynecologic malignancies. This course concentrates on the intricacies of these complex elements in an effort to enhance what is encountered in real-time clinical practice and introduces surgical pathologists to many of the "pitfalls and pearls" that can be encountered in the routine evaluation and reporting of gynecologic surgical pathology specimens. Whether you’re in clinical community or academic practice, or a pathologist-in-training, this information is invaluable to your performance. Experience intimate mentoring in a world-class facility at a resort destination, and become a better pathologist in the USCAP style!

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Charles Matthew Quick, M.D.

The diagnosis of soft tissue tumors can be a significant challenge (even for experienced pathologists) because of their rarity, the broad morphological spectrum of mesenchymal tumors, and overlap with other soft tissue tumors and non-mesenchymal neoplasms. The classification of soft tissue tumors continues to evolve, following the description of “new” tumor types, the discovery of novel molecular genetic alterations, and the development of increasingly specific diagnostic immunohistochemical markers. If your specialty interest is in soft tissue pathology, or if your practice requires enhanced competency in evaluating soft tissue lesions, this course is designed to familiarize you with recently-described soft tissue tumors and recently developed diagnostic markers.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Jason L. Hornick, M.D., FRCPath

This interactive microscopy course, taught by experts from Harvard Medical School, Stanford and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is designed to eliminate a variety of practice gaps in diagnostic breast pathology.

In general, there is a misdiagnosis rate of about 10% in breast biopsies, which may be even higher for some notoriously problematic lesions. This course (through intimate mentoring) attempts to reduce or eliminate diagnostic error by highlighting pitfalls and illustrating practical approaches to resolve them, using routine microscopic examination of H&E-stained sections with appropriate ancillary testing. The intended outcome is improved clinical practice and patient outcomes.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Laura C. Collins, M.D.

With healthcare in the United States changing rapidly to meet the mandate for high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered care, the need for effective physician leaders has never been more cogent. Leadership and management skills are essential for individual physicians and for healthcare organizations to achieve the best outcomes. Formal cultivation of these skills has not been targeted to young faculty during their formative years, creating a professional practice gap and an opportunity.

This special course is intended for junior faculty (within their first five to seven years of practice) who are interested in developing skills that will benefit them as emerging leaders at their home institution, as well as within other professional organizations. The curriculum provides an opportunity for participants to experience a guided exploration of several areas of study that are critical to effective leadership, including the characteristics of effective leadership and effective teams, the concept of emotional intelligence as it applies to leadership, understanding organizational culture and strategy, and prevention of physician burnout. The course faculty are senior academicians with experience in education, mentorship, and functioning as leaders within a changing healthcare environment.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Carol F. Farver, M.D. & Laura W. Lamps, M.D.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Sanjay Kakar, M.D.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Gregory Y. Lauwers, M.D.

Pathologists are generally unfamiliar with a variety of entities in lung, pleural and mediastinal pathology, leading to diagnostic errors. Furthermore, issues related to heart/lung transplantation require specialized knowledge and experience. Interactive microscopy at the USCAP Learning Center provides a unique and intimate mentoring opportunity to discuss interstitial lung disease, pleuro-pulmonary malignancies, transplant rejection, and the cytomorphologic representation of specimens from these sites, including best practices for optimal triage of lung cancer specimens for molecular testing.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Henry D. Tazelaar, M.D. and Andrew Churg, M.D., Ph.D.

Early diagnosis of a myriad of benign and malignant diseases (presenting as swellings) affecting the head and neck provides the best chance for successful treatment. Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) is an expedient and cost-effective method to sample these masses and is the primary biopsy method for thyroid and salivary glands and a useful approach to evaluate lymph nodes. The majority of practicing pathologists have not completed formal fellowship training in cytopathology and do not have a diagnostic paradigm for these relatively common specimen types. This course is intended to help close the gap by building a strong foundation in head and neck cytopathology and familiarizing attendees with the common diagnostic challenges encountered when evaluating FNA specimens from the thyroid, salivary glands and lymph nodes. The outcome should be an increase in the number of definitive diagnoses, reduction in equivocal diagnoses, and mitigation of repeat FNA or subsequent invasive procedures. The target audience is general pathologists with an interest in cytopathology, pathology residents and fellows, surgical pathology fellows and cytopathology fellows.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Elham Khanafshar, M.D., MS and Britt-Marie E. Ljung, M.D.

The practice of pediatric pathology differs significantly from that of adult surgical pathology: certain tumor types and medical conditions are much more common in the pediatric population (e.g., celiac disease, soft tissue sarcomas); the microscopic appearances of certain diseases common to pediatric and adult populations often differ (e.g., non-necrotizing granulomas are much more common in pediatric patients with Crohn's disease compared with adults); and molecular techniques are more commonly employed in the workup of pediatric neoplasia.

This course is intended to familiarize general surgical pathologists with pediatric specimens that occur less commonly in their practices. Highly skilled pediatric pathologists will share their expertise in an intimate mentoring experience at the USCAP Interactive Center where learning is an inevitability.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Theonia K. Boyd, M.D. and Jeffrey D. Goldsmith, M.D.

Neuropathology cases provide a particular challenge for practicing surgical pathologists because they are less common than cases from other organ systems, typically comprising fewer than 1% of cases in most practices, and are relatively more complex. Consequently, pathologists have less experience with neuropathology which translates to less comfort in making diagnoses. These mentoring sessions with experts are intended to provide practicing pathologists and pathologists-in-training with strategies relating to how to approach a case, differential diagnostic considerations, ancillary testing useful to resolving differential diagnoses, and the clinical implications of their diagnostic decisions. This is your opportunity to increase your comfort level, confidence and expertise in the interpretation and classification of neuropathology cases you will inevitably see in your diverse practices.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Richard A. Prayson, M.D., MEd

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Arie Perry, M.D.