Scholarships for undergrad and graduate CLS students, annual student paper award competition, research grant opportunities, Ask Me Anything: Global Health Heroes, registration open for the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting, and more.
Scholarships Available for Undergraduate and Graduate CLS Students
Applications Due April 1
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. Applicants for all scholarships must be ASCLS members. Learn more about eligibility requirements and how to apply by April 1.
Annual Student Paper Award Competition
Deadline: April 1
The Clinical Laboratory Educators Forum (CLEF) Student Paper Award Competition is currently accepting submissions for MLS/DMS/CGT/MLT student-authored research papers and case studies.
- Student research papers should address scientific as well as applicable educational, technical, administrative, consulting, and management studies.
- Case studies should address any unusual, interesting, and unique manifestation of a disease etiology, pathology, clinical syndrome, complications, and prognosis known or unknown.
The award for the top research paper and the top case study is a $500 cash prize and free registration to attend the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (in-person or virtually). Learn more.
Sponsored Content
Going the Distance
International Volunteer Opportunities Available for Medical Laboratory Science Educators
Advancing Health Professionals sends experienced professionals to undertake short-term, high-impact service assignments in Africa. Explore opportunities today! Browse current openings.
Research Grant Opportunities
Deadline: April 15
The ASCLS Education & Research Fund Board of Trustees is now accepting applications for both the Member Research Grant and the I. Dean Spradling Graduate Research Grant.
The grant application form was recently updated and now requires submission of an institutional review board (IRB) approval document. Additionally, the “Targeted Topics” section was expanded to include themes related to social determinants of health and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). There is also a new email address for all grant proposal submissions: grants@ascls.org. Please use this email for any questions or inquiries.
ASCLS Award Nominations
There’s still time to recognize your fellow ASCLS members for the exceptional work they are doing in your constituent society and region. Submit nominations for the following awards by the specified deadlines:
- Constituent Society Member of the Year Recognition (Due April 1)
- Omicron Sigma (Due April 1)
- Keys to the Future (Due May 1)
Upcoming Events
Ask Me Anything: Global Health Heroes – Empowering Communities Beyond Borders
March 24, 8 pm EDT | Virtual
Join the ASCLS Ascending and Developing Professionals Forums for a Q&A exploration of healthcare mission trips and their profound and life-changing impact. Seasoned experts who have served to uplift communities globally will delve into the challenges and triumphs of delivering crucial healthcare services and uncover the powerful intersection of technology, humanitarian aid, and community empowerment.
Panelists will include:
- Vicki Freeman, PhD, MASCP, MLS(ASCP)SCCM, FACB, University of Texas Medical Branch professor who leads laboratory missions
- Gabrielle “Dawn” Childs, RN, MA, MPH, Office of Peace Corps Response and Advancing Health Professionals
- Ibrahim Fathelrahman, MSF/Doctors Without Borders Operations Amsterdam
The Developing and Ascending Professionals Forums host bi-monthly free Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions 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 Your Medical Laboratory Community at the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting
July 8-12 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or Virtual
Registration is now open for the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM). JAM is the gathering for all those with a mutual interest in advancing medical laboratory science for the benefit of patients.
- Participate in the best learning experiences that encompass all disciplines of the laboratory profession and all stages of your career.
- Gain practical knowledge on methodologies, management, and emerging issues, including the latest in molecular and genetics innovations.
- Develop new skills and learn proven leadership strategies to advance in your career and progress into leadership roles.
Again this year JAM will offer flexibility with two attendee options.
In-Person Attendance: JAM will be held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition to the educational program, poster presentations, industry partner exhibits, and networking activities, you’ll also receive access to all recorded JAM educational sessions for 30 days after the event, providing you with about 50 hours of P.A.C.E.®-approved credit.
Virtual Attendance: You will have access to the nearly 50 educational sessions, either streamed live or recorded; industry partner virtual activities; and virtual poster presentations. You will also have access to all recorded JAM educational sessions for 30 days after the event. You get to choose which sessions and events you want to attend live and which recordings you will view later when the time is right. Create a personalized JAM experience that fits your life.
Sign up by May 1 for the best rate.
Travel and Registration Scholarships Available for 2024 Joint Annual Meeting
Deadline: April 30
The Ascending and Developing Professionals Forums will collectively award over $10,000 in travel and registration scholarships to Ascending and Developing Professionals attending the 2024 Joint Annual Meeting (JAM), either in-person or virtually. The exact breakdown of these grants will be determined by the number of applicants and their preference of attendance. Apply by April 30!
