Vol 63 No 1 2023
Page 1
Update from Secretariat
It was good to meet up in person with so many friends and colleagues from around the world at the very successful IAP Congress in Sydney recently. The Secretariat was able to have ‘live’ meetings to discuss the issues around our organization especially as we prepare for important transitions. There were meetings of the vital Committees which are needed to deliver the aims and objectives of the IAP, including the Education, Finance and International Organizing Committees, in advance of the International Council which is the ultimate decision making body of the IAP.
The Sydney Congress marked the completion of involvement with the IAP of both Charles Ramey and Allison Booth as Assistant Secretaries. Their contribution has been immense.
Allison has worked with the IAP since 2018, assisting me here from Manchester, especially in the run up to the Glasgow 2020 meeting and since then at our virtual meetings needed to ensure the safe running of the IAP during the pandemic and beyond. She has been a great support for me and invaluable for successful IAP activity.
Charles started his involvement much earlier as Assistant Secretary to the late David Hardwick in Vancouver since 2006. At the time, the Secretariat under the late Florabel Mullick was based at the AFIP in Washington and it was a monumental task to effect the transfer across the continent. This was done very successfully and Charley as part of his role with David at the University of British Columbia became an integral part of the IAP, developing a great working and professional relationship with Jim Crimmins at USCAP in Jim’s equivalent role as Assistant Treasurer. They were a permanent presence at IAP Congresses and at USCAP meetings as a focal point for Central IAP. When David retired as Secretary in 2014, I took over and we developed a trans-Atlantic working relationship. Charley has helped to make the archives of the IAP, moved from Washington to Vancouver in 2006, into an electronic resource and with the revamping of our website, he has taken the IAP Secretariat to a state that is ‘portable’ and allows the Secretariat to be operated from anywhere around the world. Charley has been a great friend to me personally and to the IAP community and he will be greatly missed.
We wish them both great success in their ongoing roles and activities.
The huge task of replacing them both goes to Sam Kiely who joins us on a part-time basis alongside her role as Administrator with the British Division of the IAP. She has great experience in coordinating Divisional activities and is very familiar with the Central IAP from her involvement in organising the Glasgow 2020 Congress, ultimately delivered virtually. We look forward to working with her. She will interact closely with Stan Shaw, our Communications Coordinator, to ensure the links with our Divisions and Assemblies proceed efficiently in the run up to the next IAP Congress in Cancun in October 2024. In particular, we look forward to working closely with our colleagues in the Mexican Division as they prepare for the exciting prospect of a Latin American-themed Congress
In the meantime, there will be meetings of the Executive Committee at the upcoming USCAP meeting in New Orleans in March 2023. The Education Committee chaired by Ghazi Zaatari has organised exciting Education Symposia with our colleagues in USCAP in New Orleans next March and with the European Society of Pathology at the European Congress of Pathology meeting in Dublin, Ireland in September 2023, which we know will be very attractive to many of our members. In addition we came to promote the various meetings and activities of our very active divisions across the world in the next 2 years.
These are changing times for the IAP but we know with the help and support of our colleagues around the world, our aims to promote pathology education will continue at full speed.
Ray McMahon, Manchester
December 2022