Dear Colleagues:

It is with excitement that I write this letter to announce the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting to be held at the Keltic Lodge at Ingonish on Cape Breton Island from October 14 to 17, 2009.  Although many of the past meetings of the CANP have been held in Halifax, this occasion will be the first to venture forth to a location in Nova Scotia where wind, ocean and craggy terrain fuse to form a landscape of nonpereil beauty.

As with the setting, the program of the symposium for the meeting, under the title of “The Spinal Cord, Muscle, and That to be Dreamed”, represents an integration of related but separate elements.  Dr Jim Fawcett of the Brain Repair Centre, Dalhousie University, will deliver the Olszewski Lecture titled “Understanding Spinal Circuits Involved in Walking.”  This talk will be complemented by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Lecture, “Limb-Girdle and Congenital Muscular Dystrophies: Mechanistic and Diagnostic Considerations,” to be given by Dr Steve Moore of the University of Iowa.  Dr Rob Brownstone, from the Division of Neurosurgery at Dalhousie University, will complete the symposium with a presentation titled “There and Back Again: A Middle Earth View of Using Stem Cells for the Treatment of Neurological Diseases.”

For the Mathieson Invited Member Lecture, I am pleased to announce that Dr Sukriti Nag has accepted the invitation to be this year’s lecturer.  Having devoted a career to studying the blood-brain barrier, and currently into editing the second edition of her acclaimed book on the subject, her presentation, “Molecular Pathogenesis of Blood-Brain Barrier Breakdown in Brain Injury”, promises to go beyond a summary of her work to highlighting some exciting new insights.  

RCPSC Update
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the Royal College held a joint meeting with representatives of the National Specialty Societies to discuss Human Health Resources in Specialty in Medicine on November 14, 2008.  The Royal College has now made available in PDF format a meeting report of the proceedings and presentations booklet under two separate documents, each titled “Specialty Medicine Workforce in Canada: What are the Problems and What are the Solutions?”. These documents can be obtained from the Royal College website by a request to the Publications Division or contacting Ms Aileen Leo, Senior Policy Analyst (her email is aleo@rcpsc.edu).  The next meeting of this consultation group will be in September 2009.

With regard to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, as representatives of the CANP, Rob Macaulay and I were involved in reviewing drafts of the national survey of laboratory physicians, in the form of a questionnaire being distributed and analyzed by QSE Consulting.  It is comprehensive in scope, and seeks not only demographic information, but also data on patterns of work in a variety of laboratory settings, resources for professional development, and issues of quality assurance and introduction of new technologies and methods in diagnostic care.  The involvement of the CANP in this process has ensured the representation of neuropathology in this questionnaire, which has recently been distributed to all laboratory physicians. Participation by all the Canadian CANP members is strongly encouraged, as it will aid in our concerns being registered.

FNSSC
The AGM of the Federation of National Specialty Societies of Canada (FNSSC) was held on November 15, 2008 in Toronto under the presidency of Dr Morris Freeman.  The Federation has recently completed a draft template of a Confidentiality Agreement Form available on its website for use by any specialist entering into joint research or clinical trials with a pharmaceutical company.  In response to requests from member societies and a survey undertaken in 2008, the FNSSC has become increasingly engaged in the field of continuing health education (CHE) for medical specialists.  Consonant with this new strategic plan, a half-day workshop was conducted by Dr Elizabeth A. Lindsay, Consultant and Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, on how a national specialty society can develop and fund a variety of RCPSC accredited programs for its members.  The current trend in CHE is to shift from group learning programs (continuing medical education) to ongoing individual updates of learning (continuing professional development) with associated documentation of learning and measures of outcome effectiveness in patient practice.  

Another issue discussed at the AGM was the need for a mechanism for continued fundraising.  To this purpose, the FNSSC has entered into a sponsored partnership with Sprott Asset Management to create the FNSSC Multi-Manager Fund available for investment by any medical specialist in Canada.  For more information, please go to the FNSSC website (www.fnssc-sprott.com) and enter FNSSC under Account Name, and Sprott for password.  The FNSSC will receive a referral fee based on the net value of the Fund, a portion of the revenue to be shared with a national specialty society providing that the participating society agrees to adhere to specified stipulations, which will be presented for discussion at the CANP Annual Business Meeting.

