Submitted by: Martin Hale. Vice President for Southern Africa and President of the South African Division.

Original VP Report in PDF format

International Academy of Pathology

Report of the Vice President for Southern Africa

USCAP: Los Angeles – 20th March 2022

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic over the last two years has had a far-ranging impact on life in South Africa. The introduction of significant lock-down measures coupled with both local and international travel restrictions has taken its toll on the academic activities of the South African

Division.

However, we have managed go someway in reversing this in recent months. Members of the Division were included in the scientific organising committee of the 2nd Meeting of the African Assembly hosted by the Francophone Division in Abidjan, Cote d Ivoire and also participated in the Scientific programme, the meeting being held as a hybrid meeting from the 22nd to the 23rd November 2021. Dr Sharol Ngwenya and Dr Ewen McAlpine delivered lectures on hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma, and Epstein Barr virus related lymphoproliferative disease respectively, whilst Prof Martin Hale delivered a talk on SARS-Co-V 2 infection in children. There was also South African participation in the Slide Seminar with a number of registrars presenting interesting and unusual cases.

Annual Meeting of the South African Division

This was followed by the Annual Meeting of the South African Division. To accommodate busy work schedules and members in private practice, the programme was delivered in virtual format in the evenings over 4 days from Monday 17th January to Thursday 20th January 2022. A wide range of topics were covered as listed below:

Monday 17th January 2022

1. Artificial Intelligence, how it works and why pathologists need to know about it. Dr E McAlpine,

Consultant Pathologist, University of the Witwatersrand.

2. The application of Artificial Intelligence in pathology and issues relating to deployment, clinical validation, and regulation. Prof Liron Pantanowitz, University of Michigan.

Tuesday 18th January 2022

1. Inflammatory Bowel Disease in children. Prof Roger Feakins, University College London.

2. Pitfalls in lymphoid proliferations. Prof Stefan Dojcinov, Swansea University.

Wednesday 19th January 2022

1. Prostate cancer diagnosis. Prof Dan Berney, Barts Health NHS Trust and Barts Cancer Institute,

Queen Mary University of London

2. Update on the 2020 WHO Classification of lung tumours. Prof Andrew Nicholson, Royal

Brompton Hospital and National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

Thursday 20th January 2022

19h30 – Young pathologists slide seminar.

The South African Division extends its thanks to the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology for their continued and unwavering support.

The South African Division is currently calling for nominations for President, Treasurer and Secretary and once filled the names of the new incumbents will be forwarded to the IAP Secretariat.

Prof M J Hale

Vice President for Southern Africa and President of the South African Division.