The CM-Path Executive Group has approved a new role within CM-Path, the Deputy Chairperson. The Deputy Chairperson will work closely with the CM-Path Chairperson and Workstream Leads to provide further support and to help to drive forward the cross-cutting themes. We are pleased to announce that Professor Andy Hall will be taking up this post.

Congratulations to Dr Abeer Shaaban who has been appointed as Workstream 2 Lead. Abeer has been a Workstream 2 member and Deputy of Workstream 2 since CM-Path launched. Abeer is a consultant pathologist with a special interest in breast pathology and has chaired the translational subgroup of the NCRI breast CSG for the past 6 years.

At the NCRI, we have also been joined by Harriet Foden, our new CM-Path Programme Officer who will be working closely with Jessica. Harriet has a split role between working on a biobanking project under leadership of the Workstream 3 biobanking subgroup and providing general support to the CM-Path initiative.

Dr Hasan Rizvi recently joined Workstream 1 of CM-Path. Hasan is a consultant haematopathologist and dermatologist, and since 2009 has been the lead in pathology for undergraduate dental education and an active tutor, lecturer and assessor/examiner at the Barts and the London Medical School.

Dr Sidonie Hartridge-Lambert trained in pathology and is now UK oncology biomarker lead at Bristol Myers Squibb. Sidonie has joined Workstream 3 to provide biomarker expertise and bring an industry perspective to the group. Sidonie has been involved in many CM-Path events to date and we’re delighted she has now joined as a member.

Dr Clare Craig has joined Workstream 4 to provide an essential link between CM-Path and Genomics England. Clare is the clinical lead for cancer recruitment at Genomics England and prior to this, was a consultant cytopathologist in the NHS. Clare will join the molecular diagnostics subgroup of Workstream 4.

Professor David Snead has also joined Workstream 4 to provide additional digital pathology expertise. David is leading the development of digital pathology at UHCW NHS Trust; believed to be the first department in the world to use a digital pathology platform for routine primary diagnostic reporting.

We are also delighted that a new cohort of trainee members joined the initiative in June:

  • Dr Kathryn Griffin, St James’ University Hospital, Leeds – Workstream 1
  • Dr Kris Holte, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh – Workstream 2
  • Dr Harry Haynes, University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust – Workstream 3
  • Dr Nish Naidoo, Guys and St Thomas/Institute of Cancer Research – Workstream 3
  • Dr Aislinn Stevens, Queen’s University Belfast – Workstream 1
  • Dr Sara Waise, University of Southampton – Workstream 2
  • Dr Dennis Zhang, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust – Workstream 2
  • Dr Gabi Rees, University of Oxford – Workstream 4

Workstream 1 Update

  • The editorial entitled ‘Morpho-molecular pathology: setting the framework for a new generation of pathologists’ has now been accepted for publication in the British Journal of Cancer
  • A longer position piece written by Workstream 1 trainees Dr David Moore, Dr Hayley Morris and Dr Caroline Young has also been submitted for publication
  • Workstream 1 held two workshops in July to promote the need for Genomic Pathology teaching

Day 1: Dr Richard Haspel who leads the TRIG programme in the US came to deliver the TRIG programme to over 80 pathology trainees in an interactive workshop. The workshop was held in collaboration with Health Education England, London and South East. Find out more here.

Day 2: An invite only workshop that was attended by representatives from CM-Path, the Pathological Society, the Royal College of Pathologists, industry partners, Cancer Research UK and a number of pathology trainees from the UK. The day aimed to address challenges in the training of molecular pathology in the UK and the outcomes included planning for CM-Path to create a draft proposal for a 3 month optional Diagnostic Molecular Pathology module for review by the Royal College of Pathologists Histopathology College Specialty Training Committee.

We recommend you watch Professor Manuel Salto-Tellez’ presentation from the day, which outlines the need to embrace molecular pathology training, it is available here.

  • Workstream 1 will now be working to draw together a curriculum for the new optional module in Diagnostic Molecular Pathology, in addition to preparing a draft revised curriculum for the existing Research Methodology optional module.

Workstream 2 Update

Clinical Study Group Participation

  • CM-Path trainee, Dr Dennis Zhang, has been analysing the CSG survey that was completed by over 140 UK pathologists to determine their attitudes towards and their knowledge of the NCRI’s clinical study groups
  • Dennis is working to complete the survey analysis and aims to publish the results in a forthcoming issue of the RCPath bulletin

Patient and Public Involvement

  • CM-Path trainee, Dr Sara Waise, is currently analysing data from previous PPI activities that CMPath has conducted
  • Sara will be liaising with CM-Path consumer representative, Tom Haswell, to give an update presentation at the NCRI Consumer Forum at the NCRI Cancer Conference 2017

Annual Clinical Trials Workshop “Clinical Trials for the Petrified Pathologist: Training a New Generation of Clinical Trial Pathologists”

  • The Clinical Trials Workstream will be holding their second annual Clinical Trials workshop on Friday, February 9th 2018. The workshop will be held at Coin Street Conference Centre, London, in collaboration with the Royal College of Pathologists
  • The day aims to enthuse a new cohort of trainee and consultant pathologists and provide them with the essential knowledge needed to get involved in clinical trial research
  • More information on how to register will be available soon.

