October 2022 Bulletin

In our last Diamond Jubilee Bulletin issue, we continue to have excellent engagement from colleagues in response to our call to celebrate our pathology specialties and the people who work so tirelessly across the board.

Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam earned nationwide fame for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic as England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer and his media appearances during the Government’s public health briefings. Prior to this, Sir Jonathan held numerous positions in the private and public sectors, focusing on the study of vaccines and the epidemiology of respiratory viruses. In this profile, we hear about his many career highlights.

Having recently been honoured with an OBE for her services to the NHS and the COVID-19 response, Dr Noha El Sakka shares the challenges, highlights and achievements of a career that has taken her from Alexandria to Aberdeen. She has been celebrated for her work in microbiology and virology, and was appointed as an advisor to the Scottish Government's Chief Medical Officer.

In this article, College fellows, veterinary pathologist Professor John Cooper FRCPath with his wife and colleague, animal lawyer Mrs Margaret Cooper HonFRCPath, discuss the history and development of forensic veterinary medicine, from its beginnings as an unrecognised specialisation to its growing presence in the training and practice of pathologists.

Harry Robertson and Jane Apperley introduce the story of chronic myeloid leukaemia, with a history that stands as an exemplar for the remarkable advances that can be achieved through close collaboration between pathologists, clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare disorder associated with microvascular thrombi. Here, Marie Scully and John-Paul Westwood describe progress in understanding the pathophysiology supporting prompt diagnosis and the development of novel therapies towards improving patient outcomes.

Susan Brunskill and Lise Estcourt celebrate 20 years of the Systematic Review Initiative in transfusion medicine. In this article, they highlight the programme’s critical role in reviewing clinical practice, spearheading scientific research and updating transfusion safety standards.

The Scottish Diagnostic Virology Group has been active for more than 60 years. During the College’s Diamond Jubilee year, the current Chair reflects on the history of the group and how scientific virology has evolved and thrived, now achieving even greater levels of success.