PUBLICATIONS

ASIP 2022 in Review

By William B. Coleman, PhD, ASIP Executive Officer

2022 brought us a new normal—living with COVID-19. The pandemic wasn’t exactly over, but many/most of us (with vaccinations and boosters) moved to regain some semblance of pre-pandemic normality. While there are numerous pandemic-related changes to work and life that remain (like part-time or full-time remote work), other aspects of work and life shifted resulting in many people returning “to the office.” There is little question that there are ongoing COVID-19-related personal and professional challenges for individuals and institutions, and this is likely to continue for years to come. Nevertheless, we relish all things big and small that reflect our sense of normalcy. As 2022 comes to an end, we all share the hope that the coming year will be better still than the last and that the ever-evolving new normal will eventually begin to feel more familiar and comfortable.

2022 was a busy year for the ASIP! The Council and various Committees worked hard to maintain momentum with many successful projects and programs, and a number of new initiatives were implemented. We successfully returned to an in-person Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2022 in Philadelphia, PA. While we were sad that 2022 was the last of the Experimental Biology meetings, we enthusiastically look forward to the 2023 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City (October, 2023), to be held in conjunction with The Histochemical Society and the American Society for Matrix Biology. The Program Committee has spent the whole year working on the scientific program for this new meeting, with special contributions from the Education Committee, the Committee for Career Development, and several of our Scientific Interest Groups.

In early Fall 2022, we held the second annual PISA Young Investigator Virtual Meeting. This year’s event was organized by a committee composed entirely of trainee members, and was a huge success. In October 2022, we held the inaugural ASIP Leadership Academy in Rockville, MD. The event was attended by 18 young investigators (postdoctoral fellows or junior faculty members), supported by a faculty composed of more senior members of the Society plus staff and professional consultants. The event was a tremendous success and we look forward to future offerings of this sort. We maintained a robust group of virtual event offerings, including webinars, the Trainee Virtual Hangout networking events, sessions organized by several Scientific Interest Groups, Women in Pathology networking sessions, and continued the Young Investigator Keynote Seminar Series to highlight the research of our trainee members.

In addition, we initiated the AJP Featured Author Seminar Series to highlight member publications in The American Journal of Pathology. We added new Scientific Interest Groups this year to expand the scientific disciplines of interest to our members, and we look forward to upcoming virtual and in-person events organized by these groups. The Summer Research Opportunity in Pathology Program (SROPP) was continued in expanded form for the second year, supporting for 20 undergraduate students, many of them working in laboratories that had not previously participated in this program.

We were proud to see the impact factor of both The American Journal of Pathology and The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics increased substantially in 2022. Social media outreach included features based upon ASIP members publishing in The American Journal of Pathology and curated collections of papers published in The American Journal of Pathology. The ASIP Ambassadors continue to assist in the recruitment and retention of members in all categories. Successful membership outreach campaigns produced strong results and the Society gained >200 new, first-time members in 2022.

We look forward to 2023 and the many opportunities that the Society will provide for members at all stages of career through our initiatives, programs, virtual events, in-person meetings, and scientific journals. We look forward to engaging our newer members (as well as established members) in Society service through our standing Committees, Ambassadors, and Scientific Interest Groups.

Thanks so much for your past, current, and future support of and service to the ASIP. Happy New Year!