Welcome to the first trainees' section in the new ESTP Website which is really to update everyone on what the ESTP currently provides for trainees, what some of the future plans are and what the challenges are! Since September 2004, approximately 35 trainees in Toxicologic Pathology are registered on the ESTP Trainees' e-mail mailing list. Regular bulletins are sent out regarding forthcoming meetings and training events. In addition, interesting papers, together with notice of particular training opportunities available at various institutes, have also been sent out to trainees. One of the downsides of running such an e-mail list is that communication is often one way i.e. I send out the information and no feedback returns from the recipients! Rather than continuing to work on the principle that "no news is good news", a questionnaire has been circulated to trainees in order to ascertain what the trainee needs really are and how best the ESTP can serve them. Results of this will be presented in the near future.

A key item of concern for most trainees is how to pass exams, whether they be the exams of the ECVP, ACVP or RCPath. There are indeed a number of training courses available throughout Europe and, for me, as Councillor for the Younger Generation, one of my major difficulties is discovering what meetings are taking place. The more I look, I more I find and the more I see areas of overlap both with regard to subject matter and also in the timing of meetings. The real challenge for the future will be to improve communication between the different colleges and sister societies both within Europe, and more globally, to enable both examiners and examinees to have access to a focussed, complimentary and co-ordinated approach to training. The discipline of Toxicologic Pathology often sits to one side of Veterinary Pathology and one of my main plans for the coming year is to have a meeting with key co-ordinators of training programmes in each of the fields of Toxicologic Pathology and Veterinary Pathology in order to look at ways of streamlining our training activities.

Many trainees in Veterinary Pathology do not consider a career in industry and it is up to industry to be pro-active and provide training opportunities for our trainees. The trainees of today will be the experts of the future. I am always on the look-out for individuals in industry who are keen to provide training placements for short or longer term projects. Please feel free to e-mail at jenny.mckay@astrazeneca.com if you feel you can assist in this way.

Finally, to the trainees, this is your opportunity to send in ideas, comments, suggestions, queries and in the coming months we will be looking at ways of you inputting directly into the website. I would also encourage you to use some of the facilities which the current website offers you such as the "Guess What" slide diagnosis.

Jenny McKay
AstraZeneca, Safety Assessment,
U.K.

Please read here more about "Training in Veterinary and Toxicologic Pathology in the EU".