Last chance to sign up for #LabJAM 2024; registration open for 2024 Labvocate Symposium; save the date for 2025 Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference, new CDC OneLab resources, and more.
Time to Renew Your ASCLS Membership
ASCLS is currently renewing memberships for the 2024-25 Society year. For those of you who have not yet renewed, a postcard was sent last month, and paper notices will arrive by mail next month. However, you can renew now to skip the additional paper and mailing.
Renew by July 31 to ensure access to your membership benefits, stay connected to your community of medical laboratory professionals, and maintain your continued membership status. Thank you for your support of ASCLS, and we look forward to another year to educate, motivate, celebrate, and labvocate with you.
Upcoming Events
Last Chance to Join over 750 Friends and Colleagues at #LabJAM 2024
July 8-12 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or Virtual
Late registration is still available for the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM). This unique conference brings together the scientific knowledge from three medical laboratory organizations offering opportunities to learn and connect with professionals from all facets of the medical laboratory.
Flexible attendee options allow you to attend in-person or virtually. All attendees receive access to session recordings for 30 days after the event, extending your learning opportunities.
The educational program provides about 50 hours of P.A.C.E.®-approved continuing education. Scientific sessions span Chemistry/Urinalysis to Microbiology/Public Health, Hematology/Hemostasis to Molecular and Biochemical Genetics, Generalist/Interdisciplinary to Laboratory Administration Management, and much more. Sign up today!
Put the ASCLS Constituent Society Leader Symposium on Your Calendar
Monday, July 8, 2-5 pm ET
The Constituent Society Leader Symposium is an opportunity to enhance your leadership skills and focus on organizational management within your constituent society. Any current or future constituent society leader is invited to attend.
The symposium will be held in Pittsburgh during the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM). A link to attend virtually will be provided in the Constituent Society Leaders Community in ASCLS Connect. You do not need to be registered for JAM to attend the Leader Symposium virtually. Stay tuned for more details about how to attend virtually.
Registration Open for 2024 Labvocate Symposium
September 30-October 1 | Alexandria, Virginia, or Virtual
The annual Labvocate Symposium (formerly called the Laboratory Legislative Symposium) gives you the chance to band together with medical laboratory professionals from six laboratory organizations and make our concerns known inside Congress.
The Labvocate Symposium provides a great education on the how-tos of lobbying. Attendees are coached on presentation techniques so they can effectively talk to their congressional representatives during appointments. You will come away from the two-day event with first-hand knowledge of the political system in action and confidence that you can make a difference.
New this year, all ASCLS Developing Professional members can virtually attend Labvocate 2024 for free.
This year’s event will be held September 30-October 1 at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia. In-person and virtual attendee options are available. Sign up by August 29 and save with the Early Bird discount.
Save the Date for the 2025 Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2)
January 24-25, 2025 | Virtual
The Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2) is designed specifically for medical laboratory professionals to help you transition into and thrive in management roles.
ELMC2 provides two days of virtual programming (live and streamed for up to 30 days after the live event), up to 20 hours of P.A.C.E.® credit, networking events, access to an attendees-only online community, and follow up programming expected to take place 6-12 weeks after the conclusion of the virtual conference, as well as special meet-ups at the ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting in June.
The ELMC2 Steering Committee is currently accepting full proposals, as well as ideas, for sessions for the 2025 program. Submit your session proposal or idea.
CDC OneLabTM Resources
Elevate Your Expertise: Enhancing Presentation Skills for Subject Matter Experts
1-2 pm ET | July 11 or August 1 | Virtual
Discover proven strategies to captivate your audience, leave a lasting impression, and enhance engagement and retention. Take a sneak peek at the Top 10 Presentation Tips to glimpse what OneLab has in store for you during this session.
You’ll also receive a certificate of completion to share on LinkedIn to showcase your newfound skills and highlight your accomplishments to your professional connections.
Introducing OneLab VR
OneLab REACHTM recently launched OneLab VR, a multiplayer virtual reality (VR) environment that contains an ever-expanding suite of laboratory training scenarios.
OneLab VR provides a safe and controlled learning environment where laboratory professionals can apply, assess, and improve their skills. Learners can complete several on-demand VR training scenarios focused on laboratory safety principles and equipment, and trainers can use the multiplayer space to deliver live virtual trainings to learners and communicate with them from anywhere.
OneLab VR includes:
- 12 different laboratories in a 50,000-square-foot virtual facility created for clinical and public health laboratory training.
- Over 100 (and counting) custom-built pieces of laboratory equipment.