Race to JAM Student Trivia Competition
Race to JAM is a national student trivia competition hosted by the ASCLS Developing Professionals Forum. On Saturday, April 13, the following nine teams will participate in the preliminary rounds conducted over Zoom:
- Houston Methodist Hospital
- LSU Health Shreveport
- Oregon Institute of Technology
- Otero College
- PCOM-Georgia MLS Program
- University of Nebraska Medical Center #1
- University of Nebraska Medical Center #2
- Wichita State University #1
- Wichita State University #2
The final two teams will go head-to-head in-person on Monday, July 8, 5 pm ET, at the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM), held July 8-12 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The winning team will be recognized during the Awards Ceremony at JAM on Wednesday, July 10. Good luck to all the teams!
Medical Laboratory Professionals Week
April 14-20
9th Annual ASCLS Lab Week Run
April 14-20 | Virtual
Join more than 1,250 laboratory professionals who have already signed up for the 9th 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 14-20, 2024) 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). Sign up by April 5 to ensure your race packet arrives in time for Lab Week!
All proceeds go to 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 2024 Lab Week Run Platinum Sponsors AUDIT MicroControls, BD, COLA, Greiner Bio-One, Scopio, SEKISUI Diagnostics, and TELCOR.
Lab Week Games and Activities
The ASCLS Marketing and Communications Committee is working hard to create games and activities you can use in your workplace or participate in virtually during Medical Laboratory Professionals Week. Their plans also include a Lab Week recipe collection, which will be turned into a lab-themed/potluck cook book. Stay tuned for more information coming in early April.
Impressive Numbers from CLEC 2024
ASCLS welcomed about 730 educators from across the country at the 2024 Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference (CLEC)—the highest attendance for any CLEC ever! We had 511 attendees join us in Las Vegas and 217 online, February 22-24. The educational program featured 41 sessions presented by 83 speakers sharing ideas, thoughts, and takeaways for clinical laboratory education programs. Additionally, 28 posters featuring 60 authors and co-authors were showcased.
The 13 members of the CLEC Steering Committee were joined by almost 100 volunteers to make CLEC a resounding success by helping to review session proposals and poster abstracts, serving as moderators, helping at the registration desk, and coordinating virtual networking discussions.
Attendees shared their most positive aspects of the CLEC 2024 program on conference evaluations:
- “The sense of community and camaraderie was tangible. Everyone I interacted with cared about their students, the profession, and patients.”
- “Seeing the commonality surrounding concerns of the program directors. I no longer feel alone in the struggles I face as a new program director.”
- “Of the 12 session I attended, I took 10 typed pages of notes with 20 new fun ideas to take back!”
- “The sheer amount of information on so many different relevant topics is the main reason I attend CLEC.”
- “Many sessions to choose from at each timeslot. Look forward to watching additional sessions soon online.”
- “I always love and appreciate the support system that CLEC encourages. The ‘we’re all in this together’ feel of lets help each other do better for the same overall outcome—the field of work we love. I met three new friends this time and hope to collaborate with them further outside of CLEC.”
CLEC also included 20 industry partners who showcased innovative technologies, textbooks, and other educational materials for the educators—both in the exhibit area in Las Vegas and in their virtual booths.
The ASCLS Education & Research Fund, Inc., virtual silent auction raised nearly $4,500 for medical laboratory science scholarships and research grants.
The CLEC Steering Committee is eager to evaluate feedback from this conference and start planning another amazing CLEC 2025 in Atlanta, March 6-8.
CDC OneLabTM
Free Webinar: Risk Assessment in Clinical Laboratories
Wednesday, March 27, 12 pm ET
When Ebola entered the United States in 2014, healthcare workers were faced with the very real threat of a deadly exotic disease presenting itself anywhere at any time. This revealed the importance of needing to be prepared and ready to respond. Laboratory professionals have since been tasked with performing a risk assessment in an effort to protect themselves and their communities from laboratory-associated infections. Participants of this webinar will be reminded of how to identify and assess for hazards and mitigate risk and will learn of resources available to assist in what can seem like a daunting process.
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. Access recordings from previous webinars:
Laboratory Onboarding Template: Pilot Test by the Guam Public Health Laboratory (GPHL) – On January 17, 2024, Mugdha Vasireddi, PhD, HCLD, ABB, presented on how the Guam Public Health Laboratory GPHL pilot tested the CDC Laboratory Onboarding Template to develop a New Employee Standard Operating Procedure to provide a structured and streamlined process to onboard new employees into the laboratory, explain in detail the objectives of working in a public health laboratory, and provide a road map to navigate the day-to-day activities. A recording of the webinar is now available.
