Webinar 4 overview

  • Spitz tumours and mimickers - Arnaud de la Fouchardiere 
  • Emerging round cell sarcomas in children - Jessica Davis

This event will take place at 1:00pm and last approximately 1 hour.

Webinar series overview

Paediatric tumours and tumour-like malformations present unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to their diverse biological behaviours and the nuances of their classification. Advances in molecular genetics and diagnostic techniques continue to reshape our understanding of these diseases, refining their characterization and expanding opportunities for targeted therapies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have officially released, for the first time in the seven decades since the “Blue Books” started, a volume (two volumes, also for the first time) with the WHO Classification of Paediatric Tumours. This landmark publication represents the culmination of years of collaborative research and expertise, offering a comprehensive framework for the classification of tumours in children and adolescents prepared by specialists in paediatric pathology in collaboration with a vast array of other pathology experts. The classification reflects the distinct pathological, molecular and clinical characteristics of paediatric tumours, emphasizing their developmental features which explain differences from their adult counterparts, and underscoring the need for age-specific diagnostic and treatment strategies (Virchows Archiv (2025) 486:1–2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-025-04033-5).

In January 2025, Virchows Archives, the official journal of the European Society of Pathology published the Annual Review Issue focusing on Challenges and Novelties in Paediatric Pathology (Virchows Archiv (2025) 486).

Professor Miguel Reyes Múgica and Dr Isabel Colmenero, Editors of this special issue, succeeded in bringing together a comprehensive collection of paediatric tumours and cancer predisposition syndromes, each of which was authored by experts in the specific tumour field.

The Royal College of Pathologists is delighted to announce a webinar series organised jointly with the European Society of Pathology, Virchows Archives and the International Paediatric Pathology Association (IPPA).  Each of the topics published by  Virchows  addressing paediatric tumours will be presented at the webinars series.

We are certain this joint webinar series will attract many paediatric and general pathologists from around the world.

CPD

This meeting is worth 1 CPD point (self credited).

Speaker/chair biographies - Challenges and novelties in Paediatric Pathology (webinar 4)

  • Dr Jessica L. Davis

    Speaker

    Jessica L. Davis, M.D., is the Centennial Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and serves as the Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology at Indiana University School of Medicine/Health. Dr. Davis’ clinical practice is as a bone/soft tissue pathologist and as a pediatric pathologist. Dr. Davis received her medical degree from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). She completed training in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). While at UCSF, she also completed a surgical pathology fellowship emphasizing bone and soft tissue pathology. Dr. Davis then joined Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington for a pediatric pathology fellowship. Dr. Davis serves the Children’s Oncology Group as a central pathology reviewer for non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas and bone sarcomas and is on the steering committee for bone tumors. She is the pediatric representative to the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Cancer Committee and is active within the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) and the Society for Pediatric Pathology (SPP). She has written more than 70 peer reviewed publications, review articles and book chapters, the latter of which include invited contributions to the 5th editions of the World Health Organization Classifications of Bone and Soft Tissue Tumours, Paediatric Tumours, and Skin Tumors. She has been an invited lecturer at numerous regional, national and international meetings and conferences. 

  • Arnaud de la Fouchardiere

    Speaker

    Arnaud de la Fouchardiere has received training in clinical dermatology, surgical pathology and molecular genetics. His position in the pathology lab of the cancer care hospital of Lyon is centered on second opinion cases focused mainly on melanocytic tumors (>2000 cases/year). He is specialized in the molecular classification of such tumors especially in children and in rare clinical and histological variants. He has described a number of new entities and genetic finding in this field.