Other News
I am happy to announce that the CANP donation of the recent edition of Greenfield’s Neuropathology, as agreed upon at the 2007 Annual Business Meeting, has been forwarded to Dr Wayne Moore, for the Dr Ken Berry Neuropathology Reading Room at Vancouver General Hospital.  On behalf of the Association, I wish to thank Dr Roland Auer for facilitating this donation and overseeing the inscription in the books [we hope to include a photograph of its presentation once the Reading Room is officially opened –Editor].

With this commemoration of the memory of Ken Berry, I am reminded of the upcoming Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of the CANP.  In the archives there is a paucity of documentation of the early members of the Association, and of the events and issues in those years.  Thus, at the suggestion of Dr Nag, I invite all members (notably those of a certain vintage) to write a short vignette or more about some of these personages so that these vignettes may be collated for the 2010 Annual Meeting and a selection presented.  No doubt there will be some surprises – I vividly recall at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting during Dr Barry Rewcastle’s historical retrospective the general astonishment over the unannounced appearance of the late Henryk Wisnewski to identify himself with Dr Olszewski in a historical photograph at the Banting Institute.

Best wishes for the summer,

Edward Johnson
CANP President

---

VENUE
The Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting will be held from Thursday October 15th, to Saturday October 17th, 2009 at the Keltic Lodge, Ingonish, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.  The Keltic Lodge boasts one of the foremost golf courses (Highlands Links) in North America, innumerable walking, hiking and climbing venues nearby, and on-site swimming and tennis.  The hotel lies just inside Cape Breton Highlands National Park, on the Cabot Trail; its website is www.kelticlodge.ca.   

REGISTRATION
Registration will commence on Wednesday October 14th from 2000-2200, in conjunction with the President’s Reception.  Registration is $150; non-members and prospective members are most welcome.  The student/retired member registration fee will be $75.

Scientific sessions are scheduled Thursday through Saturday morning; see Dr Johnson’s report for details of the invited speakers.  The symposium on spinal cord, peripheral nerve and skeletal muscle is scheduled for Thursday October 15.  Breakfast will be included in the Meeting registration fee each morning in the rear of the meeting room, so we will hopefully be able to stick to our tight schedule.  

The annual banquet will be held in the spectacular Purple Thistle Dining Room at the Keltic Lodge on Friday October 16; there will be a cocktail reception at 1800 h with dinner at 1900 h.  The cost of banquet tickets is $100 per active member or guest, and $50 for trainees and retired members.

RESERVATION PROCEDURE
The toll free number for the Keltic Lodge is (800) 565-0444 or local (902) 285-2880.  Please identify yourself as attending the CANP meeting to enjoy our special rates of $155 per night for a single person and $175 per night for double occupancy.  There is also an Executive Hospitality Cottage for those members who wish to share a more private facility, at $499 per night.  Please note that a mandatory daily fee for the Cape Breton Highlands National Park of $6.80 per person will be added to the hotel bill. Reservations may also be made by email (keltic@keltic.lodge.ca) or Fax (902-285-2859). Please do not book through the website, as you will not receive the preferred rate (and the CANP will not be credited with your stay).

TRANSPORTATION

Air Travel
The Keltic Lodge is in Ingonish, 2 hours north of the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia; several flights arrive each day from Halifax, which is an international airport with US Customs facilities.  To facilitate air travel, the CANP will provide free shuttle service from the Sydney airport to the hotel on Wednesday October 14 for attendees; buses will depart at about 12 noon and at 1900 h. A charge of $25.00 will be applied to accompanying individuals.  A direct flight from Toronto arrives after midnight and will also be met by a shuttle, if there is sufficient interest.  A shuttle will also be provided from the hotel to the airport on Saturday October 17 at about 1300 h, and also if necessary on Sunday October 18.  Because the group transportation must be pre-arranged, it will be necessary to inform the Secretary-Treasurer of flight bookings.  Thus, anyone requiring shuttle transportation from the Sydney airport to the Keltic Lodge must inform Dr Macaulay at her/his earliest convenience of their itinerary and numbers of travellers.  The shuttle drivers will have the list of expected passengers and will modify their schedules if necessary.  The deadline for pre-arranging shuttle transportation is August 15, 2009

Ground Transportation
For members who wish to fly to Halifax, rent a car and drive directly to Cape Breton Island, the approximate driving time is 4 to 5 hours northeast from Halifax. Because the hotel lies within the National Park there is a per-person (or per family) entrance fee; a family of 4 would enjoy a cost savings by paying the family rate ($20/day) rather than having the per diem rate added to the hotel bill.  Car rentals are also available from Sydney Airport.

