By Karen P. Mann, MD, PhD President e-mail: kmann@emory.edu

Happy New Year all. I am honored to begin my year as President of the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). AMP had an incredibly active and productive year in 2009 and it looks to be equally busy for 2010. I enjoyed learning the presidential ‘ropes’ from Past-President Jan Nowak. He was a thoughtful and effective leader and an excellent mentor. Fortunately he is still active in the Society as Past-President, member of Professional Relations Committee and Economic Affairs Committee. I am looking forward to working with the current Council members, many of whom you will be hearing from in this Newsletter, and the new President-Elect, Tim O’Leary.   

At the Annual Meeting, one of our colleagues made the comment that what brings us all together is the technology. Although my first impulse was to agree, my second thought was that what really characterizes the organization and its membership is that we are all open to change. The surgical pathologists among us are not just looking at H&E stained slides, they are developing and interpreting tests such as KRAS, BRAF, MSI, etc. The hematopathologists have firmly accepted the dicta of the 2008 WHO classification and continue to incorporate an ever-expanding list of molecular abnormalities into our diagnostic categories. The infectious diseases/microbiologists among us are experts at rapidly validating and verifying new tests to detect new infectious agents such as the so-called “Swine flu.” Our geneticists have moved from conventional karyotyping to CGH arrays in diagnosis of inherited disease. The laboratory technologists are learning new platforms and implementing new tests in the clinical laboratory. Our members from industry are developing novel platforms and assays for the rest of us to use.

AMP as an organization also embraces change.  We have continued to grow with an approximately 10% increase in membership each year. Over the past year, our advocacy arm has gotten increasingly active and our Committees have been doing an impressive amount of work (see http://www.amp.org/AboutAMP/2009committeesannualreports.pdf). We have become much more prominent on the national scene and are moving towards increased international membership and recognition. We are now recognized by a number of professional societies and governmental agencies as the ‘go-to’ society for questions about molecular diagnostics. This is a direct result of the hard work of various Committees and the AMP Office Staff (http://www.amp.org/staff.htm).

With these changes there are growing pains and challenges. We are taking on controversial issues, such as signing on as plaintiffs in the gene patent lawsuit. Members bemoan the loss of the small intimate Annual Meetings that characterized the early years of the Association. Our various Committees and volunteer and elected positions are growing both in number and in responsibilities. Communication of all these expanding activities to all of our membership takes time and energy. Our home office has grown, has taken on added responsibilities, and is busier and busier.

That said, I challenge all of you. I challenge you to volunteer and fully participate in AMP. I challenge you to contact your Subdivision Chairs, Committee Representatives, and me with questions, suggestions, and opinions. I challenge you to stay at the forefront of testing and technology. Finally, I challenge you to let us know how we, the elected leadership, are doing. I am looking forward to the challenge of being an effective President of AMP. I have some rather large shoes to fill.