Wednesday, 7 February 2012
Internationally renowned pathologists convene to discuss medical breakthroughs
Pathology Week 2012 (5-11 March) and
Pathology Update „Science and the City‟ (9-11 March)
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) is holding its 11 th
annual
Pathology Update conference at the Sydney Convention Centre in Darling Harbour from 9-11 March.
The week leading up to Pathology Update is Australasia‟s annual Pathology Week where laboratories, pathologists and scientists will open their doors to the community, offering them an opportunity to attend open days, lectures and tours of laboratories.
This year‟s conference, themed „Science and the City‟, will bring together some of the world‟s leading pathologists in nine different disciplines to present the latest in pathology innovations and other cutting-edge discoveries.
President of the RCPA, Professor Yee Khong, says the conference is a much anticipated annual event where the best minds in pathology and medical research meet to share global best practices, talk about the latest in research breakthroughs and discuss ongoing projects in the field.
Renowned international medical experts will also be sharing their knowledge and speaking at the event. Among them is Dr Rossa Chiu, one of the leading figures in the research on non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of foetal aneuploidies such as Down
Syndrome. A University of Queensland graduate, Dr Chiu is currently a Professor of
Department of Chemical Pathology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Other international speakers include Professor Evan Eichler a Professor and Howard
Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in the Department of Genome Sciences at
University of Washington School of Medicine. He will be speaking about the human genome structural variation and its impact on function and disease.
Dr Jennifer Hunt is Chair of Pathology at the University of Arkansas and holds the
Aubrey L. Hough, Jr, MD Endowed Professorship. At the conference, she will be speaking about the ongoing research in the area of oral and anatomical pathology.
Professor CS Lau, Chair of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology and Director of the Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education at the University of Hong
Kong, will talk about the significance of his work in immunopathology.
Other topics of interest being discussed at Pathology Update include tropical bacterial infections, cell and gene therapy, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.

During the Conference, the College will also be awarding the movers and shakers in this profession including trainees, fellows and medical reporters.
Professor Khong says that pathologists are essentially the doctors ‟ doctors who work behind the scenes, performing the most crucial role in medicine.
“In Australia, 11.5 million people (about half of the population) a year have at least one pathology test; this equate to over 500 million pathology tests per year ,”
says Professor Khong.
“All test results provided by pathologists are used by doctors to assist in diagnosing or managing patients‟ health or used for research that leads to medical breakthroughs.
“Without pathology, there simply isn‟t medicine,” says Professor Khong.
A full program of the conference can be found on their website – http://www.rcpa.edu.au/Continuing/PathologyUpdate/PathologyUpdate2012/Regis terProgram.htm
Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia
The RCPA is the leading organisation representing pathologists in Australasia. Its mission is to train and support pathologists and to improve the use of pathology testing to achieve better healthcare.
For more information please visit: http://www.rcpa.edu.au/Continuing/PathologyUpdate/PathologyUpdate2012
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Dr Debra Graves
CEO
– RCPA
0417 218 528 or Jade Heng
S2i Communications
02 9231 2927
0450 533 431