November 11, 2026
HER2 Testing And Clinical Decision Making In GEA – CAP
Beyond The Microscope: Should Early-Career Pathologists Step Into Operations? – CAP
The Surprising Reason Women in Academia Do More Parenting Than Men | Nature
Transcript
Elizabeth McMahon
Coming up, putting into practice the updated gastroesophageal cancer testing guideline, the experts on advances and the latest recommendations. Plus, staffing, billing, administration. Why digging into lab operations is good for your professional development. Welcome to CAP News for Wednesday, November 11th. I'm Elizabeth McMahon of the College of American Pathologists. Here's what's making news in pathology and laboratory medicine. Today, the nation pauses to honor its military veterans for their service and sacrifice. The CAP salutes veterans and also celebrates its members on International Pathology Day. An engaged, diverse membership is what makes the CAP community a valued professional home for CAP Governor Dr. Kisha Mitchell Richards.
Dr. Kisha Mitchell Richards
The CAP is the pathologist. It's not a niche group, it's not like a little sect. And that's what I love, right? I think we embody we are inherently, regardless of how people don't like the word anymore, we are inherently diverse in practice settings, in age groups, and genders, in all of these spheres that speak to who we are as pathologists.
Elizabeth McMahon
The CAP today is celebrating membership appreciation with messages and highlights on LinkedIn and other social media. As a token of thanks, all CAP education resources, including publications, are 20% off with the code thank you 20. How does the CAP's newly updated testing guideline for advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma or GEA affect practice and treatment? In a new CAPCAST, Dr. Kathy Strutker and Dr. Kelsey McHugh of the CAP Guidelines Committee discuss the testing recommendations for HER2 positive GEA and how they help clinicians with targeted treatment decisions. Dr. Strutker says HER2 testing has changed the landscape for patients with this cancer.
Dr. Kathy Strutker
With the advent of HER2 testing and targeted therapy, patients have had access to Utrestuzumab and related medications, which have improved outcomes significantly. And for some patients, has resulted in complete response. Now, as even more therapies are developed, patients have access to an increasing variety of first, second, and third line therapies. This has very much changed how oncologists approach treatment. It must be very complicated for them because now they have to take into account all the other biomarkers and targeted therapies that are available for upper GI cancers.
Elizabeth McMahon
The discussion includes considerations for labs to ensure their HER2 status results are accurate, including selecting the best tissue quality. Dr. McHugh emphasizes that repeat testing is important.
Dr. Kelsey McHugh
Even for patients who were initially HER2 positive prior to therapy and disease progression, repeat testing of relapsed or recurrent tumor tissue is now becoming important for targeted therapy selection. For these reasons, this repeat testing should be considered in all patients experiencing disease progression.
Elizabeth McMahon
The 2026 guideline update is in the October issue of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Pathologists stepping into their first jobs may envision digging into diagnostics and building their skill set, but all too often, day-to-day operations, administration, staffing, billing, can be unwelcome and unfamiliar distractions from practice. A recent article by Dr. Katrina Collins of the CAP New and Practice Committee says understanding lab operations is an important part of professional development and the path to leadership. Pathologists interested in learning more about operations should tell their leaders early and seek mentorship, Dr. Collins writes. Quote, the microscope remains central to our identity, but the future of pathology will also be shaped in conference rooms, budget meetings, and workflow redesign sessions. The question is not whether early career pathologists are ready to be part of those conversations. The question is whether leadership is ready to invite them in. And finally, are flexible work policies in academia making life easier for parents? Not if you're a woman, according to research on parenting in academia. The journal Nature explores some of the recent findings, including a Carnegie Mellon University survey of more than 10,000 academics with academic or non academic partners at universities and research institutions. They found that women in academia were more likely to be the lead parent doing more work even when they took a secondary or satellite role. While women used flexible work policies to take on more parenting, men in academic couples used those same policies to justify why they didn't do as much parenting. A separate survey of female academics in the UK reported that flexible work policies made it harder for women to progress in their careers after having children. That's all for today. Be sure to check the show notes for more information on today's stories. Got a story you'd like to hear on the podcast? Write to us at stories at CAP.org. We're back at 5 AM Eastern for another episode of CAP News. I'm Elizabeth McMahon. Have a great day.