Dr Simone Van Es

Qualifications: MBBS (Univeristy of Sydney), PhD (Digital Pathology and online medical education, UNSW), FRCPA (Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia), Grad Dip Med (Sexual Health, University of Sydney), Cert FPA (Certificate in reproductive health, Family Planning Association of NSW)

Background:

Dr Van Es is a medical graduate from the University of Sydney (1991) and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (Anatomical Pathology). After her intern and RMO years at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, she spent 12 months working in palliative care medicine and general practice, followed by several years working in Sexual Health Medicine. After this Dr Van Es pursued postgraduate specialist training in Anatomical Pathology/Cytopathology. Dr Van Es obtained her Fellowship with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (Anatomical Pathology/Cytopathology) in 2003. She worked as a consultant dermatopathologist for several years and also held a fractional postgraduate Fellowship position in Melanoma Pathology in 2005. The combination of clinical experience in a wide range of disciplines as well as experience and specialist qualifications in diagnostic pathology gives her strong skills in clinicopathological correlation.

Dr Van Es has worked as a lecturer in Pathology with the School of Medical Sciences (SOMS), UNSW Medicine, since 2008. She received the SOMS contribution to the student experience award in 2010. In 2013 Dr Van Es was recipient of the Pathology Day Prize from the RCPA (Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia) for the teaching and quizzes organised at UNSW for Pathology Day 2013. For International Pathology Day in 2014, Dr Van Es authored the RCPA Pathology Day Quiz (a complex quiz on the selection and interpretation of pathology tests and their clinical application) for medical students and Pathology trainees throughout Australia.

To date, Dr Van Es is responsible for the creation of 132 virtual histopathology slides and 154 virtual cytopathology slides, which now reside on the BEST (Biomedical Education, Skills and Training) virtual slide repository. This virtual slide repository is a teaching resource that is used by institutions throughout Australia. Dr Van Es also has accumulated experience authoring VMATs (virtual microscopy adaptive tutorials). These virtual slides and VMATs have formed the basis of Dr Van Es' research and teaching both for UNSW and external pathology institutions (Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia).

Dr Van Es obtained her PhD in Digital Pathology in 2015. Since this time, in addition to her work at UNSW, she has continued to provide consultation to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programs (RCPAQAP) in digital pathology and online education in histopathology and cytopathology.

Publications resulting from previous projects include:

1. Van Es, North KN, De Silva M. MRI Findings in Children with Neurofibromatosis Type One: A Prospective Study. Pediatric Radiology 1996;26:478-487.

The research from this paper was subsequently incorporated into sections of the book: North, K., Gutman,D.H., & Association, I.C.N. (1997). Neurofibromatosis Type 1 in Childhood: Wiley.

2. Van Es SL, Colman MH, Thompson JF, McCarthy SW, Scolyer RA. Angiotropism is an Independent Predictor of Local Recurrence and In-Transit Metastasis in Primary Cutaneous Melanoma. Am J Surg Pathol 2008; 32:1396-1403.

The research from this paper is referred to in the latest edition of: Royal College of Pathologists Of Australasia. (2014).Primary Cutaneous Melanoma Structured Reporting Protocol (2^nd Edition 2014) (reference 86)

3. (i) Van Es SL; Kumar RK; Pryor WM; Salisbury EL; Velan GM, 2016, 'Cytopathology whole slide images and adaptive tutorials for senior medical students: A randomized crossover trial', Diagnostic Pathology, vol. 11, no. 1, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13000-016-0452-z (one of 2015’s most influential articles according to Altimetric.com)

(ii) Van Es SL; Pryor WM; Belinson Z; Salisbury EL; Velan GM, 2015, 'Cytopathology whole slide images and virtual microscopy adaptive tutorials: A software pilot.', Journal of Pathology Informatics, vol. 6, pp. 54, http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/2153-3539.166016

(iii) Van Es SL; Kumar RK; Pryor WM; Salisbury EL; Velan GM, 2015, 'Cytopathology whole slide images and adaptive tutorials for postgraduate pathology trainees: A randomized crossover trial', Human Pathology, vol. 46, no. 9, pp. 1297 - 1305, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.humpath.2015.05.009

Funding:

2012: $ 2436.32 - SOMS research support scheme. Van Es SL & Velan GM.

2012-2014: $ 30 634.80 ; RCPA Specialist Training Program - Rural Support – Initiative of Australian Government Department of Health.  Van Es SL & Velan GM.

Teaching and Research Goals:

To improve teaching and learning in undergraduate and postgraduate pathology through educational research, in order to ultimately translate into better care and outcome for patients in the clinical situation.

Teaching and Research Interests:

Teaching

Dr Van Es was joint-creator, author, convenor and the main teacher for the Phase 3 Rational Use of Investigations (RUI) Selective for the UNSW Medicine Program. This Phase 3 Medicine selective course in the Rational Use of Investigations ran from 2010 to 2016, and  has been immensely successful, gaining consistently outstanding feedback from students based on both  standard UNSW CATEI evaluations and also informal feedback, with improvements each year.

The structure and progress of this highly successful UNSW Medicine selective has been presented at conferences both nationally to Pathologists (Innovations and Trainees program) and internationally to the Medical Science Educator community.

This selective course also provided credit towards an advanced standing pathway for specialist training in pathology, developed by UNSW Medicine and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA). A number of students who participated in the RUI selective have gained accredited pathology registrar training positions, and still speak very highly of this course.

Additional teaching in the Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 Medicine Program. Teaching in ANAT3212, PATH2201 and PATH3206 for Science students at UNSW.

Research

Dr Van Es has recently been awarded a PhD in virtual pathology and virtual cytopathology. Her project studied the implementation of virtual pathology and virtual microscopy adaptive tutorials (VMATs) into both specialist postgraduate and medical student pathology teaching and education.

Broad areas of research: Cytopathology, virtual pathology (digital pathology), histopathology, cytopathology, rational use of medical investigations, medical education. Particular interests in the transition of teaching from undergraduate to postgraduate pathology; in virtual pathology as a learning tool both in undergraduate and postgraduate pathology education. This educational research using digital pathology is described in a post on the BEST Network, https://www.best.edu.au/2016/04/18/digital-pathology.html

Invited Speaker /Invited Teaching

2012 - Invitation to speak about "Inspiring Medical Students to Love Pathology" in the Innovations and Trainees Program at Pathology Update Conference (RCPA) Sydney, March 2012

2014 - Invitation to author the RCPA International Pathology Day online quiz in November 2014 for Pathology registrars and Medical students Australia-wide. Over 300 students entered.

2017 – Assisting in the Digital Pathology workshop (23-02-2017) for RCPA Pathology Update conference (Sydney, 23-02-2017 to 26-02-2017)

Society Memberships and/or Professional Affiliations:

1. Member of the Association of Pathology Informatics (USA) since 2017

2. Member of the Australasian Society of HIV Medicine (ASHM) since 1995

3. Member of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) since 1996 and Fellow (FRCPA) since 2003

4. Member of the Australasian Dermatopathology Society since 2004

5. Member of the Translational Cancer Research Network (TCRN) since 2012

6. Member of the SOMS Educational Research and Development Group, UNSW since 2012.

7. Member of the Australian Society of Cytology Inc. since 2013

8. Member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) since 2013