June 2006
Dear Colleagues and Members of the Renal Pathology Society,
As we are approaching our 30th anniversary in 2008, our goal is to reach out to all pathologists and others interested in diagnosis, education, and research in the pathology of renal diseases. To this end, we established an International Committee earlier this year, chaired by Surya Seshan. In addition, thanks to the efforts of Maria Picken and Helen Liapis, you now have the first RPS e-newsletter in front of you. In this letter, our committee chairs will give a brief overview of recent developments and upcoming activites of our Society. We hope that you will enjoy it and let us know your suggestions or comments.
Jan Bruijn
President, Renal Pathology Society
From the Vice-President
The Society is currently involved in addressing issues pertaining to the Pathology Board Re-certification Test and billing/reimbursement policies in the US. We are also preparing for our up-coming 30 year anniversary. Please check our website for updates.
Steve Bonsib
Vice President, Renal Pathology Society
From the Secretary/Treasurer
Major RPS sponsored meetings and conferences coming up this summer and fall are listed below.
Upcoming meetings
July 2006
Ultrapath XIII offers an opportunity for updates on renal pathology and electron microscopy in general, in the relaxing scenario of the Rocky Mountains – Rapid City, South Dakota, July 9-14, 2006. Guillermo Herrera, David Howell, and Maria Picken will chair sessions on renal pathology. Please check the website http://www.ultrapathxiii.com for details of the program, including a great social program, and keep in mind that it is still not too late to register!
September 2006
The International Academy of Pathology (IAP) will have its XXVI International Congress in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, September 16-21, 2006. During the IAP congress, the following renal pathology meetings will be held:
Sunday, September 17, 2006, 14.00 – 17.30pm
A Renal Pathology Conference on New Developments in Renal Disease will take place chaired by Charles Jennette and Jan Bruijn, with contributions on Lupus GN (Terry Cook), Genetics and Proteomics (Jan Bruijn), C4d in allograft rejection (Alex Magil), Thrombotic Microangiopathies (Praveen Chander), and ANCA related disease (Charles Jennette).
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
The 3rd Annual RPS Satellite Conference will take place on, 14.00 – 18.00, with contributions on the new classification of lupus nephritis (Cook, Haas, Furness), FSGS (Thomas, Howie, Barisoni), and congenital nephrotic syndrome (Bonsib).
Thursday, September 21, 8.00 – 12.00, a short course on Renal Pathology Case Studies will be chaired by Charles Jennette and Jan Bruijn, featuring Guillermo Herrera, Franco Ferrario and Samir Nasr.
Further information: http://www.iap2006.com
November 2006
The RPS will meet during the ASN annual meeting to be held November 14-19, 2006 in San Diego. Further information: http://www.asn-online.org
The RPS business meeting and reception are scheduled on Thursday, November 16th 5-8pm Full details will be posted at the RPS website under upcoming meetings later this fall.
Courses, symposia and conferences sponsored by the RPS or of interest to RPS members include:
Tuesday November 14, 8am-6.45pm:
The Fundamentals of Renal Pathology chaired by Agnes Fogo and Jan Bruijn. Participating speakers include Arthur Cohen, Surya Seshan, Charles Jennette and others.
Thursday November 16, 4-6pm Clinical Nephrology Conference
Recurrent Systemic Diseases in Transplantation
Moderated by: V Kline Bolton and Volker Nickeleit
Saturday November 18 at 1.30pm
1. Symposium sponsored by the RPS:
Deriving Clinical Pearls from Transcriptional Studies in Renal Development and Disease
2. ClinicoPathologic Conference 1.30pm
Cases discussed by Steve Bonsib and Steve Korbet
Saturday November 18 at 4pm
Renal Biopsy: Clinical Correlations
Moderators: Mark Haas and Patrick Walker mini CPCs discussed by RPS members
Other events and parties:
NEPHROL will be 12 years old this October and Kim Solez is planning a NEPHROL/NEPHNPPT dinner on Friday November 17th. Details are still worked out.
The ASN Presidents dinner is scheduled for Saturday November 18th.
December 2006
On December 7, an RPS sponsored conference on Lupus will take place in Milan organized by David Jayne and Franco Ferrario (further info: franco.ferrario@oscb.sined.net).
The Society is interested in offering patronage to some national or regional events where issues of importance to our society, i.e. diagnosis, education and research are being discussed. While the Society is not in a position to offer funding, we are interested in underscoring the Society’s presence where and whenever possible. RPS flyers and posters are available from the chair of the Membership Committee
Helen Liapis
Secretary/Treasurer, Renal Pathology Society
Membership
Our membership continues to expand and currently includes 331 colleagues from 30 countries and all six continents. As head of the membership committee, I would like to personally invite you to recruit new members – it is important that we be seen and heard on matters that are of importance to all of us. It is critical that we also involve junior people, who are offered membership for free while in training.
To welcome our new members please go to:
http://www.renalpathsoc.org/Pg4Hotnews/welcome.html
Maria M. Picken
Chair, Membership Committee, Renal Pathology Society
International Affairs
An International Committee has been established early in 2006.
