Happy National Cytotechnology Day!

"The first observation of cancer cells in the smear of the uterine cervix was one of the most thrilling experiences of my scientific career." -George Papanicolaou


In 1928, Dr. Papanicolaou published his paper “New Cancer Diagnosis.” It is amazing, isn't it, that 80 years after the publication of Dr. Papanicolaou's first research paper on cervical cytology, we are still diagnosing cervical disease by way of the microscope?

Sure, there have been changes in the field. We have imagers and HPV testing, IHC and FISH. We have automated our staining and coverslipping. We use hoods, wear gloves and keep our specimens out of the lunch fridge. But at the end of our work day, we still rely on one thing above all else - morphology. And that hasn't changed. In fact, I still believe that it will be our morphology skills that will guide our transformation in the future, but maybe that is a discussion for another blog post...

Clearly, there are changes occurring in our field, but can we really expect things to stay the same, especially after 80 years?

This might be an uneasy reality for some, but it may be comforting to know that we are not the only profession in medicine going through a state of change. Pathology as a whole is changing, as the CAP Futurscape workshops address. What we have to remember, as cytotechnologists, is the way we evolve and adapt to our changing environment is under our control, if we work together, stay engaged, and support the societies - like the ASCT - that work to support our needs and goals for the future.

Please know, as you celebrate Dr. Papanicolaou's Birthday and National Cytotechnology Day, that the organization that brought you this celebration is actively engaged and working on behalf of this profession to assure that the future, however it looks, is one in which all of us have a place and can be proud of our contributions to pathology medicine - including Dr. Papanicolau.

Lynnette

PS- If you would like to know more about Dr. Pap, here is a link to a good summary of his life. -L

www.newsfinder.org/site/more/george_papanicolaou

What is the ASCT up to today??

Hi all,

It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know what we have been doing (and why I have been MIA the last couple of weeks).

• I have been busy putting all of the great ideas that were generated at the Executive Board meeting and by our membership at the Annual Meeting into committee charges. Because of all of the suggestions, this has been quite the task! However, I know that by making sure they all get a place in our "action items", we will be sure to have a very productive year.
• Our PR committee, along with a few others, have been working on a very big change for the ASCT... but I am going to keep it a surprise for now. Let's just say it has been keeping us "on the ball"... :)
• We are already thinking of fun ways to celebrate our 30th Anniversary in St. Petersburg next April - we hope you are all there to join us!

I would also like to extend an invitation to everyone to volunteer and be a part of an ASCT committee. My ultimate goal would be to have every region represented on every committee (if you don't know your region, you can find it on www. asct.com). In the following weeks, I will highlight each committee, its role in the ASCT and that committee's projects for the year.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us at info@asct.com

Have a great day!

Lynnette

Dr. DeMay Headlines Day Two of the MSC Meeting

Dr. Demay gave two very good presentations today on body fluids and thyroid FNA. In light of the new NCI Thyroid guidelines, there was much discussion surrounding this topic. More information on the NCI thyroid conference can be found at http://thyroidfna.cancer.gov/

As I mentioned in my last post, there was also discussion surrounding the licensure movement here in Minnesota. The bill was withdrawn from this year's session, so cytotechnologists in MN are now concentrating on how to proceed when the bill is introduced again.

The ASCT realizes that this topic is important to cytotechnologists in many states considering licensure. To that end, we are working on a guideline or "checklist" that our membership can use when faced with licensure issues. We hope to have that document available later in the year.

MSC Spring Meeting Showcases Students

Hi everyone,

I hope all of you who attended this year's Annual Meeting had a great time and returned safely home!

It has been a busy two weeks for me, and I am finally settling back into a routine now that the Annual Meeting had ended.

This weekend the Minnesota Society of Cytology (MSC) and the Wisconsin Society of Cytology (WSC) are hosting their respective spring meetings. I am attending the MSC meeting, and had the opportunity to see some wonderful case presentations given by a recent cytology graduate who is employed at Abbot Northwestern in Minneapolis, and several current students of the Mayo Cytotechnology Program in Rochester. All of these presenters did a fantastic job!

Tomorrow morning, Dr. DeMay will be lecturing on cytopathology of body fluids and thyroid. In the afternoon, Drs. Michael Henry and Amy Clayton will be leading an advanced course on ASCUS/AGUS.

The MSC will also be having a business meeting, during which the issue of our state licensure movement will be addressed. I am hoping to fill all of you in on what is happening here, and what the ASCT is doing to help states in licensure discussions, in future posts. Stay tuned!

What is Candida?

It is the question to the Cytology Jeopardy answer "This fungal organism presents with pseudohyphae and spores"-which seemed to have a mind of its own during our last session of the meeting. We somehow had a technical glitch, and this question just kept popping up at random! Regardless, all of the participants - students and seasoned veterans- had a great time playing cytology trivia in this fun and interactive platform. We will definitely have to think about bringing it back for next year!

We also discussed legislative and current practice issues in the two other sessions of the day. There was a lot of valuable discussion, and I hope everyone came away from these presentations with useful information and a better understanding of the legislative process.

I would like to thank Jill Caudill for a GREAT meeting, Beth Denny for her ever faithful support as Executive Director, all of the vendors who support us and, most importantly, all of the participants that make these meetings such fun and energizing events. My thanks also goes out to Brent Brewerton for his guidance and leadership as President over the last year, and to all of the new and outgoing officers that work so hard to make this organization work for you.

Thanks so much for a wonderful 2008 Annual Conference, and I will see you all in St. Petersburg, FL, next year!

Students, Foundation take center stage on Day Two of the ASCT Annual Conference

Today was another great day at the conference. After the ASCT Services gathering at breakfast this morning, Dr. Ed Cibas gave a presentation on the NCI Thyroid conference, which was followed by our student case presentations and awards banquet. Our new President-Elect, Don Simpson, promises me that he will have pictures to post of these events in the next couple days.

I have always been proud of the way the ASCT supports our cytotechnology students. With the help of the ASCT Foundation, we offer reduced registration rates for this conference and provide the monetary awards for the student case presentations. We will continue to find new ways to support cytotechnology students, with the hope that they in turn support us as members in the future. If you have any great ideas, please let me know!

It has been a long day for me... after a very busy conference a few of us gathered to watch the NCAA Final Four BB games. For those of you who saw my bracket this morning at the opening of the meeting: Memphis won, but UNC lost, which means I am no longer in the running to win my office pool. :( Oh well, there is always next year!

My Inaugural Post

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog and to my first post.

This blog is the brain-child of our new Region 3 Director, Michelle Jacobs. During our ASCT Executive Board Meeting yesterday, we were discussing new and innovative ways to connect with our membership on a more personal level, and Michelle said "You should have a blog!" Although she thought she was kidding, I thought it was a great idea! So, I have spent any free time I have had over the last day creating this blog so I can introduce it tomorrow morning, when I open the second day of our Annual Conference here in Newport, RI.

Right now this blog is still a work in progress, so please bear with me as I refine the content and layout. I have added some links that might be of interest to you, and if there are other links or content you think I should add, please let me know!

It is my intention to try posting an entry everyday, but if that is not feasible, I will commit to posting at least once a week. I will address cytology "news of the day" or issues I think are timely and important. I might also try and share pictures, etc., that are of interest to you (from our meeting this weekend, for example). In addition, I encourage you to post comments on this blog regarding my entries, or on topics and issues for which you would like to have more information. I will do my best to answer and give you feedback. If I can't, I will find someone in our organization who can.

Thank you for your participation and support of the ASCT. I look forward to serving you over the next year and communicating with you on my new blog!