Webinar 5 overview

  • Paediatric renal tumours: an update on challenges and recent developments - Dr Gino Somers and Maureen O’Sullivan
  • Congenital melanocytic neoplasms: clinical, histopathological and recent molecular developments - Claudia Salgado

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 5)

  • Dr. Gino Somers

    Speaker

    Gino R. Somers MBBS, BMedSci, PhD, FRCPA
    Chief, Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine;
    Physician Lead for Wellness;
    Hospital for Sick Children
    Professor and Vice Chair, LMP, University of Toronto

    Dr. Somers is the Chief of the Department of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Professor at the University of Toronto. He has conducted independent grant-funded research projects and collaborated on various studies focusing on the biology and pathology of pediatric sarcomas. His recent work includes implementing molecular diagnostics for pediatric cancer, using technologies such as NanoString and NGS-based methods. Dr. Somers has published over 130 papers and has received several international awards for his research. He has served as the President of the Society for Pediatric Pathology, and is actively involved with professional societies such as the World Health Organization and the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting.

    Dr. Somers has extensive experience in medical leadership and currently serves as the president of the International Pediatric Pathology Association. He has received both the Medical Staff Association’s Citizenship Award and the President’s Award from SickKids. He is the Physician Wellness Officer and is invested in preventing burnout and improving wellness of all physicians.

    Dr. Somers has extensive experience in medical leadership and currently serves as the president of the International Pediatric Pathology Association. He has received both the Medical Staff Association’s Citizenship Award and the President’s Award from SickKids. He is the Physician Wellness Officer and is invested in preventing burnout and improving wellness of all physicians at SickKids.

  • Maureen O’Sullivan

    Speaker

    Dr. Maureen O’Sullivan has been a full clinical Professor at Trinity College, Dublin since January 2011.

    She is a full-time Consultant Paediatric Pathologist at Children’s Health Ireland since March 2007, and completed her Pathology residency and Fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis, MO USA under the tutelage of Louis (Pepper) Dehner, a founding father of paediatric pathology.

    Professor O’Sullivan has been successful in securing research funding for the past 17 years and runs her own research programme staffed by post-doctoral researchers and PhD students and based at the Trinity Trnalsational Medicine Institute. Her area of research interest is tumour genetics and specifically renal tumour genetics. Her group have made some significant contributions to the knowledge base on the initiation and progression of Clear Cell Sarcoma and Malignant Rhabdoid Tumour of Kidney. Her publications include several book chapters and 175 peer-reviewed publications.

    She has served as invited reviewer of the French National Cancer Institute on several occasions and also the Canadian Institute of Health Research – Sick Kids grant review and the Swiss anti-cancer League grant reviews. 

    Professor O’Sullivan lectures the Trinity College Medical students in years 2 and 3 and also the Masters in Translational Oncology students at Trinity College, Dublin. Her field of education includes especially the molecular genetics of Cancer.

    She has introduced molecular genetic testing by Next Generation Sequencing into the Histology Laboratory at Children’s Health Ireland and is responsible for this service.

    Prof. O’Sullivan is currently :

    President of the pathology section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland,  Chair of the Pathology Group of the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, UK, Chairperson of the International Paediatric Pathology Association and

    Vice President of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, THE international interdisciplinary Sarcoma Society.

    She is also a member of the Paediatric Pathology Working group of the European Society of Pathology.

    Professor O’Sullivan is regularly an invited speaker at all of these conferences as well as the SIOP (International Paediatric Oncology Society’s ) RenalTumour Study Group.

    Pro bono work includes a very active diagnostic support of paediatric oncology services in Tanzania and she has been a repeat visitor to Ho Chi Minh city, VietNam to support the paediatric onco-pathology service there also.  She was honoured and delighted to partaken in the development of the ICCR datasets for Rhabdomyosarcoma and renal Tumours, both of which are now published.

     

     

  • Claudia Salgado

    Speaker

  • Professor Miguel Reyes Mugico

    CHAIR

 

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