Last chance to attend the 2023 ELMC2, new lab CE on Labucate.org, Ask Me Anything: A Day in the Life of a Laboratory Professional, and more.

Last Chance to Attend the 2023 Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2)

ELMC2January 20-21, 2023 | Virtual

The Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2) is designed specifically for laboratory professionals to help you transition into and thrive in management roles. The all-virtual event aims to instill in laboratory professionals the skills to lead and take on management/leadership positions within and outside the laboratory. Get real-world advice on how to understand and speak the languages of quality with other professionals with whom you interface (nursing, pharmacy, and medicine).

Program topics include a complete track related to workforce:

  • Eliminating Workplace Toxicity
  • Onboarding New Employees
  • Building Strong Interdisciplinary Relationships
  • Employee Retention and Engagement
  • Laboratory Revenue Cycles, Reimbursement, Billing and Coding
  • Legal Updates
  • Navigating Intercultural Conflict
  • Medical Ethics
  • Laboratory Safety
  • Laboratory Design

More than 20 hours of P.A.C.E.® programming will be available live and to stream for up to 30 days after the event. Networking roundtables and an attendee online community put you in touch with experienced experts to help you solve your stickiest problems.

Discounted group registration rates are available. Register by next Tuesday, January 17.

Nominate Members for National Positions

The Nominations Committee is seeking qualified members interested in serving in an elected national position beginning on June 30, 2023. If you or someone you know should be nominated, contact Nominations Committee Chair Josh Pulido by Sunday, January 15, 2023.

  • President-elect (three-year commitment, automatically succeeding to President and Past President)
  • Director (three positions, three-year term)
  • Judicial Committee (one position, five-year term)
  • Nominations Committee (five positions, two-year term)

Learn more about each position’s eligibility requirements and duties.

2023 Awards and Scholarships Deadlines

Submit ASCLS Awards Nominations by February 15

Do you know someone who would be a good candidate for an ASCLS award, grant, or scholarship? The ASCLS Awards Committee encourages members to submit nominations for the following awards by February 15.

  • Ascending Professional Leadership Award
  • Developing Professional Leadership Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • State Society Website Award
  • State Society Publications Award (for both print and web-based publications)
  • Scientific Assembly Professional Achievement Award
  • Scientific Research Award
  • Theriot Award (for media and equipment development)

Details for applying for these awards and the link to submit applications are on the Awards and Scholarships webpage. Questions can be addressed to the Awards Committee at awards@ascls.org.

Nominating a worthy member for one of these awards is a great way to recognize the valued work of our dedicated members and to honor them at the Awards Ceremony at the 2023 Joint Annual Meeting, June 26-30, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Scholarships Available for Undergraduate and Graduate CLS Students

The Alpha Mu Tau Fraternity and ASCLS Education & Research (E&R) Fund, Inc., support the advancement of medical laboratory professionals through graduate and undergraduate scholarships for clinical laboratory science students.

The E&R Fund is pleased to offer two new scholarships this year:

  • The Snyderwomen Scholarship will award $1,500 to a current ASCLS member who is a deserving MLT that has matriculated into an MLS program.
  • The ASCLS Past Presidents Scholarship will support a current ASCLS member who is a graduate student (in a master’s or doctoral program) with a $2,000 scholarship.

Applicants for all scholarships must be ASCLS members. Applications are due by April 1. Learn more about eligibility requirements and download the application.

Laboratory Learning at Your Fingertips from the CDC

CDC OneLab REACHIn an emergency response, quickly providing clinical laboratory professionals with the most current, accurate, and relevant information is paramount. The growing need for centralized, up-to-date, and credible clinical laboratory education and training materials became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the creation of OneLab REACH™.

CDC’s OneLab Rapid Education and Capacity-building Hub (REACH) is a targeted and customized learning management system (LMS) for clinical laboratory professionals built to address this need. OneLab REACH offers free COVID-19 relevant laboratory education and trainings resources, Continuing Education Units (CEUs) (including P.A.C.E.®), and downloadable materials. OneLab REACH gives clinical laboratory professionals direct access to resources relevant to their response efforts with the current pandemic and will aid in future emergency responses.

Many medical laboratory professionals have expressed that they feel “overlooked” as much education and training content is designed for clinicians. OneLab REACH contains information solely for clinical laboratory professionals. The LMS will equip you with resources that support you in performing your job safely and serving on the front lines of healthcare.

Looking for even more opportunities to engage? As part of CDC’s OneLab Network, you can be part of a peer-to-peer laboratory learning community and collaborate with other clinical and public health laboratory professionals. Here you’ll be invited to live trainings, discuss laboratory training needs with CDC experts, and access eLearnings and job aids.

