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How many volunteers were present at this meeting? : |
More than 500 |
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Which countries were presented in congress? : |
The annual meeting of the American Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology is held annually in different states in US. The participants are professors, experts and professionals of oral pathology and related specialties from all over the US and different countries worldwide. This year the meeting was in Portland /Oregan (eastern border of US) and members were from local states and universities as well as countries like Canada, Greece, Italy, China, Venezuela, Mexico, England, Brazil, Guatemala, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia etc. |
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were any organizations represented in the meeting? : |
Yes |
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If yes, please write the names of the organization in the box : |
AAOMP |
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What were the response to your talking points? were specific questions or concerns raised? : |
It’s good to mention that I was the only participant in this meeting from Iran (not the only Iranian). Since this was the third time I attended this meeting, people were familiar with my works and studies. In previous meetings they were curious about the nature and training of oral pathology in Iran and our under and postgraduate curriculum and they were surprised by the number of residents and graduates in our country. In addition, they were asking about the limitations and difficulties of research in our country despite the international sanctions and also the long trip and possible difficulties to attend the meeting. This year, I had an oral presentation and a poster and also presented two challenging cases in ROUR program. The questions and comments were more scientific and related to the content of studies. It was a good discussion and they were very interested especially in the cases. |
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If you met with staff members, please list their full name & positions. : |
All of the authors of oral pathology textbooks and board references were present in the meeting; I had the opportunity to meet Prof. Neville, Prof. Allen, Prof Damm, Prof. Bouquot and Prof. Gnepp and discuss educational and diagnostic issues with them. I had a visit to Prof.Neville in 2010 at MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina) in Charleston and I asked him to assign us (our department) in their slide exchange program. At this year meeting, I reminded him of the program which at this moment depends on the cooperation of our department and colleagues.
Last year, Prof. Margaret Brandwein from the University of Alabama introduced her Histologic Risk Model in oral cancer. At present, one of my residents is working on the subject for her thesis under my supervision. At the meeting, researchers from Mount Sinai Medical Center presented a poster on the reproducibility of the model which was very interesting to me and we arranged for future collaboration on the subject. |
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Please make a note if there are any follow up actions we need to talk with the member of congress : |
The technology of virtual digital microscopy is expanding worldwide and if we could have our educational slides with this format, it would be a permanent and accessible archive for dental as well as postgraduate students. Last year I talked with one of the sponsors to do it for us at a lower price. Also, the slide sets for CCA exams of the past meetings are available upon request. If the university accepts to cover these expenses, they are priceless and permanent teaching materials. |
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Your experiences about the travel processes(Providing ticket, accommodation,...) : |
It was a very long trip (more than 25 hours each way) with multiple stops, but really worth it. This year, the destination was too far even for participants from US. The meeting was amazing and very unique in terms of scientific and at the same time very friendly environment. The busy schedule (from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and beyond) in a short period of 6 days, the opportunity to meet like-minded people and of course giants and leaders of the specialty and learn new methods and discuss challenging cases made this meeting an unforgettable memory for me. Above all, introducing my country, the university and our scientific activities to other people (which were completely new to them) was so satisfying. Even though I had to go back to my work on the next day and was still suffering from my outbound jet lag, I was upbeat and happy about my trip.
Another issue to mention here is the rate of dollar currency and present inflation and its possible effects on scientific trips and attending international congresses and meetings. With this situation, I’m not sure if I could attend this meeting in the future! |
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Meeting summary:(include: names of every one in attendance, outcomees and personal observatons of the metting, and please make a note if there are any follow up actions we need to take with the member of congress or their staff): : |
This meeting is not limited to presenting research studies in the form of lectures and posters and this is considered as its main and unique feature. Each year several other programs are included in the meeting schedule which make it a very busy but at the same time fruitful and a golden opportunity to expand the knowledge and expertise of the participants in the field of oral pathology. These programs are as follows:
1) CE courses for oral pathologists, which are presented by experts in different fields other than oral pathology on important and related subjects such as dermatopathology, hematopathology, pediatrics, mesenchymal tumors, ENT and…To my knowledge, we don’t have specialized CE courses for oral pathologists in Iran, therefore these courses are really interesting to me. CE courses need separate registration before the meeting. The most interesting part of this program is that the slides are sent to the participants before the meeting by the use of virtual digital microscopy which is a relatively new technology. The participants must review the virtual slides and send back their diagnoses. At the session, the correct diagnoses are discussed along with participants’ diagnoses interactively.
2) ROUR (Rest of Us Reunion) program, which is a review of interesting cases. Every participant has to register for this program and send his/her cases to the moderator before the meeting. At the program, everybody presents and discusses his/her cases and at the end of the session all cases are collected and distributed to the attendees in CDs or flash memories. This year there were too many participants and cases so that the moderator decided to send the cases through the Dropbox.
3) The CCA (Continued Competency Assurance) exam, which is a self evaluation program that needs registration. Slides are available daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from the beginning to the end of the meeting. Microscopes are available for slide review and informal consultation and you can consult any complex or difficult cases with different experts.
4) CPC (Clinical Pathology Conference) in which several challenging cases are presented in a unique pattern. The clinical and pathological features of each case are presented and discussed separately by different speakers as well as the differential diagnoses. The final diagnosis is made based on the findings and the clinico-pathological correlations.
ROUR cases, slide exchange program, virtual slides, CCA slide sets and also printed version of "OOOO" are valuable teaching materials and could improve the educational status in our department. Some of them are available only to the AAOMP members and upon agreement of the GSIA, I can use this opportunity for our university as well. |