Pre-Meeting Workshops

8am-12pm
*Additional fee required.
Chairs: Adam Stern, DVM DACVP (AP), Founding Fellow Forensic Pathology; Jason Brooks, VMD PhD DACVP (AP), Founding Fellow Forensic Pathology

This workshop will focus on the principles and application of veterinary forensic pathology in the investigation of suspected crimes against animals. During this workshop, emphasis will be placed on the broader public safety implications of animal cruelty investigations, as some cases encountered will be associated with interpersonal violence and, even, human fatalities. Presentations during this workshop will include investigations involving human-animal interactions (animal attacks), concurrent human and animal fatality cases, intentional intoxications. Speakers will discuss case findings and the importance of integrating scene findings, medical history, and autopsy results to reach their conclusions. We will emphasize how thorough forensic pathology can contribute critical evidence in high-stakes cases where the findings may intersect with broader violent crime investigations involving human victims. The workshop will also address the role of the forensic pathologist within the legal system. Topics will include preparation of forensic reports, collaboration with investigators and prosecutors, and effectively communicating scientific findings in court to judges and juries.

Intended audience: anatomic pathologists, clinical pathologists, pathology trainees, and veterinary students who may encounter cases of legal importance.

8am-12pm, 1:30-5pm
*Additional fee required.
Chairs: Katherine Olstad, DVM DACVP (AP) Mary Duncan, BVMS PhD MRCVS DACVP (AP); Mathew Starost, DVM PhD DACVP (AP) Forgivemore Magunda, BVSc MPH PhD DACVP (AP), DABT

The 2026 Primate Workshop will highlight neuropathology, a discipline that can be challenging across all career stages yet represents a critical intersection between naturally occurring disease, aging biology, and translational research in non-human primates. The program is designed for a broad audience that includes veterinary students, anatomic pathology residents, fellows, and early- to late-career anatomic pathologists working across academia, industry, government, and the zoo and wildlife sectors. The workshop will combine expert keynote presentations with case-based presentations to provide practical diagnostic frameworks while showcasing spontaneous disease processes and emerging applications relevant to nonhuman primates.

Intended audience: veterinary students, anatomic pathology residents, fellows, and early- to late-career anatomic pathologists working across academia, industry, government, and the zoo and wildlife sectors.

8am-12pm, 1:30-5pm
*Separate registration required. This workshop is offered for pathologists involved in training program leadership only.
Chairs: Amy C. Durham MS VMD MSEd DACVP (AP); Molly E. Church MS VMD PhD DACVP (AP)

This full-day workshop will be composed of two offerings: The morning will focus on the nuts and bolts of the Training Program Accreditation (TPA) application. The first half of the workshop will start with an introductory, lecture-style TPA overview, followed by structured small-group workshop activities. Training Program Accreditation Committee (TPAC) members and program directors (PDs) from the first cycle of applicant programs will facilitate small-group, roundtable discussions. TPAC members and Cycle 1 PDs will share their experiences with the review and application processes, respectively. There will be intermittent larger group discussions throughout the session. Attendees will be provided with workbooks and should expect to have some work product on their application at the end of the workshop.

The afternoon will focus on how residency program resources can be shared across programs to foster collaboration and create the optimal learning environment for all trainees. Attendees will be asked to map their curriculum to the Core Competency Framework as part of pre-meeting preparation to identify program strengths and unique assets, as well as limitations or unmet training needs. The workshop will be structured to allow programs to explore partnership models to fill gaps collaboratively and build sustainable cross program networks for shared training, resident remediation, faculty development, and resource exchange.

Intended audience: program directors and Diplomates involved in training.

8am-12pm, 1:30-5pm
*Additional fee required.
Chairs: Jennifer Matlow, DVM MS DACVP (CP); Kathy Freeman, DVM PhD DECVCP, FRCPath, MRCVS; A Russell Moore, DVM MS DACVP (CP); Donald Meuten, DVM PhD DACVP (AP/CP)

Research in human and veterinary medicine shows that clinicians receiving pathology reports misunderstand roughly one-third of them — not just the interpretation/diagnosis, but the pathologist’s intended degree of confidence in it. This workshop approaches quality improvement opportunities in reporting from both the human and veterinary medical perspective, with an emphasis on cytopathology and including complementary efforts in histopathology. The morning will overview the evolution of existing approaches for increasing report clarity and consistency, followed by an afternoon of interactive discussions using prepared and participant-contributed cases to explore general strategies for report standardization. The workshop will conclude with open discussion on priorities and next steps for veterinary cytopathology reporting with identification of synergistic opportunities across cytopathology and histopathology.

Intended audience: clinical pathologists, anatomic pathologists, pathology trainees, clinical practice veterinarians, and veterinary students: all current and future producers and consumers of cytology and histopathology reports.

8am-12pm, 1:30-5pm
*Additional fee required.
Chair: Kelsey Fiddes, DVM DACVPM DACVP (AP)

Pathology of the respiratory system, especially of the interstitial lung diseases, creates considerable difficulty for diagnostic pathologists due to the complexity of lesions, overlapping histologic features of the many conditions affecting the respiratory tract, and development of new knowledge of these diseases. Our speakers will present a workshop based on their extensive experience in respiratory pathology which include authorship of book chapters and scholarly articles on respiratory diseases. 

Attendees will review the anatomy of the respiratory system and the patterns of diseases affecting it. Focusing on interstitial lung diseases, they will develop insights into the diverse morphologic patterns, pathogenesis, and causes of these diseases, followed by a review of specific interstitial lung diseases affecting companion and food-producing domestic mammals. Finally, there will be an interactive case-based discussion with digital microscopy files available to registrants before the workshop. These case-based discussions will be used to illustrate the approach used by the presenters to identify patterns and differential diagnoses for respiratory diseases.

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to outline the approach to and identify the normal anatomy of the lung in domestic species, identify patterns of lung disease, and define the terminology associated with pulmonary pathology.

Intended audience: veterinary students, interns, residents, graduate students, and anatomic pathologists.