- OneLab VR is designed for the Meta Quest 2 headset.
Don’t have a VR headset? The OneLab VR-Ready Laboratories Program provides a limited number of VR headsets to public health laboratories, educational programs within clinical laboratories, and academic laboratories.
About OneLab
The OneLab Rapid Education and Capacity-building Hub (REACH) is a laboratory education and training learning management system specifically designed and tailored for the needs of clinical and public health laboratory professionals. OneLab REACH supports the laboratory community by providing relevant and timely education and training resources.
CDC’s OneLab Network provides opportunities for education and training, as well as a space for collaboration between clinical, public health, individuals who perform or coordinate testing at non-laboratory sites, and CDC laboratory education and training professionals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Laboratory Systems is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program.
OneLab™ and OneLab REACH™ are registered trademarks of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
New Episodes of Off the Bench Podcast
Subscribe 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 today’s episode, hosts Sophia Chandrasekar and Doryan Redding meet up again with previous guest Grace Leu-Burke, MSCLS, MLS(ASCP), Associate Professor and Program Director of the MLS program at The University of Alaska, Anchorage. Doryan and Sophia pick Grace’s brain on how blood banking has changed since her student years, especially with the effects of HIV and Hepatitis in blood banking and safety, and compare it to Doryan’s experience being a new graduate in the blood bank during the early days of COVID-19.
On the May 31 episode, Sophia and Doryan talk with LaShanta Brice, DCLS, MLS(ASCP)CM, SH(ASCP)CM, about her amazing journey from an MLS in a hospital lab to a Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science (DCLS) in industry. She describes what it’s like to go through the DCLS program, and what her role in industry is today.
Subscribe to the podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Be sure to check out the Off the Bench Live Show during the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting on Thursday, July 11, at 12:15-1:15 pm ET. The JAM Query Check (QC) live game show focuses on questions related, and somewhat related, to our profession. Three contestants will go buzzer-to-buzzer in friendly competition in categories both scientific and not-so-scientific. The game will be audio recorded for the July 26 Off the Bench podcast episode. Come and watch your fellow laboratorians compete. You never know if you might be a lifeline for someone!
Voices Under 40
Spotlight: Elizabeth Dahlgreen, MLS(ASCP)CM, Maryville, Wisconsin
Elizabeth is the director of laboratory services at the Aurora Healthcare in Grafton, Wisconsin. She is responsible for Grafton and Hartford hospital laboratories, along with 15 other clinical laboratories. Her team includes 180 members she is responsible for in her daily duties. Amazingly, for a person as young as she is, Elizabeth is responsible for a budget of $6.5 million annually. She turned around a vacancy rate of 8-13 vacancies annually to now having less than three and has reached a retention rate of nearly 100 percent!
Elizabeth is not only an amazing young professional, but she is also a leader in ASCLS in that she is already a past president for the ASCLS-Wisconsin constituent society. In her opinion, her greatest accomplishment is her work during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was able to effectively grow the organization during that time and help ASCLS-Wisconsin Board members grow closer to their members and potential members. She has participated in ASCLS-Wisconsin’s Scholarship Fund Committee, was the Award chair, and served as a Convention Planning Committee co-chair. She is also involved at the regional level of ASCLS for her state, including being part of the Leadership Academy for Regional V and a council board member for Region V. 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
2024 Hawaii Clinical Laboratory Conference (HCLC)
September 20-21
Honolulu, Hawaii
ASCLS Region V Meeting
October 10-11
Fargo, North Dakota
Welcome New Members
We’re happy to welcome 142 individuals who joined ASCLS in the past month.
