2023 CAP Public Service Award

Originally established in 1989 as the Frank C. Coleman Award for Public Service, this award honors the memory and work of the CAP’s sixth president. In 2006, the name of the award was changed to the CAP Public Service Award Established in Honor of Frank C. Coleman. The award is given to a CAP Fellow who best exemplifies the political, citizenship, and leadership qualities of the late Dr. Coleman and is the highest honor for outstanding accomplishments and dedication to political and civic life and to public service in the US. The CAP presents this award when merited, not necessarily on an annual basis.

The College of American Pathologists presents Gail H. Vance, MD, FCAP, with the 2023 CAP Public Service Award in recognition of her dedication to public service in the US and abroad.

Dr. Vance has been a relentless champion for pathology and for the values exemplified by the FCAP credential. In addition to her long and distinguished career in academic pathology, Dr. Vance’s contributions to the CAP are numerous and span three decades. She has served on numerous committees and councils, including two terms on the CAP Board of Governors and two terms on the CAP Foundation Board of Directors. She has also served as a member of the CAP/American Society of Clinical Oncology expert panel that established evidence-based guidelines for HER2 testing in breast cancer.

Dr. Vance is a tireless advocate for underserved and under-resourced pathologists and patients in the US and overseas. Her CAP Foundation activities include sponsoring four See, Test & Treat® cancer screening programs for underserved and under-insured women in Indiana. In her role as chair of the Foundation’s Global Pathology Committee, which she has held since 2020, she has championed educational awards and grants for residents and pathologists from remote areas of the globe with no access to high quality, cutting-edge information, and technology. Last year, the Global Pathology Committee awarded grants of $10,000 each to three pathologists from under-resourced countries to help them elevate and improve the delivery of pathology and enhance patient care. Dr. Vance is also working to educate pathologists outside the US on the use of the CAP Cancer Protocols in their home countries, with specific focus on the importance of using the elements in these protocols as standardized, synoptic reporting formats.

Her academic career has centered around clinical investigation and identification of genetic diseases, both at the bedside and in the diagnostic laboratory, where she has led the division of diagnostic genomics at Indiana University since 1998. Her academic accomplishments and dedication to patient care are commendable.

Dr. Vance is a professor of cancer genetics, medical and molecular genetics, and pathology and laboratory medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

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