Dear friends,

Welcome to our website! Here we will punctually inform you of the preparations for the XXIX SEAP-IAP’s National Congress (Pathology) that we will jointly celebrate with XXIV SEC National Congress (Cytology) and V SEPAF National Congress (Forensics), in Granada, between May 22-24, 2019.

We want to start by thanking all the members of the Organizing Committee of the three societies, as well as the Local Committee, for the availability and enthusiasm that they have shown in organising a congress that fulfils the expectations of all of our partners.

We would like this Congress to reach the scientific quality of the previous congresses and to help enhance the scientific and personal relationships of its participants. All while taking into consideration the economic and environmental sustainability issues which are essential in events of these characteristics.

The scientific program of the SEAP-IAP Congress will be based on the proposals received from the several SEAP Working Groups and it will cover different subspecialties.

For the first time, we will be holding an International Course in English on “Precision Surgical Pathology”, given by speakers from different nationalities, over a day and a half. This course is intended to open the Congress to an international audience in order to favour the participation of members from other international Pathology societies.

Furthermore, we will be holding a Long Course on Pathology of Pre-Invasive Lesions: Morphological and Molecular aspects. This course will review problems related with the diagnosis of the pre-invasive lesions in different types of malignancies and their impact on the prevention and early treatment of cancer.

The Congress will hold, for the first time, a Presidential Session in which the SEAP will award the Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Pío del Río Hortega and Jorge Francisco Tello prizes to Drs. Aurelio Ariza, Manuel Sobrinho Simoes and Josep Corominas, respectively. During this event, the awardees will be invited to give a scientific conference on the recent advances in their areas of expertise.

The objective of the SEC program is to share with the attendants, both pathologists and cytotechnicians, the latest international consensus in cytological terminology that, while modifying our way of issuing diagnoses, allow us to improve our understanding of their clinical scope. Likewise, the changes in the screening of cervical cancer, with the recent implementation of programs with primary screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) in Europe, will be extensively addressed. Finally, the congress will try to offer a practical vision of the multiple applications of molecular techniques in cytological samples, in many cases necessary allies to surgical pathology for the correct management of patients. The cytotechnicians will present advances and changes in a session especially dedicated to their role in the modern Cytopathology laboratory.

The program of SEPAF will give us the opportunity to approach more specific contents of Forensic Pathology, without doubt of great interest for younger pathologists, such as Criminalistic studies based on biological traces (blood, saliva, ...), the study of child abuse, the importance of the examination of the place of death (we will have the presence of an eminent Argentine criminologist) and deaths in police custody, amongst others. For Anatomic Pathology technicians, two courses on Anatomical Parts Conservation Techniques and Body Skeletonization will be taught, both for hospital technicians and for those technicians who work in the Institutes of Legal Medicine. We would also like to point out the diversity within our societies. In this regard, we will organise an activity called ‘Put a face on it’ in the SEAP, SEC and SEAF, in which different groups (Residents, Technicians, Biologists, Pathologists, etc.) will do a brief presentation of their lived experiences within our community.

The three Societies want to open our Congresses to the civil society and encourage the participation of patients, medical students, and the general population in their activities. The location of the congress in the Palacio de Congresos de Granada gives us the opportunity to carry out activities at street level, which will make the Congress and our Specialty visible to the general public.

The success of a congress lies, no doubt, in the quality of its scientific content. However, in our personal experience, those conferences in which an attractive complementary social activity takes place survive best. The city of Granada, without doubt one of the most beautiful in Spain, gives us a warm and friendly atmosphere and offers historical, cultural and gastronomic attractions that we will know how to take advantage of as people with interests beyond our specialty.

For all of the above, we hereby invite you all to the next XXIX SEAP-IAP National Congress, XXIV SEC National Congress and V SEPAF National Congress in Granada and encourage you to actively participate in their scientific and social programmes.