Professional Members
Nicole Andregic, PA
Katherine Childers, NY
Isabelle Johnson, PA
Emily Johnston, MD
Jessica Keller, MI
Coney Li, HI
Edith Morales, IL
Marcela Pa, TX
Francisco Rentas, FL
Paul Riley, NJ
Isak Schmidley, LA
Shawna Schuler, IA
Amara Sugalski, PA
Laura Templin-Howk, MN
Emily Vander veen, IA
Daria Wasilewski, NJ
Danielle White, TX
Ascending Professional Members
Alexandra Barnes, TX
Hannah Black, LA
Lilian Hoang, FL
Kristyl Jaramillo, MI
Selena King, KY
Adryanna Mota, GA
Joanna Stevens, MS
Sue Wright, SC
Developing Professional Members
Marsha Abalos, NJ
Berit Abers, NY
Afrah Aden, IA
Tochukwu Aguba, NT
Brittany Anderson, IA
Hunter Badey, CT
Evelyn Bagwell, GA
Joy Becker, CT
Marta Bilicka, NJ
Alexis Blackwood, MT
Michael Borissov, MT
Kail Bowman, IA
Melissa Briggs, NY
Savannah Brown, MT
Hannah Butler, IL
Hannah Campbell, AZ
Angela Capp, OK
Naama Chezar, NJ
Dalton Connolly, NC
Lucas Cook, OK
Sarah Cook, NC
Hunter Crawford-Olesen, WI
Christina Cross, WI
Kallista Dagenais, OK
Lex Davis, OK
Ashley Dillon, NY
Alex Dunlap, GA
Angela Eipers-Edwards, MN
Brooke Eller, NC
Adrian Fallwell, OK
Angela Farris, OK
Jocelyn Faulkner, NY
Biagio Fittipaldi, VA
Adam Fitzsimmons, IA
Jonas Fu, MN
Dulce Fuentes, NJ
Alyssa Gibbons, IA
Jasha Gomez, IA
Carolina Gonzalez, TX
Paola Gonzalez, ND
Karlie Graham, MT
Sadie Haben, MN
David Haberkorn, MD
Casey Harrison, CO
Zoe Hawkins, SC
Sarah Hernandez, IA
Angelo Iasevoli, NY
Thomas Jackson, MT
Keyshawn Jeanty, NJ
Monica Jeter, TX
Bethany Johnson, FL
Aubrie Johnston, OK
Christine Jones, OK
Emily Keel, OK
Taylor Kelley, WI
Angela Kern, IA
Ilona Kutsar, WA
My Vy Lam, NY
Tyrza Lamma, MT
Kayla Langer, ND
Preeti Lata, NJ
Destiny Lo, WI
Carmen Lopez, ME
Yelyzaveta Lyeshchenko, FL
Kailey Maksim, AZ
Angela Martzall, CA
Jenna McGinnis, OK
Taylor Meinecke, MO
Daniela Mendez Soria, OK
Mulugeta Mengistu, NV
Franklin Merrill, MT
Olivia Metzger, NY
Amanda Mittelstadt, WI
Mohamed Mohamed, IA
Shannon Morgan, IA
Ryan Morrison, OK
Daelyn Myers, MT
Benjamin Nelson, WI
Danielle Nigro, NJ
Emi Nunez, NY
Jieun Oh, MD
Intupim Ordasi, NJ
Emery Paine, WI
Taylor Paluch, NJ
Sloane Pansini, NJ
Nuria Paredes-Chacon, NJ
Stacey Peralta, CA
Marissa Peters, MT
Tami Peters, MT
Catherine Pham, CA
Glaina Yole Nerve Pierre Noel, NJ
Layton Praxel, MT
James Price, DE
Jeodalyn Reynolds, WI
Rabeca Richardson, OK
Autumn Rohan, MT
Natalie Ruegsegger, MN
Grace Salviati, IA
Annabelle Schmitte, NY
Kendal Shade, GA
Narges Shayegan, CT
Jackson Slade, MS
Allison Smith, IA
Noah Smith, NY
Ace Spitzer, CO
Andrew Stanfield, IA
Natalie Swingle, IA
Cheyenne Tatem, GA
Elizabeth Thomas, KY
Katherine Torres, TX
Monica Tucker, IA
Alyssa Weeks, SC
Katherine Widmer, IA
Reed Wildeboer, IA
Lisa Zheng, IA
Community Members
Daniel Fastenau, ND
Irma Jimenez, CA
Connect: The Community Conversations
ASCLS Connect is an invaluable platform to ask questions, share feedback, and stay connected with your community of laboratorians. Here are some of the recent discussions you may have missed.
The Membership Committee posts “Membership Mondays” questions each week to spur discussion and get to know fellow ASCLS members. Recent questions were:
- What attracted you to Medical Laboratory Science as a profession?
- Where is your go-to environment to relax and refresh?
- What summer activities are you looking forward to?
- What has your experience been participating in Pride Month?
In the Open Forum, members gave suggestions for books or materials to study for the MLS certification exam.
Also in the Open Forum, the Joint Annual Meeting Host Committee provided wonderful tips and suggestions for those headed to Pittsburgh for JAM.
Members also congratulated Keila Poulsen, who is retiring after a 55–year career, which included a news article about her.
Key Dates
ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting
Pittsburgh, PA | Virtual
July 8-12
ASCLS Membership Renewal Deadline
July 31
Labvocate Symposium
Alexandria, VA | Virtual
September 30-October 1