May 21, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

The leaders of ASCP and CAP met recently to discuss ways we can collaborate, and we reaffirmed our commitment to working together on critical challenges and opportunities that face our specialty.

The specialty of pathology is moving fast—along with the rest of medicine—and in many new directions. Personalized medicine, integrated diagnostics and molecular medicine present tremendous challenges but also great opportunities to transform the future of pathology and to ensure our members have all the tools they need to be successful.

Diversity in organizations and in specialties of medicine are just as important as diversity in our workplace or our nation. However, when those outside of our medical specialty place us in precarious positions it is important that we come together for the challenge.

Throughout our history, the officers of CAP and ASCP have met to discuss areas of common agreement and areas where we have differences. We recognize that our interests may not always align, and that different organizations serve different needs. But we also recognize that there is a significant amount of work to do and we will be more successful if we work together toward a common goal and do all we can to minimize conflicts. We are all pathologists, and we are all working to improve laboratory quality and patient care.

Our two organizations continue to work closely together on the issues of maintenance of certification, shortage of laboratory workers and making ourselves heard on the issue of pathology training. The ASCP and CAP will always join hands when we must confront those who would attempt to minimize our value and contributions to patient care.