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