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Dan Pelletier Awarded 2018 USCAP Stowell-Orbison Certificate of Merit

March 28, 2018

Dr. Daniel Pelletier

Dr. Daniel Pelletier was awarded a 2018 USCAP Stowell-Orbison Certificate of Merit at the USCAP Annual Meeting in Vancouver for an abstract entitled "CXCR4 is Highly Expressed by Poorly Differentiated Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: A Novel Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Potential Therapeutic Target."

The Stowell-Orbison Award is given to the pathologist(s)-in-training presenting the best original research in the form of a poster presentation at the USCAP Annual Meeting, as judged by the USCAP Stowell-Orbison Award Committee.  Trainees apply for this competition upon submission of their USCAP abstracts, with only one designated abstract considered per trainee.  Top posters are presented in the Monday morning Stowell-Orbison/Surgical Pathology/Autopsy session, with a limited number of the very best abstracts selected for on-site judging by the committee.  This year, there were 275 posters in the competition, with 3 awards (the top prize) and 2 certificates of merit given.

Dr. Pelletier presented his research on behalf of co-authors Sarah Mott, Sue O'Dorisio, Yusef Menda, Tom O’Dorisio, and Andrew Bellizzi. 

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor with numerous roles in health disease.  It is highly expressed by poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas.  The Iowa Neuroendocrine Tumor Program is currently investigating the Pentixafor nuclear medicine scan, which is CXCR4-based, with the ultimate goal of treating high-expressing tumors with anti-CXCR4 peptide receptor radionuclide therapy.  Dr. Pelletier's project describes the optimization, validation, and initial clinical rollout of CXCR4 immunohistochemistry, including correlation with UIHC's first successful Pentixafor scan.

Drs. Robert E. Stowell (1959-60) and J. Lowell Orbison (1963-64) were both past presidents of USCAP.  The USCAP trainee poster competition was renamed in their honor in 1982.  Both gentlemen were incredibly strong advocates of trainee scholarship.