Abusy high school English teacher, young wife and mother of two, Nora Bowers’ focus was on serv- ing others — admittedly even at the expense of her own health. However, after suffering from hay fever for a week in summer 1999, Bowers was driven to her family physician for relief. What she received was a wake-up call.
Unrelated to the symptoms she was experiencing, Bowers’ physician recommended a Pap test because it had been
more than five years since her previous one. After a series
of abnormal test results and an invasive biopsy analyzed by
a pathologist, Bowers was diagnosed with cervical cancer —
fortunately caught in time for treatment and a full recovery.
“So much of what I learned about cervical cancer came
from the Internet, partly because I was intimidated by my
doctors and believed they knew everything while doubting
myself,” says Bowers, 40, of Grayslake, Ill. “I wish I had spo-
ken with a pathologist to have a better understanding of my
situation. I don’t believe it would have changed the outcome
[hysterectomy], but I would have felt less like a bystander
and more of a participant in my health.”
As such, Bowers’ attitude toward individuals’ ownership
of their health — and the pathology specialty — has been
transformed.
“My anonymous pathologist didn’t diagnose a specimen,
they diagnosed a person — a wife, a mother — and saved my
life,” Bowers says. “I look at all of the pathologists I meet
now as my heroes.”
However, the majority of patients in the United States
are unaware of the vital role pathologists play, and not all
physicians agree with pathologists becoming more involved
in patient care. Increasing visibility and value are among the
significant challenges facing pathology, and in 2008 inspired
the College of American Pathologists to invest millions into a
multi-year campaign to “transform the specialty.”
“This is about helping members achieve greater recogni-
tion by their clinical colleagues, patients and others in the
medical community as critical members of the patient care
team, as well as assisting members to pursue new roles in
the workplace and be leaders in changing health care delivery
and reimbursement models,” says Charles Roussel, CEO of
the Northfield, Ill.-based CAP, the world’s largest association
composed exclusively of pathologists.
The Case for Change
In 2008, then-CAP President Jared N. Schwartz, M.D.,
FCAP, deemed the specialty at a crossroads because of
increased competition, rapid technological advances such
as genetics and molecular medicine, significant health care
reform and the need to ensure pathologists are part of the
core patient care team, not just behind the microscope,
driven by trends toward multidisciplinary collaborative care
teams.
When Roussel became CEO of CAP in 2008, one of his
primary goals was to advance the transformation effort. Thus,
the Transformation Program Office was formed in August
2009 to integrate transformation-related activities — strategy, research and communications — across the college,
which receives direction from the Transformation Program
Office Steering Committee, uniquely comprised of members
and staff as equal committee members. Research is being
driven by the Transformation Program Office in four key
areas: supply and demand, future services and roles, practice
and service models, and emerging technologies. CAP is about
nine months into this two-year effort involving more than 90
staff and members.
