Stephen R. Ramsburgh, M.D.
President, A. James French Society of Pathologists

August 2007

I last communicated with you in June of this year.  At that time, I had some news that I thought was important for you to know.  The purpose of this letter is to get you up to date on the status of the Society and the projects that are now coming to fruition. 

The continuing medical education program, “New Frontiers in Diagnostic Pathology: An Update for Practicing Pathologists” is well on track.  We received a number of registrations both from A. James French members as well as from practicing physicians in the Tri-State area.  As a reminder, the meeting will start on Thursday, the 27th of September, and will end shortly after noon on Saturday, the 29th of September.  A reception will be held at the Alumni Center on Wednesday the 26th for those who arrive in Ann Arbor on that date.  That reception will be hosted by me.  Since our resident staff will be in attendance, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the best pathology residents in the country.  I know they want to meet you.  Thursday night, September 27th, the society will host a dinner at the Michigan League for all attendees including our resident staff.  I have made this guarantee before and I will make it again -- you will most certainly enjoy the after dinner speaker.  The high point of the course will be the A. James French Lecture which will be delivered by Tom Colby on Saturday morning.  Dr. Colby is an alumnus of this institution and an internationally recognized pulmonary pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.

In all of my previous letters, I have written to you about the A. James French Traveling Fellowship for senior level residents.  The first year of that fellowship is now completed.  I have sent you the feedback and given you the details of that experience.  I am pleased to announce that I have already received several applications for the fellowship for this year.  Some applications are coming in from institutions outside the University of Michigan, which pleases me greatly.

The membership of this society continues to increase and I am always impressed with the feedback I receive from longstanding members describing just what it means to be a member of this organization.  This of course is especially true for those who actually trained under Dr. French.  The Society represents such a wonderful way for all of us to cross the generational lines because we have so much in common in terms of our training at the University of Michigan. 

Drs. Hess, Myers, and Visscher have settled in nicely as the leaders of the department.  If you were to sum their philosophy of the role of pathology in today’s climate, it would be centered almost entirely on patient care.  They have worked incessantly to bring patient care issues to the forefront of all of our minds, and this has had a very positive effect on the department.  An interesting aside is the dramatic increase in communication between the pathologists and the “clinicians”.  This is particularly gratifying to me personally in light of my background as a clinical surgeon.

That’s the news for now.  I encourage you to attend the meeting in September.  I look forward to seeing you, and I especially look forward to all of you having the opportunity to interact with each other and with those of us who are still at the University of Michigan.