Newsletters

We wanted to let you know about several new Genitourinary Pathology Society (GUPS) developments since the USCAP Annual Meeting 2019, when your new Executive Committee was established and started its work.

GUPS is growing!
Our membership has reached 304 active members from more than 30 countries, who have officially registered at our website: https://gupathsociety.org/since February 2019. We have reached 695 followers on Twitter (@GU_Path_Society) and 232 followers on Instagram (gu_path_society) – thanks for following us! Please also let your colleagues – pathologists, but also urologists and oncologists know about the GUPS and encourage your trainees (residents and fellows) with interest in GU path to join the GUPS – the membership is free for the trainees! New members can join through the ‘Join us’ link on our website: https://gups.wildapricot.org/Join-us

New GUPS Committees formed
In addition to the GUPS Executive Committee, GUPS has now 13 separate committees:

1. Membership and Diversity Committee (Chair: Rajal Shah)
2. Education/Program Committee (Chair: Eva Comperat)
3. Finance Committee (Chair: Jennifer Gordetsky)
4. Website/Social Media Committee (Chair: Samson Fine)
5. Research/Translational Research Committee (Chair: Angelo DeMarzo)
6. Standing Bylaws Committee (Chair: John Cheville)
7. Awards Committee (Chair: Ferran Algaba)
8. Nominating Committee (Chair: Cristina Magi-Galluzzi)
9. Community/Private Practice Committee (Chair: Ankur Sangoi)
10. Strategic Planning Committee (Chair: Jonathan Epstein)
11. International Outreach Committee (Chair: Ondrej Hes)
12. Digital Imaging (Informatics/AI) Committee (Chair: Anil Parwani)
13. Mentorship Committee (Chair: Michelle Hirsch)

The GUPS committees have broad and diverse international participation and now include 62 GUPS members from 16 countries – representing all continents! Based on our bylaws, the term of the committee chairs and the committee members is two years.

A member may serve on no more than two committees at any given time and may be a chair of only one committee at a time. The committees have already started to plan their activities, aiming to develop their top priority tasks during their mandate. We look forward to our members who are not currently on committees taking an active role in the society as we continue to develop new initiatives relevant to our society.

Case of the Week

The “Case of the Week” is posted every Monday on our website https://gupathsociety.org/. From February 18 to July 1, 2019, we have posted 20 highly educational GU path cases contributed by our members. Do not miss the opportunity to learn from these cases – or to contribute and share your own unique case with your GU path and other colleagues. For more info and submission template please email Dr. Fadi Brimo, the editor of the “Case of the Week” at: fadi.brimo@mcgill.ca

GUPS Grading Initiative on Prostate Cancer

In January 2019, the members of the GUPS Founding Committee discussed and initiated a project to address the open and unresolved questions in prostate cancer grading and reporting. The prostate cancer grading initiative was further developed by a planning committee and 8 working groups were assembled from the GUPS members, with broad international representation. Each working group will have a task to address specific “open” questions, relevant to prostate cancer grading, based on the contemporary literature and the current practice standards. They will aim to develop specific recommendations that will be summarized in a GUPS position paper on this topic. The work on this project has already started and, as part of this project, GUPS members will receive a survey in the next few weeks, which will be an important part of the project. GUPS members who participate in the survey will be acknowledged in the final publication. We thank you in advance for your support and participation! Please note that no formal meeting is planned for this project.

New ideas and suggestions

This is our society – we always appreciate your new ideas to make this truly a meaningful society for our discipline. Please feel free to e-mail or approach us individually or collectively at any time. We are counting on your input, interest and participation!

We wish you a wonderful summer – and thank you all for your support, promotion, and contribution to our growing society – GUPS!

With best wishes,
Kiril Trpkov
President, Genitourinary Pathology Society

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a successful start of the 2020!

At the beginning of the year we would like to share with you the news about the plans and the activities of the Genitourinary Pathology Society (GUPS) in 2020.

