Volume 39 Number 3 | June 2025
2025 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting
Christopher Swartz, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Joint Annual Meeting Steering Committee Vice-Chair
Melonie Falcon, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, CMQ/OE, CQIA(ASQ), ASCLS Joint Annual Meeting Steering Committee Past Chair
The 2025 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) will be held at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, California, from June 8-12. The meeting is a collaborative event between three partner organizations: the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), the Association of Genetic Technologists (AGT), and the Society of American Federal Medical Laboratory Scientists (SAFMLS). Features of JAM 2025 include a plethora of peer-reviewed educational and poster sessions, numerous opportunities to engage with industry partners, and the chance to network and socialize with professional colleagues and friends. For those attending in person, there will also be time to explore beautiful and historic Sacramento, the capital city of California.
Registration for JAM 2025 is currently open. Both in-person and virtual attendance options are available for conference attendees. Educational sessions will be streamed live and recorded. For the convenience of JAM attendees, the session recordings will be made available virtually through the conference app and remain accessible for 30 days after the end of JAM. This allows you to pick which sessions to attend in real-time, and which ones to watch later.
Available accommodations for JAM attendees include the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, and the Sheraton Grand Sacramento. Both hotels have room blocks available for conference attendees, and are located adjacent to the conference venue. The hotels and convention center are within convenient walking distance of many restaurants and tourist attractions, including Capitol Park. While additional information about local attractions will be provided by the host committee, featured tourist destinations in Sacramento include the California State Railroad Museum, Old Sacramento, the California State Capitol Museum, and the Crocker Art Museum. If attendees would like to explore areas located a little further outside of Sacramento, the capitol is within a two-hour drive of Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and Wine Country.
Festivities begin on Sunday, June 8, which will feature an ASCLS Board of Directors Meeting, a pre-conference workshop about Optical Genome Mapping, and the Race to JAM trivia finals for Developing Professionals. Additional highlights from the conference schedule include ASCLS Society Update and Candidate Presentations and an AGT business meeting on June 9, AGT and ASCLS Awards ceremonies on June 10, and the ASCLS House of Delegates meeting on June 12. Featured networking opportunities include the Welcome Reception and Social Activities on June 9, and the AGT 50th Anniversary Celebration on June 10. Don’t forget to lace up your running shoes for the JAM 5K Fun Run on June 10!
Educational programs begin on Monday, June 9, and are available in several broad categories. These topical areas include Leadership/Management/Professional Development; General/Safety/Ethics; and Scientific Disciplines, which will feature technical presentations drawn from chemistry/urinalysis, microbiology, immunology, hematology/hemostasis, immunohematology, and cytogenetics/molecular/biochemical genetics. Opening and keynote presentations will also be added to round out the conference schedule.
The JAM Steering Committee is also proud to continue the JAM poster sessions in 2025. We have accepted 35 poster submissions from authors who are professionals, graduate students, or undergraduate students from AGT, SAFMLS, and ASCLS. The content categories include Clinical Case Study or Research (Qualitative or Quantitative). If you have never attended a poster session before, please come and support the participants. Select posters will also compete in the “Best of JAM” poster competition. All posters will be showcased digitally (both onsite in Sacramento and via the meeting app).
Over 30 industry partners will be present at JAM 2025, and opportunities to interact with vendors are built into the schedule, June 9-11. These valuable partners include numerous equipment and reagent manufacturers, accrediting bodies, educational institutions, software developers, and other medical technology companies. Some industry partners will feature mobile laboratory units, where attendees will have the chance to see live demonstrations of laboratory analyzers.
In summary, JAM 2025 will offer attendees many educational sessions, networking opportunities with professional colleagues and industry partners, and the chance to explore the very best of what Sacramento has to offer as a tourist destination. The JAM Steering Committee looks forward to seeing you this June in Sacramento or online!
Christopher Swartz is an Assistant Professor in the Medical Laboratory Science program at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, Kentucky.
Melonie Falcon is CEO for Laboratory Management Services, which encompasses Delta Pathology Group, Omega Diagnostics, and Pathology Resource Network in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.