Harvard Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Pancreatic Pathology 2025

The course is conducted by HMS faculty who are recognized experts in their respective fields and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of gastrointestinal, pancreas and liver pathology, with emphasis on new entities and recent advances in the discipline that will be of interest to trainees in pathology, and to community and academic pathologists. Selected guest speakers will also participate. Systematic approach to interpretation of biopsy and resection specimens, using standard gross and microscopic techniques, will be emphasized along with judicious use of ancillary methods, such as immunohistochemistry, and molecular pathology. The CME format includes didactic lectures, slide seminars and interactive learning sessions, with ample time for interaction with faculty and course directors. The course will assist participants in developing awareness about new entities, diagnostic tools and biomarkers of clinical significance, and assist them in using diagnostic strategies they can put in to use in their daily practice with the eventual goal of improved patient diagnosis, and management.

Who Should Attend

• Nurse Practitioners
• Specialty Physicians
• Pathology Assistants

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Discuss updates in the new WHO classification of tumors of the digestive system.
• Identify newly described entities in the differential diagnosis of inflammatory disorders of the GI tract.
• Evaluate morphological criteria and role of ancillary techniques (immunohistochemistry and molecular methods) in diagnosis of pre-neoplastic lesions of the GI tract.
• Use screening methods for heritable cancers and standard of care biomarkers currently used for targeted therapy.
• Recognize nuances of interpretation of morphological patterns in liver biopsy interpretation and how to integrate them with clinical findings to render a final diagnosis.
• Recognize proper application and limitations of disease staging and grading systems.
• Recognize common and uncommon hepatic tumors.
• Recognize nuances of interpretation of morphological patterns in pancreatic biopsy interpretation and how to integrate them with clinical findings to render a final diagnosis.
• Describe the spectrum of benign and neoplastic pancreatic disorders with emphasis on use of proper nomenclature and reporting findings of prognostic significance.