GUPS White Paper on Contemporary Grading of Prostate Cancer

We are looking forward to the publication of a landmark GUPS ‘position’ paper with recommendations on the open and unresolved questions in prostate cancer grading and reporting. This major effort included participation of 211 GUPS pathology members in an online survey, followed by a work of 8 international groups of GU pathologists, who integrated the survey results with a critical review of the literature to formulate the GUPS recommendations on prostate cancer grading.

A second manuscript based on a broad international survey of 371 clinicians is also in preparation. We hope that this manuscript, which will be based on the results of the clinical survey and input from clinicians, will provide a unique perspective and address the spectrum of open questions in prostate cancer grading to improve our reporting and communication with clinicians.

We thank everybody who participated in these major undertakings and we hope that these papers, when published, will help in improving prostate cancer grading and reporting internationally.

GUPS Companion Meeting at the USCAP 2020

We are happy to announce the second GUPS Companion Meeting, organized by the GUPS Educational Committee, chaired by Dr. Eva Comperat, which will be held at the USCAP Annual Meeting 2020. The meeting entitled “GUPS 20/20 – a Clear Vision on Important GU Path Topics in 2020” will take place on March 01, 20201:30 – 5:00 PM (PST), in the Los Angeles (LA) Convention Center, Room 502A. The exciting program will include participation of several GU pathology superstars, but also of some younger and emerging GU stars. You can find the whole program on our website at: https://www.gupathsociety.org/event-3664696

If you plan to attend the USCAP 2020, do not miss the opportunity to attend our second GUPS Companion Meeting, which we expect will continue the success of the first GUPS Companion Meeting 2019. The link to the presentations from the GUPS
Companion Meeting 2019 can be found at: https://www.gupathsociety.org/event 3141593

GUPS Reception at the USCAP

We will have a GUPS reception that will be held at the JW Marriott (Platinum 1) – next to the LA Convention Centre on March 01,5:30 – 7:30 PM (PST), immediately after the GUPS Companion and Business meetings! We invite you to join us for this first GUPS social ‘get together’ at the USCAP!

GUPS Committee updates

Several of the GUPS committees formed in 2019 have already started with important initiatives and projects.

The highlights:
• The Finance Committee chaired by Dr. Jennifer Gordetsky has worked diligently to put together an application for a “tax exempt” status for the GUPS. The application is now submitted, and we anticipate that we will soon announce a successful completion of this process.

• The International Outreach Committee chaired by Dr. Ondrej Hes will organize two educational courses in 2020 that will be co-sponsored by the GUPS. The first will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 17-18, 2020. The second educational event (continuing the successful tradition of the “Kidney Tumor Friends“ meetings) will take place in Pilsen, Czech Republic, October 9-10, 2020. Several leading GUPS members will participate as faculty in these meetings. The programs and the websites for these meetings will be posted on the GUPS website soon and additional information and details will be included in our subsequent newsletters.

• The Membership Committee chaired by Dr. Rajal Shah has worked tirelessly on growing GUPS and we are happy to report that we have now essentially doubled the membership since the USCAP 2019 meeting! We would also like to congratulate our GU colleagues in China and India who, inspired by the formation of GUPS, have established their own national GU path societies, to create a closer network of GU pathologists in their countries!

• The Awards Committee, chaired by Fernando Algaba will select two uro pathology abstracts, submitted by a trainee to the USCAP meeting, to receive a GUPS Excellence in Research Award. The winners will be announced at the GUPS Business Meeting, at the USCAP 2020.

• The Mentorship Committee, chaired by Dr. Michelle Hirsch, is developing a GUPS mentorship program, aiming to assist younger and mid-career GUPS members in their careers.

We hope to announce several important GUPS initiatives and projects soon. Stay tuned!

