From Liron Pantanowitz, MD (Current president of the Association of Pathology Informatics):
ASCP
and the Association for Pathology Informatics Forge Alliance for Mutual
Benefits
ASCP
and API signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) effective March 7 to
collaborate on education, advocacy, and membership strategies to the mutual
benefit of members from both organizations. Informatics has become an increasingly
relevant component for the future of pathology and laboratory medicine. This
strategic alliance enables each society to gain from each other’s areas of
expertise.
“The
future of diagnostics is the future of informatics,” says John Tomaszewski, MD,
FASCP, a former ASCP President and a member of API since the 1990s. “API is the
dominant and growing society for informatics. ASCP’s focus on precision
diagnostics can be best accomplished in partnership with API. This is a great
alliance for both organizations, especially for education.
“The
faculty of ASCP and API overlap significantly. ASCP delivers great depth into
its educational sessions, which is a plus for API members. API will bring ASCP
members more knowledge in informatics. The Association embeds the informatics
tools into the challenges of the broader laboratory in a very dynamic way.”
Education
is at the forefront of this alliance. API will hold its fall Annual Meeting in
conjunction with the 2013 ASCP Annual Meeting, Sept. 18–21, in Chicago.
Participants from both organizations can select 19 hours of education in
informatics delivered by API faculty experts. In addition, API will continue to
hold its regular “Pathology Informatics” conference May 13–16 in Pittsburgh.
API has moved this conference to the spring from the fall to accommodate and
avoid conflicts with the ASCP Annual Meeting.
“API
is at a crossroads in its infrastructure,” says Liron Pantanowitz, MD, FASCP,
API President and a member of ASCP. “That requires us to change how we do
things. The alliance with ASCP comes at the right time for us and brings us
different expertise and additional resources that will help us reach the next
level.”
For
all API members, ASCP is extending a complimentary membership effective from
May 1 to Dec. 31, 2013. Through the new ASCP Institute of Science, Technology,
and Policy, API members will have a stronger voice in Washington, D.C., and can
play an integral role in advancing the ASCP Institute’s Health Services Center.
Through
free ASCP membership effective from May 1 to Dec. 31, 2013, API members can
take first-rate online courses at no charge to earn up to seven continuing
medical education credits; gain online access to the prestigious ASCP journals,
the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Lab Medicine, and Critical
Values, as well as online publications such as Daily Diagnosis, eNews
Briefs, and ePolicy News; and be eligible for member discounts for
the 2013 ASCP Annual Meeting, Sept. 18–21, in Chicago and books, as well as
educational products and services.
“Pathology
informatics shows us how to practice pathology in the modern age,” says Dr. E.
Blair Holladay, ASCP Executive Vice President. “One major role of informatics
in diagnoses and analytics will be to accelerate fused diagnostic signatures
from many types of big data streams as an aid to patients in their choosing of
their best therapy. Our members have told us that they want to learn more about
informatics and how to apply it in their pathology practices. This is where the
profession is headed.”
ASCP
pathology residents will have access to API members who attend and teach at the
ASCP Annual Meetings and can learn firsthand about how informatics will affect
their futures and the future of the profession. Membership in API is free for
residents. Residents interested in informatics research who lack opportunities
at their own institution can now take advantage of the API’s Research Matching
Program, which pairs interested residents with mentors, with research conducted
remotely.
Liron
Pantanowitz MD
API
President
Email: pantanowitzl@upmc.edu
