Dear Friends and everyone,
I am deeply and sincerely honored to serve as the President of the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology (PSC) for the term 2026-2028, together with a huge joy and enthusiasm for this new experience. I firstly would like to invite all of you to join us in advancing our mission to advocate for cytopathology globally and to promote the role of cytology.
Looking at the scenario in pathology and cytology, we are facing new exciting technological advancements and significant challenges including, for instance, digital pathology and artificial intelligence which are involving also the cytology world. Following in the footsteps of my predecessors and mentors, who have propelled our discipline forward, I would like to remember the first passes of our PSC society. As u know, the PSC was envisioned as the first Cytopathology Companion Society at the USCAP aiming to bridge the gap between cytology and small biopsy. Central to our mission of “Cytopathology without Borders,” the PSC has hosted the “Cells Without Borders” meeting for over a decade, fostering global practices and addressing challenges in cytopathology. We maintain a strong presence in national and international conferences, advocating for new technologies and standardizing guidelines across various organ systems such as pancreaticobiliary, thyroid, body fluids, and breast, etc.
My personal story started in 2011. I have always looked with admiration to the PSC, since my first international meeting with an oral presentation in 2011 during the European congress of cytology in Istanbul. I have never imaging that, in 2026, i would have been the PSC president. This is a reason of big honour and joy for my personal story. Since then, I joined the PSC driven by a commitment to advance cytopathology, mentor future generations, and uphold the legacy of Dr. Papanicolaou, whose pioneering work in cervical cancer prevention has had a profound global impact. I was involved in different committees and four terms on the Executive Board has significantly shaped my professional growth, providing opportunities to collaborate with pathology experts worldwide. I encourage fellow pathologists, especially our future leaders, to engage with the PSC and contribute to its initiatives.
In these last years we are facing issues and difficulties in healthcare, including staffing shortages and global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic which put us, as cytologists to recognize new opportunities and challenges in education and teaching.
Under my predecessor’s leadership, the establishment of a dedicated “Social Media Committee” underscores our commitment to remote education and global outreach. Collaborating closely with the Education and Training Committee, this initiative aims to expand our remote learning capabilities, ensuring accessibility worldwide.
My guiding philosophy for my work in the cytology teams/ societies has always been ‘“a team is more than the sum of its members: It is a dynamic totality of interaction” and therefore, I truly believe that the collaborative effort and interaction of all members of a society working together as a team with common and synergistic contributions make great achievements and successful goals for the society itself and the results. Im the co-chair of the Scientific Committee for the European Federation of Cytology Society and my goal would be to find a way to create a closer and closer way to define projects and research among the PSC and EFCS, as well as with the newly born AFCS and all the other societies. I am also interested in the implementation and promotion of PSC educational activities in the national European and International societies of cytology to reach out to a wider audience and promote stronger and extensive European and Asian membership contributions to the PSC Society. I am particularly interested in the development and implementation of PSC educational activities in the European and International region to reach out to a wider audience and promoting a more robust and diverse membership for the Society with an active interaction with different European/Asian scenarios. I am committed to advocating the educational mission of the PSC and seek this nomination and support for the opportunity to serve to my fullest capacity in promoting, planning and development of PSC educational activities and global outreach policies for the next generation of pathologists and clinicians, and in advancing the leadership role of the PSC as a premiere national and international educational society. Cytology has a central role to the future of diagnostics: we can do more with less. It is important to keep up educational sources and organize PSC cytological meetings also in Europe and International/Asian scenarios so that we might attract a global number of young colleagues not only through tutorials but also the PSC might have a key role in coordination of scientific projects and help to implement new techniques, molecular approaches through seminars and American-International working group in order to share different approaches and to promote collaborative studies. A new « brainstorming Group » gathering younger and more experienced cytopathologists in charge of defining the future of cytopathology and the direction of cytology including a more intensive use of “social media “ to promote the spread of cytology and ASC society all around the world.
I do like the idea of a global comunity in which the PSC members can actively share their job and projects.
I invite you to join us in shaping this future with optimism and determination. Together, we can leverage new avenues and technologies to strengthen cytopathology for generations to come. Join the PSC, engage with our community, and become part of our collective effort to propel our discipline into the future. Sincerely,
Esther Diana Rossi MD, PhD, MIAC
Vision:
To become among the leading organizations for cytopathology with a global vision of partnership, members’ engagement, defining a worldwide PSC group of cytopathologists. A global cytology and PSC comunity