GUPS Case of the Week

A new GUPS “Case of the Week” is posted every Monday on the GUPS website. These highly educational GU path cases are contributed by our members. Do not miss the opportunity to learn from these cases. The “GUPS Case of the Week” has been masterfully edited by Dr. Fadi Brimo. Starting with 2020, all GUPS members will also receive a monthly e-mail with the links of all new cases published on our website during the preceding month. To contribute and share your own unique case with all the GU path colleagues around the world contact Fadi at: fadi.brimo@mcgill.ca

GUPS Educational Offerings – In the Works

We are working to bring some unique educational tools to our members in 2020. One project consists of developing a virtual slide database, containing prostate needle biopsies graded by an expert. This project aims to help with training and improving prostate cancer grading in the GU path community.

We are also compiling a list of institutions who offer fellowships in GU pathology, training opportunities in GU path for international trainees, as well as job opportunities in GU pathology. If you’d like your program to be included and listed on the GUPS website, or if you have a GU pathology job posting – please contact our secretary, Dr. Rajal Shah (Rajal.Shah@UTSouthwestern.edu)

GUPS on Twitter and Instagram

GUPS Social Media and Website Committee, chaired by Dr. Samson Fine, has done a great job in connecting our members and our wider GU community together. You can follow our updates on Twitter (@GU_Path_Society) and on Instagram (#gu_path_society) – thanks for following us!

GUPS Membership and Membership Renewal

Thanks to all who have joined the GUPS in 2019 and helped with its growth. We offer 1-year and 3-year memberships (with reduced fee) for GUPS regular and associate members. There are also additional discounts for our members from low-middle income countries. Our membership fees are very reasonable and allow support for the activities of our society.

We would also like to remind all our members who opted for 1-year membership in 2019, to visit the GUPS website and to renew their membership for 2020. You can access your profile and edit your membership information, for example, if you have changed your contact email address. Follow the link ‘Join us’ on our website: https://gups.wildapricot.org/Join-us

Please also let your colleagues – pathologists, but also urologists and oncologists know about our society and encourage your trainees (residents and fellows) with interest in GU path to join the GUPS – the membership is free for the trainees!

Input from GUPS members welcome!

The members of the Executive Committee have held monthly teleconferences (and have had hundreds of e-mails, numerous phone, Skype, and WhatsApp calls!) to shape and move the GUPS agenda forward! Please join me in thanking them for all their hard work and commitment during the first year of the GUPS existence, and to make 2020 another great year for the GUPS!

We sincerely appreciate new ideas to further shape GUPS into a society that makes a difference in our discipline – feel free to e-mail or contact us at any time. We are counting on your input and participation!

Thank you all for your support and ongoing contribution to our society – GUPS! With best wishes,
Kiril Trpkov
President, Genitourinary Pathology Society

Last time we communicated with you in January 2020, the GUPS newsletter had a subtitle “looking forward to 2020!”. No one could have predicted what would happen in these few short months, now behind us, and how the world we knew would change owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. We have rediscovered that we are all in this together and we belong to one global community, with ties that bind us, regardless of the “physical distancing” and physical distances. Many of you as pathologists and lab physicians have been on the pandemic frontlines around the world – organizing and performing testing, doing autopsies on Covid-19 patients and research, teaching residents and students using “new digital tools”, volunteering on the wards, educating the public, while doing your daily work. And all of us have quickly learned that we must adapt and adjust to the new “normal”!

At the beginning of the summer 2020, we’d like to share with you some GUPS-related news about things that have happened in these few months or will happen in the months ahead.

GUPS White Paper on Contemporary Grading of Prostate Cancer published

The GUPS ‘position’ paper with recommendations on prostate cancer grading and reporting has been published online in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine:https://www.archivesofpathology.org/doi/pdf/10.5858/arpa.2020-0015-RAThis project included participation of many of the GUPS pathology members through an online survey, followed by a work of 8 groups of GU pathologists, who integrated the survey results and performed a critical review of the literature to formulate the GUPS recommendations on prostate cancer grading. A second manuscript based on an international survey of clinicians has been completed and is currently under review.

We thank everybody who participated in these GUPS projects and we hope that these studies will help improve prostate cancer grading and reporting internationally, as well as identify areas where more work is needed.