The mission of the international committee is to facilitate global interaction of renal pathology activities pursuant to the primary goals of Renal Pathology Society, which include improvement of all aspects of renal pathology practice, standardization of training and participation in collaborative research.
As the incidence of chronic renal disease is increasing worldwide, refined diagnostic modalities, novel treatment protocols and advances in renal transplantation are emerging. Thus, there is universal need for a fairly uniform, quality renal pathology practice and training, both at the basic and advanced levels. The Renal Pathology Society with an increasing international membership is taking the lead to pursue these goals, to reach out to pathologists practicing renal pathology around the world, and communicate with other established Renal Pathology Societies, to address common concerns in a global manner and optimize standards of practice. The activities of the international committee will be carried out in close co-operation with input from other RPS committees, Nephrology societies, Kidney and Urology Foundation of America (KUFA) and Commission for Global Advancement in Nephrology (COMGAN) under International Society of Nephrology.
(http://www.nature.com/isn/society/committees/full/isn_051027_3.html), (http://www.kidneyurology.org/About_Us/AU_TermsofUse.htm), etc.
Since this is a major undertaking, members of the committee as well as representatives from various regions of the globe (see below) will be identified and solicited to help gather information regarding the status of renal pathology in their respective areas.
Suggested geographic areas
North America Africa
South America Asia
Western Europe Middle East
Eastern Europe South East
Far East
Australia
Surya Seshan
Chair International Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Financial Affairs
Updates are forthcoming. Please check our website regarding KUFA grant announcements and other activities.
Luan Truong
Chair Financial Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Communications and Publications
Our website has been a very valuable source of information about the Society. Except for a short period last fall, when following Katrina’s flooding of New Orleans the link was severed, we are now fully operational. Please take a moment and review our website and check for important updates such as upcoming meetings, minutes from past meetings and the “welcome new members” section. You may also consider posting information regarding your national or regional meetings. Also, please note that the on-line membership list offers an opportunity to say a little bit about yourself and your research interests. This may be very helpful in establishing contacts and exchanging ideas with colleagues with similar interests. Please keep logging on to our website frequently!
Suzanne Meleg-Smith
Chair Communications & Publications Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Nominations and Awards
The Renal Pathology Society recently announced that the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award has been presented to Dr. Robert Timmons McCluskey, Distinguished Benjamin Castleman Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, and former Chief of Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. McCluskey, was a pioneer in the field of renal pathology, and has been a distinguished and productive academic renal pathologist who has made a major impact on investigative and diagnostic pathology. This award was presented to him in recognition of his life-long achievements.
A commemorative plaque and a letter signed by Lorraine Racusen, chair of the RPS Nominations and Awards Committee was presented to Dr. McCluskey on behalf of the RPS by Bob Colvin, Professor and Chair at Massachusetts General Hospital, and life long colleague of Dr. McCluskey.
Please join us in honoring Dr. McCluskey and paying tribute to an outstanding renal pathologist. Please refer also to an earlier e-mail sent to all members of the RPS regarding this award. The full text of this e-mail will also be posted on the Society’s website shortly.
Lorraine Racusen
Chair Nominating & Awards Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Education and Scientific Committee
RPS members have been involved in several international collaborative activities in recent years, including the new classification of lupus nephritis, and a study of dense deposit disease. Currently 19 RPS members are part of an international working group, formed in 2004, with the aim of developing a consensus clinico-pathological classification of IgA nephropathy. The working group includes 32 nephrologists and pathologists from around the world who have specific interests and experience in IgA nephropathy. After meeting in Oxford in September 2005, a final histological scoring system was agreed upon at USCAP 2006. The next stage is to test this scoring system on 300 selected patients on whom a full detailed clinical dataset and follow-up is available. Biopsies from the first 100 patients (from centers in Canada, China and Italy) are currently being scored by pathologists in the working group. It is hoped that all 300 cases will be scored, and the analysis completed, in 2007. This data will be used as the basis for the consensus classification system.
Ian Roberts
Chair, Education & Scientific Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Program Committee
March 2007
Details regarding the business meeting during the 2007 USCAP meeting will be forthcoming.
The program for the RPS sponsored symposium is currently worked out.
Charles Alpers
Chair of Program Committee
Research Committee - ongoing Research Projects
The major project that has occupied the Research Committee over the past year is the collaboration with the IgA Nephropathy Network to develop a new classification of IgA nephropathy. Please see above report by Ian Roberts.
There are a number of projects that have been suggested by Committeee members, including a possible classification of diabetic nephropathy and a study of follow-up biopsies in lupus nephritis and we are considering the feasibility of these. However, one of the prime functions of the Committee is to facilitate ideas for research from the membership so it any of you have embryonic projects with which we can help please get in touch.
Terry Cook
Chair Research Committee, Renal Pathology Society
Training programs
The Society is collaborating closely with the ISN Comgan http://www.nature.com/isn/society/committees/full/isn_051027_3.html
Please see also above under International Committee.
We are actively involved in the development of guidiness for the certification of renal pathologists. Please check our website for updates.
Agnes Fogo
Chair, Training Programs Committee, Renal Pathology Society.