2020 CAP Distinguished Service Award

This award, established in 1965 (and amended in 2006), recognizes episodic, sustained, or cumulative contributions to the practice of pathology and to the College of American Pathologists that are sufficiently notable and extraordinary to set the nominee apart from peers. Nominees must be CAP members.

The College of American Pathologists presents Christina A. Arnold, MD, FCAP, with the 2020 CAP Distinguished Service Award to recognize her dynamic and extraordinary contributions to pathology and the CAP by planning and promoting, as well as recruiting and presenting for, the CAP’s Virtual Lecture Series. The program was created and launched in four days during the time the COVID-19 outbreak hit hardest.

Because the nation’s response to COVID-19 caused many pathology residents to lose valuable learning opportunities, the idea for a virtual lecture series was presented to the CAP’s Curriculum Committee on March 27 with a goal to launch on April 1, 2020. Dr. Arnold heard the request for help and stepped up. Not only did she offer to lecture, she also became actively involved in planning, recruiting for, and promoting the program. Thanks to her efforts, more than 20 lecturers, including some of the most prestigious US pathologists, stepped forward in less than 24 hours to volunteer. By midmorning on the day of its launch, more than 1,800 participants had registered for the series. By the end of the week, more than 3,400 had registered, and the webinars were capping out with 1,000 listeners for each live session.

As of the end of May, the CAP had 8,200+ registered participants, with the highest session drawing 3,000 listeners. The impact of the lectures has extended beyond live listeners; those unable to attend live were able to log in later and listen to a recording of the lecture.

The impact of the virtual lecture series is much more than an impression number, a registration list, or a live listener count. The series represented a beacon of hope during an extremely challenging time for pathology residents, medical students, and experienced pathologists. The lectures allowed pathologists across various career stages to continue their learning over a wide variety of topics. Many experienced pathologists have commented on how a lecture they didn’t think would apply to their practice taught them something new. Residents have shared that this unique offering has helped them to keep focused on their goal when so much was outside of their control. Medical students have shared how it has inspired them to pursue pathology. In shaping and sustaining the series, Dr. Arnold also helped to drive a positive perception of the specialty and of the CAP as the leading organization for pathologists.

Dr. Arnold is an associate professor at the University of Colorado-Denver.

The College of American Pathologists honors Guang Fan, MD, PhD, FCAP, with the 2020 CAP Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the pathology profession, the CAP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program, and all CAP-accredited laboratories worldwide.

Dr. Fan currently is the Northwest regional commissioner (2014–present) and the Oregon state commissioner (2011–present) for the CAP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program. As such, she is responsible for overseeing the assignment and post-inspection review of 293 laboratories across six states and three Canadian provinces.

In addition, she is a member of the Complaints and Investigations Committee, where she helps triage and address complaints received about accredited laboratories and reviews these laboratories’ corrective action plans, making sure the issues have been addressed and appropriate measures have been put in place to prevent recurrence. Her crucial role helps ensure that laboratories maintain ongoing compliance with accreditation program requirements. Dr. Fan’s expertise in molecular pathology and next-generation sequencing is especially helpful when laboratories have technical issues in these areas.

Dr. Fan also served as a member of the Accreditation Education Committee (2012–2017), including serving as the vice chair (2016–2017). She used her experience as an educator and curriculum developer to provide input and guidance on the online inspector training modules’ content and the accreditation program’s educational offerings, such as the Focus on Compliance Webinar Series. She also helped identify relevant topics for and develop the Fast Focus on Compliance inspector training segments.

Dr. Fan is an active inspector in addition to fulfilling her commissioner and committee responsibilities. She has been very helpful in ensuring high-quality and timely inspections in China, supporting the CAP’s international expansion goals in this region. Her willingness to participate on these international inspections has been instrumental in enabling the CAP’s accreditation program to meet the increasing demand due to the growing number of laboratories in China seeking CAP accreditation.

Dr. Fan has performed a lifetime total of 112 inspections for the Laboratory Accreditation Program, more than half of which were international inspections. She performed 17 inspections in 2018, 28 inspections in 2017, 21 inspections in 2016, 29 inspections in 2015, and 17 inspections in 2014.

Dr. Fan’s dedication and commitment to helping the accreditation program grow and succeed while ensuring the CAP’s ability to provide appropriate supporting educational programs for laboratories and inspectors is truly commendable.

Dr. Fan is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She is also the associate director of its clinical laboratory, director of hematopathology, and director of flow cytometry analysis.

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