GUPS Companion Meeting and Annual General Meeting at the USCAP 2020

The second GUPS Companion Meeting took place at the USCAP Annual Meeting 2020, on March 1and it was very well attended. In hindsight, it was almost a miracle that the USCAP and our Companion meeting took place this year, just before the beginning of the pandemic in North America. You can find the program and the linked PDF documents of the excellent presentations from this meeting on our website: https://www.gupathsociety.org/event-3664696The GUPS Annual General Meeting followed the companion meeting.

Finally, our first official reception was held immediately afterwards and represented the first GUPS social ‘get together’! The reception room was packed, and the atmosphere was great – thanks to all who attended!

USCAP 2021 going virtual!

Most recently we learned that the USCAP Annual Meeting in 2021 will be going virtual due to the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, including travel restrictions, primarily to protect the health and safety of its faculty, attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, staff and volunteers. We are also adjusting our plans for the GUPS companion meeting next year and are in contact with the USCAP. We hope that we will be able to organize our first virtual Companion meeting during the USCAP 2021!

GUPS co-sponsored meetings postponed

Unfortunately, the two educational events for 2020 co-sponsored by the GUPS and put together by the International Outreach Committee (chaired by Dr. Ondrej Hes) had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These events were supposed to take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, in April 2020 and Pilsen, Czech Republic, October 2020 (known as “Kidney Tumor Friends“). We will keep you informed if these meetings take place either as physical or virtual meetings in 2021.

GUPS application approved for “tax exempt” status

Thanks to the work of the Finance Committee (chaired by Dr. Jennifer Gordetsky) GUPS application has been approved for a “tax exempt” status in the US (where it is registered).The GUPS has been classified as a Public Charity 509 (a) (2) by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and as such it is exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 501 (c) (3). This means that GUPS can receive charitable donations, and donors (in the US) can deduct contributions they make to the GUPS under IRS Code 170. Our organization is also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devices, transfers or gifts under Sections 2055, 2106, or 2522.You can now support GUPS’ mission by donating.

Case of the Week

Case of the Week series represents a platform to share your educational GU path cases and has proved very popular. A new case is posted every week on our site (https://www.gupathsociety.org/COW-2020-25) with announcement on Twitter; in
addition, a monthly email is sent to all GUPS members with links to the cases published the previous month. All published cases so far are available on the website. The editors of the COW, Dr. Francesca Khani and Dr. Farshid Siadat have updated the submission page (https://www.gupathsociety.org/Submit). We welcome and encourage submission of these cases – these also count as electronic publications on your CV!

Literature watch and news

We have introduced this new feature earlier this year on our
website:https://www.gupathsociety.org/Literature-2020-Q2Drs.Sounak Gupta and Rohit Mehra provide each quarter a selection of the most relevant GU path papers that are just published, so you can keep abreast and not miss the new and important papers in GU pathology.

GUPS online educational offerings – coming up soon!

In order to create online educational offerings GUPS has initiated a collaboration with the PathPresenter, a web-based service with a mission to connect pathologists, clinicians and researchers to share medical data and build educational and other digital tools. GUPS has put together an editorial team, chaired by Drs. Anil Parwani and Rajal Shah to develop “high-yield GU path” content through an educational ‘virtual’ slide database. We are also working to create a virtual collection of prostate cancer slides to improve grading of prostate cancer.

GUPS compiled a list of GU path fellowships and training opportunities

We recently contacted you asking you to provide information if your institution offers GU path fellowships and training opportunities. Thanks to all who responded – very soon these will be posted on our website! This will be a unique resource for all those looking for GU path training opportunities. For those who may have missed the survey – if you’d like your program to be listed, please immediately contact our secretary Dr. Raj Shah (Rajal.Shah@UTSouthwestern.edu)

Reach out to us

As we continue to work and adjust to the “new normal” – please feel free to reach out to me or any of the Executive Committee members with comments, questions and ideas, or simply if you’d like to get involved in GUPS. Your input and engagement will help to shape GUPS so that we can all benefit from it!

Stay well and safe – and have a wonderful summer,
Kiril Trpkov
President, Genitourinary Pathology Society

Will be updated shortly..