President’s Column: Our Mission – To Grow the Specialty

By Karim E. Sirgi, MD, MBA, FCAP

I became a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists in 1997. At that early stage of my career, I didn’t realize all the member benefits and opportunities the CAP had to offer.

Over the years, as I became more deeply connected to the CAP, my connections to other Fellows became deeper and more beneficial, too.

At all stages of their profession, from residency to new-in-practice and throughout the journey to retirement, the CAP provides its members opportunities and support. I wish I had taken advantage of this endless treasure of knowledge and guidance sooner.

In addition to setting the standard of excellence and advocating for our specialty, the CAP, through the CAP Foundation, mobilizes pathologists to lead cancer screening programs and awards scholarships—all with an eye toward improving patient care. Further, these opportunities advance leadership development, informatics, translational diagnostics, and best practices in laboratory medicine.

I don’t want our new pathologists to miss those opportunities. The CAP Foundation grants foster their dreams to support their specialty.

It’s my turn—and yours—to help.

At the recent CAP House of Delegates meeting, the CAP president, R. Bruce Williams, MD, FCAP, said that there is much CAP members can do to save women’s lives.

“It’s because of you and your generosity that we’re able to provide leadership opportunities for pathologists.”

Our new mission statement recognizes that it takes leaders to bring excellence in health care to patients in communities that lack access to preventive medicine. See, Test & Treat makes a profound impact because pathologists work within their own institutions and alongside their clinical colleagues to bring health care to communities in need.

Your generosity can also help the Foundation offer residents, Fellows, and medical students access to leadership opportunities.

The CAP Foundation has recommitted to our mission to provide more scholarships that will help prepare the pathologist leaders of tomorrow. Also, the Foundation has established a new fund to invite deserving medical students to attend the CAP annual meeting: Strengthening the pipeline of future colleagues is also a goal of our Foundation.

CAP Foundation grants and awards help to create leadership opportunities for pathologists; and they, in turn, help to save lives. It’s time now to give back.

Please get involved and help save lives.

Hologic and Erin Andrews inspire us to “Change This Stat”

Kudos to Hologic, Inc., the CAP Foundation’s largest corporate supporter, and a leading global health care and diagnostics company, for their new cancer awareness campaign.

Hologic enlisted television personality and cervical cancer survivor Erin Andrews to encourage women to get tested for cervical cancer.

Every two hours, one woman dies of cervical cancer. Hologic and Andrews aim to change this statistic by mobilizing women to take control of their health and ensure they are being regularly tested for this preventable cancer.

Both Hologic and the CAP Foundation share a common value: that cervical cancer is preventable. Promotional programs like Hologic’s We Can Change This STAT and free screening programs like See, Test & Treat are helping to spread awareness and save lives.