2025 Atlantic Pathology Conference
Reserve your spot today.
Beyond the Microscope: Molecular Frontiers in Pathology
Friday, November 21, 2025
7:30am - 3:30pm
Prince George Hotel
1725 Market St
Halifax, Nova Scotia
This is an accredited event.
Event Agenda
| Time | Topic | Speakers |
| 7:15 - 7:45 | Hot breakfast | |
|---|---|---|
| 7:45 - 8:00 | Opening Remarks | Drs. David Conrad and Irene Sadek |
Session One
Chair tbd
| Time | Topic | Speakers |
| 8:00 - 9:00 | Local Keynote PROFYLE: Precision Oncology for Young People |
Dr. Meghan Pike |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:30 | All For One Project: Building a Share-Ready Clinical Genomic Data Infrastructure for Rare and Hereditary Conditions in the Maritimes | Dr. Victor Martinez |
| 9:30 - 10:00 | Prenatal Screening in the Maritimes: Laboratory current state and future directions | Dr. Lori Beach |
| 10:00 - 10:15 | Break |
Session Two
Chair tbd
| Time | Topic | Speakers |
| 10:15 - 10:45 | IWK Maritime Centre for Precision Medicine: Transforming Care Through Genomic Innovation | Lee Anne Boutilier |
|---|---|---|
| 10:45 - 11:15 | Laboratory Stewardship in the QEII Molecular Diagnostics Lab: A four year review | Dr. Tanya Gillan |
| 11:15 - 11:45 | Challenging/Difficult Cases The Best is RET to Come: A Case of Metastatic RET-mutant Breast Cancer Treated with Targeted Therapy |
Dr. Michael Carter |
| 11:45 - 12:45 | Lunch |
Session Three
Chair tbd
| Time | Topic | Speakers |
| 12:45 - 1:45 | National Keynote Transcriptomic and Genomic Data Integration for Rare Diseases and Cancer: Changing the Tragectory of Genomic Medicine |
Dr. Lianna Kyriakopoulou Laboratory Director, Genome Diagnostics Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Canada |
|---|---|---|
| 1:45 - 2:15 | tbd | tbd |
| 2:15 -2:30 | Break |
Session Four
Chair tbd
| Time | Topic | Speakers |
| 2:30 - 3:00 | From Molecular Discovery to Clinical Insight: Translating Findings Through Collaborative Patient Tumor Analysis | Dr. Paola Marcato |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 - 3:30 | tbd | tbd |
| 3:30 | Closing Remarks | Drs. David Conrad and Irene Sadek |
Biographies
Dr. Lianna G. Kyriakopoulou
Laboratory Director, Genome Diagnostics
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Canada
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Dr. Lianna Kyriakopoulou is a Clinical Molecular Geneticist and Clinical Biochemist. She led the Metabolic Diseases laboratory for almost 10 years before she became a director of Genome Diagnostics at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Project Investigator at the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children and a member of the Translational Genomics Program.
Her research interests are focusing on the development of functional genomic platforms and translation of high complexity omics-testing in the clinical laboratory. Her more recent research has focused on developing a clinical RNA seq platform which is validated to be used in the clinical space as a new tool for precision diagnostics. The assay and the bioinformatic pipelines are currently used for the diagnosis of rare diseases and to identify biomarkers in pediatric cancers and are carving a path for Precision Child Health initiatives within the Hospital for Sick Children. Her work is focusing on mapping and identifying the molecular effects of rare genetic variants and is linked to multiple major genomics projects. Her work also focuses in developing approaches that can be applied to understanding novel disease biology and providing diagnoses of individuals with genetic diseases and develop strategies to diagnose individuals with undiagnosed, rare diseases.
Dr. Kyriakopoulou is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Canadian Standards Association. In this capacity, she has co-led and participated in several initiatives to provide guidance for the validation of Laboratory Developed Tests, Emerging Technologies and Incidental Findings.
She is currently the co-chair of the RNA-seq working group of the Canadian College of Medical Genetics, chair of the Committee for Emerging Technologies in Pediatric Lab Medicine of the IFCC and the Head of the Education and Scientific Division of the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. She has also served as the Chair of the board of the Canadian Academy of Clinical Biochemistry and in several other positions within the board of the CACB and the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists.
Dr. Meghan Pike
Dr. Meghan Pike is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at the IWK Health Centre and Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University. Her clinical and research interests center on pediatric solid tumors, fertility preservation, and patientcentred innovation in cancer care. As a leading contributor to the Terry Fox Research Institute’s PROFYLE project (Precision Oncology for Young People),
Dr. Pike is advancing the integration of molecular and genomic profiling into the diagnosis and treatment of high-risk and relapsed childhood cancers. Her keynote will highlight how national precision medicine collaborations like PROFYLE are transforming the care of young patients across Canada.