Upcoming Events

Mid-Year ASCLS House of Delegates Meeting

January 15, 1 pm ET | Virtual

ASCLS will hold its third annual mid-year virtual meeting of the House of Delegates on Sunday, January 15, at 1 pm ET. The following topics will be discussed:

  • Revised Patient Safety and Clinical Laboratory Science Position Paper
  • Legislative Update: 117th Congress Recap and 118th Congress Preview
  • Constituent Society Health Assessment and Benchmarking
  • Regional Alignment Exercise Results
  • ASCLS Scope and Criteria for Exclusion of Meeting Sites
  • Sense of the House: Position Paper on Social Determinants of Health

All credentialed delegates and alternate delegates, who began their term with the first session of the 2022-2023 House of Delegates on June 30, were automatically registered to attend and are invited to participate fully in the meeting.

PRISM: Pride · Respect · Inclusion · Support · Momentum

January 16-18, 2023 | Virtual

PRISMThe ASCLS Diversity Advocacy Council (DAC) invites you to participate in the third annual PRISM: Pride · Respect · Inclusion · Support · Momentum, which kicks off today with the Glenda Price Diversity in Leadership Award Online Fundraiser. This award honors Glenda Price, the first African American president of ASCLS (formerly ASMT), and was created to promote diversity and inclusion within the ASCLS Leadership Academy, and ultimately ASCLS.

Here’s how you can help:

  • Donate money directly to the Glenda Price scholarship by texting PRISM23 to 76278. Every donation counts!
  • Bid on an item in the silent auction. Bidding will occur during the entire week of PRISM, January 13-18, and participants will be notified via text if they are outbid on an item. Register at PRISM23.givesmart.com to bid on an item. Bidding will end on January 18 at 9 pm ET.

PRISM features a series of virtual discussions. RSVP for the following events:

All events are held virtually through Zoom and are free to attend.

Ask Me Anything: A Day in the Life of a Laboratory Professional

Ask Me Anything: A Day in the Life of a Laboratory ProfessionalFebruary 5, 7 pm ET | Virtual

Join the Developing Professionals Forum for an Ask Me Anything with current practicing laboratory professionals about what their typical day entails. Find out what it’s like to work in different areas of the lab, and get all your questions answered.

Panelists will include Grace Henderson, MLS(ASCP)CM, medical technologist at Beaumont Health Royal Oak; Charnae Jones, MS, MB(ASCP)CM, clinical/medical specialist at Georgia Public Health Department Laboratory; Brett M. Rice, MHS, MLS(ASCP)CMSHCMSCYMCM, assistant professor and medical laboratory scientist at Augusta University Medical Center; and more.

Sign up for the free virtual event on Sunday, February 5, at 7 pm ET.

The Developing and Ascending Professionals Forums host bi-monthly AMAs on a variety of career-related topics to help answer all your burning questions. View a playlist of previous career advice AMAs on the ASCLS YouTube channel.

Connect with Clinical Laboratory Educators at CLEC 2023

CLEC 2022 attendees during the Opening Keynote in DenverThe annual Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference (CLEC) is the best opportunity to build your network of peers who share your goal of providing excellent clinical laboratory science education. Networking breaks and social events are built in throughout the conference to give you time to interact with speakers and fellow attendees to share your experiences and learn from each other. In-person attendees have the option to take part in a Pestilence, Pandemic & Plague Tour on Friday, March 3, at 7 pm CT, for a one-of-a-kind tour of the historic French Quarter.

CLEC 2023 will be held March 2-4 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana. To provide you flexibility to participate in CLEC in the format that best fits your personal circumstances, you have the option to attend CLEC either in New Orleans or virtually through the streaming device of your choice, wherever you are.

All educational sessions will be streamed live and recorded. Both in-person and virtual registrants will have access to all session recordings for 30 days after the event—more than 40 hours of P.A.C.E.®-approved credit—as well as additional virtual content provided in the conference app. Reserve your spot today!

8th Annual ASCLS Lab Week Run

2023 Lab Week Run MedalRegistration is now open for the annual ASCLS Lab Week Virtual Run. Step out of your labs and into your communities to help spread the word about the medical laboratory profession and have fun with friends and co-workers.

This virtual race can be run at any time during Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (April 23-29, 2023) and can be run anywhere. Participants can walk, use a treadmill, run outside, or even ride a bike to complete the 5K distance (or 3.1 miles).

Early Bird Pricing ends February 15. All proceeds go to grants and scholarships that help medical laboratory professionals attend ASCLS meetings, lobby representatives for the profession, and become future leaders in the field.

Thank you to our 2023 Lab Week Run Platinum Sponsors Cerus and SEKISUI Diagnostics.

