The Pathology Workforce and Clinical Licensure

There has been a recent recognition of the need to prepare PhD-trained scientists for increasingly diverse careers in academia, industry, and health care. The PhD Data Task Force was formed to better understand the current state of PhD scientists in the clinical laboratory workforce and collect up-to-date information on the training and certification of these laboratorians. In this report, we summarize the findings of the PhD Data Task Force and discuss the relevance of the data collected to the future supply of and demand for PhD clinical laboratory scientists. It is clear that there are multiple career opportunities for PhD scientists in academic medical centers, commercial clinical laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and the federal government. Certified PhD scientists have and will continue to form an important resource for our technologically advancing field, bringing training in scientific methods, and technologies needed for modern laboratory medicine. The data gathered by the PhD Data Task Force will be of great interest to current and future PhD candidates and graduate PhD scientists as they make decisions regarding future career directions

The Association of Pathology Chairs’ Pathology Leadership Academy: Experience From the First 2 Years

Leadership development and succession planning are critical to ensure continued strength of academic pathology. The Association of Pathology Chairs developed the Pathology Leadership Academy to prepare future academic leaders. The purpose of this report is to describe: (1) Pathology Leadership Academy’s development and curriculum, (2) how Pathology Leadership Academy has met leadership development needs for individuals and academic departments in its first 2 years, (3) Pathology Leadership Academy’s future directions based on program feedback. Results were analyzed from pre- and postprogram needs assessment surveys of pathology chairs and from evaluations from Pathology Leadership Academy participants in the first 2 years. Pathology Leadership Academy curriculum was developed from topics identified as priorities in the chairs’ survey. Twenty-eight (90%) of 31 responding participants were very satisfied/satisfied with Pathology Leadership Academy. Of the 18 responding chairs who sent a participant to Pathology Leadership Academy, 11 (61%) reported that Pathology Leadership Academy met their faculty development goal. Of all responding chairs, 13 (32%) of 41 reported uncertainty as to whether Pathology Leadership Academy is meeting chairs’ goals. Chairs reported that Pathology Leadership Academy provided value to their faculty through preparation for a future leadership role, enhancing skills for a current role, and enhancing understanding of opportunities and challenges in academic medicine. Most chairs (27/43, 66%) said Pathology Leadership Academy should be offered again; 13 (32%) of 43 were uncertain, and 1 (2%) of 43 said no. Initial experience of Pathology Leadership Academy is positive and promising and provides opportunity for leadership succession planning in academic pathology. Pathology Leadership Academy will use participant and chair feedback for ongoing curricular development to ensure topics continue to address major needs of academic pathology

Biologic Evaluation of Diabetes and Local Recurrence in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

A recent multicenter study led by our institution demonstrated that local recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was significantly more frequent in patients with diabetes, raising the possibility of different tumor biology in diabetics. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a key role in local tumor recurrence and metastasis. In the present study, we investigated differences of tumor microenvironment between patients with and without diabetes by examining expression of EMT markers. Seventy-nine NSCLC patients were selected from the cohort of our early multicenter study. These patients were classified into 4 groups: 39 with adenocarcinoma with (n = 19) and without (n = 20) diabetes, and 40 with squamous cell carcinoma with (n = 20) and without (n = 20) diabetes. Immunohistochemical expression of eight EMT markers was analyzed, including transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R), vimentin, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, HtrA1, and beta-catenin. Five markers (E-cadherin, HtrA1, TGF-beta, IGF-1R and vimentin) demonstrated significantly higher expression in diabetics than in non-diabetics in both histology types. N-cadherin had higher expression in diabetics, though the difference did not reach statistical significance. EGFR showed a higher expression in diabetics in squamous cell carcinoma only. Beta-catenin was the only marker with no difference in expression between diabetics versus non-diabetics. Our findings suggest that diabetes is associated with enhanced EMT in NSCLC, which may contribute to growth and invasiveness of NSCLC

Women in Academic Pathology: Pathways to Department Chair

The Association of Pathology Chairs, an organization of American and Canadian academic pathology departments, has a record percent of women department chairs in its ranks (31%), although still not representative of the percent of women pathology faculty (43%). These women chairs were surveyed to determine what had impeded and what had facilitated their academic advancement before becoming chairs. The 2 most frequently identified impediments to their career advancement were heavy clinical loads and the lack of time, training, and/or funding to pursue research. Related to the second impediment, only one respondent became chair of a department which was in a top 25 National Institutes of Health-sponsored research medical school. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said that they had experienced gender bias during their careers in pathology, and 31% identified gender bias as an important impediment to advancement. The top facilitator of career advancement before becoming chairs was a supportive family. Strikingly, 98% of respondents have a spouse or partner, 75% have children, and 38% had children younger than 18 when becoming chairs. Additional top facilitators were opportunities to attend national meetings and opportunities to participate in leadership. Previous leadership experiences included directing a clinical service, a residency training program, and/or a medical student education program. These results suggest important ways to increase the success of women in academic pathology and increasing the percent of women department chairs, including supporting a family life and providing time, encouragement and resources for research, attending national meetings, and taking on departmental leadership positions