Managing Burnout in a Post-COVID World – On February 6, 2024, Nancy J. Lewis, MT(ASCP), SBB, MS, SHRM-CP, PHR, RCC, presented on the signs of burnout, how to develop coping strategies for burnout, the importance of seeking work-life harmony, and stress management techniques. Webinar media and resources are now available.
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™ is a registered trademark of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
OneLab Summit
April 16-18 | Virtual
OneLab Summit is a free, annual virtual event that connects laboratory professionals in real-time to support a unified response to laboratory education and training needs. Attendance is open to anyone interested or involved in the laboratory profession. OneLab Summit programming is most relevant to people who provide education or training to clinical and public laboratory professionals.
Registrants are welcome to attend the entire event or only specific sessions of interest. Select sessions will offer P.A.C.E.® credit.
You do not have to be a CDC OneLab REACHTM member to attend OneLab Summit. However, you must have a OneLab REACH account to obtain ASCLS P.A.C.E.® credit on the sessions offering P.A.C.E.® credit.
Submit a poster by March 27! This year, the OneLab Summit will feature a Virtual Exhibit Hall. Attendees can use this online space to highlight their organization’s programs, resources, success stories, and more. To submit a poster to the Virtual Exhibit Hall, download and complete the poster template and return it to OneLab@cdc.gov by March 27. Poster submissions will be capped at 25 posters for the 2024 Summit.
OneLab REACH™ is a registered trademark of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Voices Under 40
Spotlight: Nicholas Brehl, MEd, MLS(ASCP)CM, Indianapolis, Indiana
Nicholas Brehl is currently the assistant professor of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he teaches hematology, urinalysis, and several other topics. He also holds the title of Director of Health Professions Programs, Director of Medical Laboratory Science Program, and is a Diane S. Leland Scholar.
Nick has cultivated a strong history of leadership within ASCLS, serving as the president of ASCLS-Indiana for several years, as well as their Annual Meeting Committee chair and treasurer, and the membership chair for Region IV, and the Region IV representative for the national Membership Committee. 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
Check out events happening in ASCLS constituent societies.
2024 Louisiana Society for Clinical Laboratory Science/ASCLS-Mississippi
March 25-27
Biloxi, Mississippi
2024 Ohio Collaborative Laboratory Conference
March 25-26
Westerville, Ohio
ASCLS-Wisconsin 2024 State Convention
April 2-3
Appleton, Wisconsin
ASCLS-Indiana Networking Event
April 3
Indianapolis, Indiana
2024 Minnesota Clinical Laboratory Collaborative
April 4-5
Bloomington, Minnesota
Spring ASCLS-Virginia Meeting
April 5-6
Radford, Virginia
ASCLS-Kansas 2024 Annual Meeting
April 9-10
Salina, Kansas
Texas Association of Clinical Laboratory Science Annual Meeting
April 10-12
Granbury, Texas
ASCLS-Montana Conference 2024
April 11-13
Billings, Montana
ASCLS-South Dakota Spring Symposium
April 11-12
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
ASCLS-Arkansas Spring 2024 Laboratory Conference
April 12
Benton, Arkansas
Florida Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Spring Symposium 2024
April 12
Orlando, Florida
ASCLS-Michigan Annual Conference
April 14-16
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
CoLABorate Iowa Clinical Laboratory Conference
April 16-17
Des Moines, Iowa
ASCLS-New Jersey 2024 Spring Seminar & Expo
April 18
Somerset, New Jersey
ASCLS-Alaska, Oregon, and Washington Joint Spring Meeting
April 18-19
Virtual
Clinical Laboratory Collaborative Conference (ASCLS-Colorado and ASCLS-Wyoming)
April 18-19
Denver, Colorado
Spring 2024 Kentucky Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Meeting
April 19
Richmond, Kentucky
ASCLS-Illinois Lab Week Networking Event
April 20
Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
2024 ASCLS-North Dakota State Meeting
April 26-27
Bismarck, North Dakota
ASCLS-Oklahoma Spring Seminar
April 27
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
2024 ASCLS-Pennsylvania Spring Meeting
May 5-6
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
ASCLS-New York Spring Seminar
June 7
Dobbs Ferry, New York
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:
- To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, let’s play Irish Trivia/Spot the fake.
- What is your favorite spring break destination?
- What did you choose to do with the extra day for Leap Year?
- Who are influential African American artists from your respective home state?
In the Clinical Laboratory Educators Forum, members shared their favorite teaching microscope.
In the Open Forum, members advised on reference ranges to teach for bicarbonate.
Also in the Open Forum, members discussed an article about how the laboratory professional organization in Canada and the Ontario Province Government is working to address the workforce shortage.