New Lab CE on ASCLS Labucate

ASCLS Labucate logoASCLS Labucate is an online learning system featuring high-quality educational content, conveniently presented for laboratory professionals to grow and advance. ASCLS members enjoy substantial discounts on P.A.C.E.®-approved continuing education. Check out four courses recently added:

Patient Blood Management
This course was developed to educate and support the entire spectrum of patient transfusion, from identifying and treating presurgical anemia, to interoperative strategies to avoid transfusion, to addressing transfusion practices. This presentation provides an overview of what Patient Blood Management (PBM) is and includes discussion of the risks associated with blood transfusion, as well as provides ideas for how medical laboratory professions can get involved in this patient centered, patient safety initiative.

The Benefits of Whole Blood
Low titer, cold stored type O blood (LTOWB) is gaining popularity across the country. Although whole blood was widely used in the past, the ability to separate blood into components largely made whole blood disappear from use. Now, the benefits for patients and providers is being realized and it has returned to the forefront of transfusion.

One Night In the Blood Bank: Case Studies from the Transfusion Service
In this course, Blood Bank case studies are presented to address different types of challenges which can occur in the blood bank. At the end of the presentation participants will gain a better understanding of how to respond to common blood bank challenges in an efficient and timely way.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing in Microbiology: Methods, Breakpoints, and Beyond
This course reviews core concepts of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in the microbiology lab, including methods of testing, how interpretive criteria (breakpoints) are determined and updated, and how AST plays a role in public health.

Volunteer Opportunities

CDC OneLab logoCDC OneLab Pilot Testers

As part of the cooperative agreement between the CDC and ASCLS, the Society has been asked to identify clinical laboratory professionals willing to pilot test eLearning and virtual reality (VR) courses and just-in-time training resources like job aids, toolkits, and microlearning videos.

Reviewers should be individuals from the target audience for the training or resource, and should NOT be subject matter experts in the particular topic area that the training/resource addresses. They can be medical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, or other clinical laboratory staff, as appropriate. Pilot testers will generally have two weeks to review. Each review is expected to take approximately three hours. Learn more.

New Episode of Off the Bench Podcast

Off the Bench PodcastSubscribe to the Off the Bench Podcast for discussions on scientific and not-so-scientific ideas in laboratory medicine. New episodes drop the last Friday of each month.

On the December 30 episode, host Galina Dronova sat down with Elizabeth Power, a sought after speaker, consultant, and CEO of EPower & Associates, to discuss the importance of community in our personal and professional journeys. Listen for advice on how to build community with patients and care teams.

Subscribe to the podcast through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Voices Under 40

Stephanie WhiteheadSpotlight: Stephanie Whitehead, MBA, MPH, MLS(ASCP), San Antonio, Texas

Stephanie is employed by University Health in San Antonio as the executive director of Pathology Services. In her role at University Health, she is also enthusiastically involved in the “eLAborate Topics” podcast, a weekly podcast hosted by herself, Tywauna Wilson, and Lona Small that is broadcast on all podcast platforms.

Stephanie serves ASCLS in many capacities, most notably as the recent vice chair of the Mentorship Committee. She also served on the Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2) Steering Committee for the 2023 ELMC2. Stephanie is also a recent presenter of several well-received presentations at ELMC2 and the Clinical Laboratory Collaborative Conference. Read more.

ASCLS Voices Under 40 honors ASCLS members who have shown exceptional commitment to the Society, the laboratory profession, and their community at large at a younger age in their professional career. Each month we spotlight one of the shining voices who were selected from many nominations across the country.

Local Events

Save the dates for upcoming spring meetings.

Ohio Collaborative Laboratory Conference
April 12-14
Westerville, Ohio

 

Kentucky Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Spring Meeting
April 28
Richmond, Kentucky

ASCLS-Colorado & ASCLS-Wyoming Clinical Laboratory Collaborative Conference
May 4-5
Denver, Colorado

 

ASCLS-New York Spring Seminar
June 16
Rochester, New York

ASCLS Connect Video Tutorial

Update Your Profile

Help fellow ASCLS members get to know you. Complete your ASCLS Connect profile with a photo, bio, and other details about your background.

Find additional videos and tips in the ASCLS Connect Tutorials resource library.

Connect: The Community Conversations

ASCLS Connect is an invaluable way to ask questions, share feedback, and stay connected with your community of laboratorians. Here are some of the recent discussions you may have missed:

Key Dates

PRISM: Pride · Respect · Inclusion · Support · Momentum
January 16-18

2023 ELMC2 Registration Deadline
January 17

CLEC 2023 Regular Registration Deadline
February 10