The diagnosis of soft tissue and bone tumors can be a significant challenge (even for experienced pathologists) because of their rarity, the broad morphological spectrum of mesenchymal tumors, and overlap with other soft tissue tumors and non-mesenchymal neoplasms. The discovery of specific histochemical markers and molecular genetic alterations drives the evolution soft tissue classification. If you are a surgical pathologist who struggles with accurate diagnosis of these challenging neoplasms, this is the course for you!

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Jason L. Hornick, M.D., Ph.D.

This course has been revised to emphasize the procedural aspects of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsies and to compare the appearance of samples in cellular and core histologic formats to optimize ancillary studies and rapid diagnoses. Additional organ systems have been included, primarily bone and soft tissue. Whether you’re a committed cytopathologist or a pathologist confronted with cytopathology in your general practice, this course will update your knowledge and stimulate your comprehension and confidence.

Course Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites, Charleston, SC

This interactive microscopy course, taught by experts from Harvard Medical School and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is designed to eliminate a variety of practice gaps in diagnostic breast pathology. This course (through intimate mentoring) attempts to reduce or eliminate diagnostic error by highlighting pitfalls and illustrating practical approaches to resolve them, using routine microscopic examination of H&E-stained sections with appropriate ancillary testing. The intended outcome is improved clinical practice and patient outcomes

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Laura C. Collins, M.D.

The diagnosis of soft tissue and bone tumors can be a significant challenge (even for experienced pathologists) because of their rarity, the broad morphological spectrum of mesenchymal tumors, and overlap with other soft tissue tumors and non-mesenchymal neoplasms. The discovery of specific histochemical markers and molecular genetic alterations drives the evolution soft tissue classification. If you are a surgical pathologist who struggles with accurate diagnosis of these challenging neoplasms, this is the course for you!

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: John A. Hart, M.D.

The evolution of gastrointestinal pathology coincident with development of endoscopy and mucosal biopsies has revolutionized management of patients with gastrointestinal disorders. Virtually every part of the tubular gut is now amenable to visualization and sampling. High-resolution cross-sectional imaging routinely detects asymptomatic tumors in patients under surveillance for chronic liver disease. This intensely focused course, presented by a spectacular faculty, will help pathologists generate comprehensive and accurate differential diagnoses for a variety of inflammatory and neoplastic disorders based on limited biopsy material. Take advantage of this intimate mentoring opportunity and upgrade your performance and diagnostic skills.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Rhonda Yantiss, M.D.

This special course is intended for junior faculty (within their first five to seven years of practice) who are interested in developing skills that will benefit them as emerging leaders at their home institution, as well as within other professional organizations. The curriculum will provide an opportunity for participants to experience a guided exploration of several areas of study that are critical to effective leadership, including the characteristics of effective leadership and effective teams, the concept of emotional intelligence as it applies to leadership, understanding organizational culture and strategy, and prevention of physician burnout. The course faculty are senior academicians with experience in education, mentorship, and functioning as leaders within a changing healthcare environment.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Carol F. Farver, M.D. and Laura W. Lamps, M.D.

Many pathologists are unfamiliar with a variety of entities in lung, pleural, mediastinal and transplant pathology. The potential for diagnostic error in these areas relates to inexperience from restricted exposure or caseload. Dr. Tazelaar and Churg's interactive microscopy course with an expert faculty is designed to close this practice gap.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Directors: Andrew Churg, M.D., Ph.D. and Henry D. Tazelaar, M.D.

Lymphomas are highly heterogeneous, consisting of numerous clinicopathologic subtypes and variants whose diagnosis and classification require integration of histologic, immunophenotypic, clinical, molecular and genomic parameters. Furthermore, there is rapid evolution of molecular prognostic factors and therapeutic markers that have clinical impact and challenge pathologists. This interactive microscopy course, supplemented by lectures, highlights the practical aspects of important changes impacting the diagnostic approach to indolent and aggressive B cell lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphoma and T cell lymphoma.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Megan S. Lim, M.D., Ph.D

Dermatopathology in the Desert is an annual resource for surgical pathologists and dermatopathologists to refine their diagnostic skills when confronted with complex and unusual melanocytic lesions, adnexal tumors, cutaneous lymphomas/soft tissue tumors, and diseases of the nails. The struggle to diagnose lesions in these categories is manifest by the nature of consultations received by the faculty, provoking their awareness of need for continuing education and updates in the context of contemporary revisions to precise diagnostic criteria and ancillary studies.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Steven D. Billings, M.D.

Head and neck pathology represents a significant portion of surgical pathology practice. Studies have shown this area to be particularly treacherous to community pathologists, with up to 53% of diagnoses changed (including 7% with major changes) upon second review at tertiary care hospitals.

Complicating this inherent difficulty, there have been numerous recent developments in the field of head and neck pathology. Novel entities have been described, pathognomonic molecular alterations have been uncovered, and major shifts in diagnostic classification schemes have been proposed.

This interactive microscopy course will help pathologists to stay up-to-date and maintain proficiency in head and neck pathology through an intimate mentoring experience with experts.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Justin Bishop, M.D.

Thoracic specimens are commonly encountered in clinical practice derived from biopsy and surgical procedures on pulmonary, cardiovascular and mediastinal tissue. The panorama includes neoplasms and non-neoplastic entities. The fact that many of these require evaluation for medical diseases of the thorax provokes anxiety among pathologists, particularly where subspecialty pathologists are not readily available. The last five years contributed a dizzying array of updates in classification, nomenclature and reporting guidelines. Therefore, it’s time for pathologists to update their knowledge and skills in the diagnosis of thoracic pathology in an intimate mentoring environment that unites experienced experts with pathologists desiring a contemporary review of modern thoracic pathology.

Course Location: Palm Springs, CA
Course Director: Joseph J. Maleszewski, M.D.