CM-Path Forum

  • Dr Owen Driskell has set up the CM-Path Forum, which is delivered using JISCMail and helps groups of individuals to communicate & discuss education and research interests relating to cellular and molecular pathology using email discussion lists.
    • At its most basic level, the group is a mailing list
    • Belonging to a group is like sitting in on a discussion – you can join in the talk, start a discussion, or simply listen
    • It could be that you are a pathologist with a query about the design of a clinical trial: – you could submit your query for feedback and responses from the pathology community i.e. other subscribers
    • It could be that you are supporting a clinical trial in your hospital and have a particular problem with the protocol and wish to seek solutions from other sites running that study
  • To find out more information and to join the forum, visit the CM-Path Website.

Quality Assurance

  • The Quality Assurance Working group met back in March 2017 at a meeting chaired by Professor Clare Verrill
  • The group is now working to create a suite of five papers for peer review publication to share the outcomes of the Workshop with the wider community

Workstream 3 Update

Biobanking

  • Harriet Foden has joined the NCRI as CM-Path Programme Officer to carry out a biobanking project, under the leadership of the biobanking subgroup of Workstream 3
  • Harriet will be creating a biobanking self-evaluation tool, which will allow biobanks to evaluate their current processes and identify any areas for improvement, with the aim of increasing the quality of tissues stored in biobanks to allow robust downstream analysis
  • The tool will be launched at the next CCB/CM-Path annual meeting, which will be held on the 17 May 2018 in Leeds

Biomarker Workshop Series “The Liquid Biopsy: Circulating Tumour Cells and Bloodborne Biomarkers”

  • The Discovery Workstream are holding their second annual biomarker workshop on 8th March 2018 at the Royal Society of Medicine, with the aim of engaging trainee and consultant pathologists with research
  • The workshop will be held in association with the PHG Foundation and Cancer Research UK’s Precision Medicine team
  • Further details, including details of how to register will be available soon

Monitoring Academic Pathology

  • CM-Path trainees Dr Scarlet Brockmoeller and Dr Caroline Young received over 300 responses to their survey that aims to determine consultant pathologist attitudes towards academic and molecular pathology
  • Scarlet and Caroline presented their preliminary results at a plenary oral presentation at PathSoc Belfast 2017
  • Scarlet and Caroline are now writing up the results for peer review publication

CM-Path Network Development

  • The Discovery Workstream aim to set up a network of CM-Path badged pathology departments in order to create a UK network to disseminate best practice
  • CM-Path trainee, Dr Phil Elliott, has drawn up a set of documents for this which include:
  • Recommendations for molecular testing, Best practice guidelines for labs within the CM-Path network and a CM-Path SOP for Fresh Tissue Sampling
  • The Workstream will now create a slide deck before asking CM-Path members to speak to their local departments about the opportunity to join the network

Workstream 4 Update

Since joining Workstream 4 as its lead in June, Professor Clare Verrill has been busy revising the objectives for the Workstream and establishing ways of working.

Digital Pathology

  • CM-Path trainee, Dr Bethany Williams, with Dr Darren Treanor, who leads the Digital Pathology subgroup, have completed the first UK survey to identify access and usage of digital pathology access across the UK, which received over 40 departmental responses. The survey results have been written up and submitted for publication in a peer reviewed journal
  • Clare has been linking in with BIVDA’s digital pathology working group to explore how the two groups may collaborate in the future
  • The group are now setting their objectives for the next years and will update with further plans as they develop

Molecular Diagnostics

  • The Molecular Diagnostics subgroup of Workstream 4, led by Professor Sarah Coupland, continues to pursue the survey created last year. The following centres have completed the survey: if your centre is not listed, please do complete the survey on behalf of your department:
    • Central Manchester
    • St George’s
    • North Bristol
    • Leeds
    • Newcastle
    • Gloucestershire
    • Edinburgh
    • UCLH
    • Sheffield
    • Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CMPath_MolDx
  • The group are also setting up the second industry forum meeting, which aims to bring together industry representatives with pathologists and others to work together on joint objectives. The next meeting will focus on post-NICE commissioning and funding of molecular diagnostic tests, and it will be held following the PathSoc meeting in London on January 26th
  • The Molecular Diagnostics subgroup are also planning for an academic day based around genomic MDT and molecular tumour boards. We hope to hold the day in April 2018 and will update when a date has been confirmed.

Integrated Reporting

  • Following the release of integrated reporting guidelines for cellular pathology from the RCPath, CMPath will organise a workshop to bring together relevant disciplines with the aim of supporting and enabling best practice for integrated reporting. We’re grateful to Dr Stefan Dojcinov for providing expertise in the development of this workshop. More information will follow.