How CAP Members Met the Recess Rally Call

Nick Lanyi
0:02

How CAP members stepped up last month to advocate for pathology, a major new research grant opportunity from the CAP Foundation, and why one of the CAP's new proficiency tests focuses on tropical fevers. These stories and more are coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nick Lanyi. It's Tuesday, September 1st. The CAP asked members to step up their advocacy efforts in August, and they answered the call. More than 500 members took action, sending more than 2,000 messages and reaching at least 340 members of Congress during the congressional recess when members focus more on their constituents back home. These demonstrations of grassroots strength are essential to the profession's advocacy efforts on a range of issues, from improving coverage to strengthening the workforce. Well done! Testing for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2, is standard for treating breast and gastric cancer. HER2 tests may also be useful in treating other cancers, but standardized protocols are mostly lacking. That's why the CAP Foundation is offering funding for up to $120,000 to support quantitative research to optimize and validate HER2 assay use for solid tumors beyond breast and gastric cancer. Three priority targets are colorectal cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. The award is directed at CAP members who are early in their careers, those in practice for one to five years. And to further support development of early career doctors, the Foundation strongly encourages including one or more trainees as co-investigators or active participants in the project. Applications will be accepted starting September 8th. For more information, go to the CAP Foundation website. When someone who recently traveled abroad develops a high fever, doctors suspect a tropical disease. But which one?

Dr. Jana Broadhurst
2:28

We're talking about malaria and dengue and chikungunya and leptospira.

Nick Lanyi
2:33

That's Dr. Jana Broadhurst, a member of the CAP Microbiology Committee and associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she directs the Emerging Pathogens Laboratory. Tropical disease tests used to require clinical laboratories to send samples to larger labs for analysis. But a new test introduced in recent years, the so-called Tropical Fever Panel, allows even a small clinical lab to diagnose such diseases itself quickly and accurately.

Dr. Jana Broadhurst
3:04

And that created a challenge now, as this tool was pretty rapidly adopted by many clinical laboratories across the country, in how to perform appropriate proficiency testing now that we've introduced this new methodology.

Nick Lanyi
3:24

That's why the CAP developed a new proficiency test for tropical fever panel. It's a one-stop test that allows labs to see how their use of the panel stacks up to the industry standard.

Dr. Jana Broadhurst
3:34

The proficiency testing panel is uh is filling a major gap in our you know ability to effectively create appropriate challenge panels for molecular testing across these pathogens.

Nick Lanyi
3:51

The new proficiency test is now available for order for 2027 delivery on the CAP website. And finally, the first of the CAP's new member-only quarterly briefings is scheduled for tomorrow, September 2nd at noon Central Time. CAP President Jim Zhai will provide an update on key opportunities and challenges the profession faces today. The session will include a live Q&A. Register at the CAP website. That's all for today. See the show notes for more information on today's stories. And if you enjoyed this episode, spread the word on social media. We'll be back Wednesday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nick Lanyi. Have a wonderful day.