LOCAL CO-ORDINATORS
Rob Macaulay: robert.macaulay@cdha.nshealth.ca
Alex Easton: alexander.easton@cdha.nshealth.ca

A pre-conference bicycle tour of the Cabot trail is also being planned; anyone interested is referred to:

Freewheeling Adventures
Extraordinary Active Holidays
www.freewheeling.ca
adventure@freewheeling.ca
tel: 902-857-3600

ABSTRACT AND CASE SUBMISSION
Please see the enclosed instructions for submissions, which must be in electronic format; send to:  robert.macaulay@cdha.nshealth.ca.

Once your submission(s) has been received it will be acknowledged by return email.  Disk submission is acceptable but email is preferable.  We welcome submission of material from non-members, subject to acceptance.  Only presentation-style submissions will be considered; there is no poster session.

DIGITAL IMAGES OF SUBMISSIONS
Each unknown case should be accompanied by representative digital images.  Our archivist, Rob Hammond, is compiling them in a teaching file/historical file/atlas for members and residents.  Please email to: robert.macaulay@cdha.nshealth.ca.

ANNUAL DUES:
Thanks to all those who paid annual dues of $200 promptly, especially to our American members who had to battle wildly fluctuating exchange rates.  Accompanying this communication is a receipt for 2009 dues. For those who have yet to return their dues payment, a second notice is enclosed.  Remember that members who remain in arrears for two years or more are subject to suspension from the Association for non-payment.  

CAP SECTION OF NEUROPATHOLOGY
Dr John Maguire will Chair a Symposium on Brain Tumours at the upcoming meeting of the Canadian Association of Pathologists in Ottawa (website www.cap-acp.org) Other topics include suprasellar lesions and forensic neuropathology; CANP members John Maguire, Rob Macaulay, Roland Auer and Cynthia Hawkins are among the scheduled speakers.  

RCPSC NEUROPATHOLOGY SPECIALTY COMMITTEE UPDATE : Dr. Marc Del Bigio
The nucleus committee, examination committee, and some of the program directors had a meeting in Ottawa at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons headquarters on May 19 2009. Considerable time was spent updating and reconciling the Royal College Neuropathology training documents.

The new Director of the Office of Education Dr. Kenneth A. Harris and the Associate Director, Dr. Jason Frank were in attendance to offer constructive input about some of the outcome assessments. Dr. Frank also provided a summary of the 2009 "FINAL REPORT of the CORE COMPETENCY PROJECT ".

Of note, the report recommends "That the Royal College reject calls to impose a “trunk and branch” system on the disciplines recognized by the RCPSC." This means that future pressure forcing Neuropathology to be a subdiscipline under Anatomical Pathology is unlikely.

In addition, Kiri Campbell, assistant to the CEO Dr. Padmos, provided a summary of the current project of the Ad-Hoc Review Committee on Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (see Dr Johnson’s letter for further details).  By the time of this communication all members of the CANP should have received an invitation to complete the survey.

The availability of the officials and administrative support of the RCPSC made the meeting very productive.

The next meeting will be held in conjunction with the CANP meeting in Cape Breton, October 16 2009.
 

NEXT NEWSLETTER
If there are any items for inclusion in the Summer Newsletter, please send these items by August 15th, 2009 to:

Dr Rob Macaulay
Mackenzie Building Room 738
QEII Health Sciences Centre
5788 University Avenue
Halifax, NS
Canada
B3H 1V8

or by email to:
robert.macaulay@cdha.nshealth.ca.

Enclosures:

1.    Instruction sheet for submission of Abstract or Case Summary (see reverse)
2.    Copyright transfer agreement for publication of abstract in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences
3.    Sample layouts for Case Submissions and Scientific Papers.
4.    Receipt for 2009 dues (if paid), or
5.    Second 2009 dues notice (for those who had not submitted as of the date of mailing).