CAP Review and Forecast: Membership 2024/2025

Robert Johnson:

The new year kicks off with a focus on membership. 2025 marks the start of the membership era at the College of American Pathologists. This is your CAP review and forecast focused on membership and professional development in 2024 and 2025. I'm Robert Johnson. Thank you for joining us for this conversation with Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres, chair of the CAP's Council on Membership and Professional Development, and a member of the CAP's Board of Governors.

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

So I think the primary accomplishment is the fact that we have a new CEO at the College of American Pathologists by the name of Michael Fraser, and he brought in a different perspective that was quite refreshing to the membership to the council as a member of a membership organization and his previous iterations. He brought that with him to the College of American Pathologists and challenged us to start thinking more as a membership organization than we were doing prior to his arrival. So I think that is a huge accomplishment for 2024, is the fact that we now had leadership within the college that allowed us to act and behave as a true membership organization. That's, as I said, the primary accomplishment. The secondary large accomplishment is the fact that we took our charge within the council and we redid our charge completely. We did it in innovative fashion. We actually used large language models and generative AI to come up with a charge for us or a sample charge. It actually did a pretty amazing job when we informed it on all of the duties of the council, and it really did come up with a great charge that only had to be minimally altered at the end of the day before it was unanimously passed by the Council on Membership and Professional Development. So those I think were the two primary achievements of 2024, which are pretty huge.

Robert Johnson:

So thinking about the new focus on membership at the CAP, what do you see now as chair of the council being the priorities going forward?

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

Well, again, we are celebrating a milestone in 2025, which is the 20th anniversary of the Council on Membership and Professional Development. So we felt that an appropriate time to launch something new, which is what we are calling the membership era of the council. And as such, we are putting the member at the center of all of our conversations and all of our priorities within the College of American Pathologists, similar to when we talk about patient-centered care, when we provide care to our patients. This time around, we are actually putting the member at the center of all of the decision-making and all of the prioritization of the council and really taking that into account in ways that we have not done before.

Robert Johnson:

How important is that priority to members?

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

It is critical, right? I think unfortunately in the past we would hear from members who would speak up but feel unheard who would come up with ideas and did not see those ideas really go anywhere. And so we are pivoting so that we make sure that our members feel like they're valued, like they're listened to and like we are providing them what they tell us they need, not what we tell them that they need, which is a pretty significant shift and a much needed change within the council.

Robert Johnson:

Members are talking about this. What kind of reaction are you getting?

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

So Robert, we launched the membership era at our cluster meeting, which was held in January with all of our council and committee members, and this concept of a membership era focused on the priorities for 2025, which are member recruitment, onboarding and retention, creating a personalized member experience and facilitating networking and mentoring within the college. Those three main priorities are driving everything that the councils are working on this year. So we're aligned so that we are able to better meet the need of our membership. And from the feedback that I've received, it has been greatly welcomed by not only the council, but also the committees as well.

Robert Johnson:

What do you say to members when they talk to you about this? Are there ways they can get involved if they're not already contributing some way?

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

Yeah. What I would tell the members is we have room for every single one of you to be a part of the College of American Pathologists and be involved in all of the wonderful activities that the college is involved in. We can start with House of Delegates duties. We can start with being on a committee. We can start on doing lab inspections, being a part of a lab inspection team, taking part of any of our medical director courses or other activities that are offered through the college. And again, being part, the Engaged Leadership Academy, being part of the mentoring programs, being part of the Pathologists Leadership Summit or the Annual Meeting. I mean, there's many to be involved and with our new focus on the member, members are going to be feeling a difference in their interactions with the College going forward.

Robert Johnson:

It seems like it's an exciting time to be chairman of the council.

Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Torres:

I can't find the words necessarily to describe how exciting it is because it truly is a new era, which has been a long time in coming, and I am honored to be in this position serving the College at this time.

Robert Johnson:

Read more in the episode notes. That's where you'll find links to everything mentioned today. This has been your CAP review and forecast focused on membership and professional development in 2024 and 2025. In the days ahead, we'll visit with other CAP council chairs about their work and what's coming up this year for the College of American Pathologists. This is Robert Johnson, have a great day.