60th Annual ASCLS-GA Meeting
SEC-AACC 2007 Spring Meeting

April 3-4, 2008

Harry S. Downs Continuing Education Center
Clayton State University
Morrow, GA

Welcome —  April 3,  8:15 —8:30am

Keynote Presentation - April 3 ,  8:30—9:30AM

Labs are Vital… You are Vital
Paul L. Epner

Vendor Appreciation Hour & Career Fair—April 3,  5:00—6:00

Dedicated time to view the vendor exhibits and thank them for their support of the annual meeting.
Students will also have an opportunity to talk to potential employers
as various hospitals and laboratories will be represented.

Evening Event—Atlanta Braves Baseball

You’ve had a long day of educational topics and now it’s time to catch a ballgame. 
The Braves are in town playing the Pittsburgh Pirates
and we have reserved a block of seats available for purchase ($18) at Field Level! 
See more information on page 5.

FINAL KEYNOTE  - April 4th, 11:30—12:30

Working Together to Address Clinical Laboratory Workforce Issues
Paula Garrott

NOTE: All Sessions Available to All Attendees

Awards Luncheon  -  April 4, 12:30pm

Annual Business/Section Meetings

SES-AACC  - Thursday, April 3, 4:30—5:00 PM

ASCLS-GA  - Friday, April 4, 7:30—8:30 AM

8:15—9:30AM

Welcome & Keynote Address

1.  “Labs are Vital… You are Vital”

Paul L. Epner, M.Ed, MBA, B.S.—Abbott

Level of Instruction:  Intermediate                                   Contact Hours: 1.0

                  Laboratorians often lament that they do not have a “seat at the table”. They feel that if laboratory medicine was better valued, patient outcomes would be improved. This program will focus on understanding the basis for that view and the arguments against it as well as finding out what is being done to clarify the picture and resolve the problem. But it must not stop there because not only is laboratory medicine sub-optimized, but so are laboratory personnel. We will explore the untapped value YOU bring and hear strategies for mining that value for the betterment of patients and your own careers.

 9:30—10:00AM   Vendor Exhibits and Break

10:00—11:00AM    ASCLS

2.  What is Your Leadership Style?

Barbara Russell, EdD, MT, SH

Level of Instruction:  Basic Contact Hours: 1.0

Leadership is defined as the process of directing the behavior of others toward the accomplishment of common goals. A leadership style is the manner in which a leader provides direction and how he or she motivates those in the organization to meet the shared goals. Throughout history, researchers have identified many different leadership styles and this session will define many of these and will allow you, the participant, to assess your own leadership style.    

10:00—12:00PM       AACC

3.  The Need for Clinical Chemists: Three Perspectives

Francis R. Rodwig, Jr., M.D., M.P.H.    

Jay M. McDonald, M.D.                             

Level of Instruction: Basic-Intermediate Contact Hours: 2.0

Three different perspectives on the need for clinical chemists will be shared. Representatives from the diagnostics industry, from a community hospital, and from an academic medical center will discuss what skills they are looking for when considering hiring clinical chemists, and what training programs should emphasize as a result.

10:00—12:00PM STUDENT

4.  The Microbiology Wizard

Hassan Aziz, PhD, CLS(NCA)

Level of Instruction: Intermediate Contact Hours: 2.0

This session is designed to assist students of medical technology who wish to prepare themselves for taking the registry examination as well as practicing clinical laboratory scientists who would like to keep abreast of all the changes occurring in the field.  The audience will learn about the general principles of microbiology, specimen collection, media, growth requirements, microorganisms and infectious diseases.

 11:00—12:00PM    ASCLS

5.  Retail Medicine: Our Future Health Care System

Anne Ranne, MS, MT(ASCP)

Level of Instruction: Intermediate Contact Hours: 1.0

Laboratory practitioners need to become involved in how retail clinics will impact future healthcare practices and if they are a threat to patient safety. This presentation will describe the market-driven plan for the rapid expansion of retail clinics, the types of tests, and the type of quality monitoring required. It will also review some current state legislative actions being taken to block the influx of these clinics. The participants will have to decide if retail clinics are the future direction of healthcare in the U.S.  

 12:00—2:00PM            Lunch and Vendor Exhibits

Attendees will receive a lunch ticket with registration materials.

 12:00—1:00PM                                                 STUDENT

Student Forum Offices and Election Information

Barbara Kraj, MS, MT(ASCP), CLS(NCA) This is a non-credit session to educate the students of CLS/CLT programs about ASCLS and to describe the student forum of the state society.  All students are encouraged to attend.

2:00—3:00 PM                          GENERAL SESSION

6.  The Doctorate in Clinical Laboratory Science

Elizabeth Kenimer Leibach, EdD, MS, CLS, MT, SBB

Level of Instruction:  Intermediate Contact Hours: 1.0

Strategies employed in Georgia to advance the DCLS scope of practice in the academic community, within the laboratory industry, among healthcare professions, within provider institutions, and the public will be presented. Issues of practitioner recognition and integration within healthcare will be discussed from the perspective of program accreditation and practice.

 3:00—4:00 PM    ASCLS

7. New Cancer Wars

Ann H. Arnette, MHE, MT(ASCP), CLS(NCA)

Level of Instruction:  Intermediate Contact Hours: 1.0

Clinical laboratory scientists have historically depended on tumor markers found in serum to diagnose cancers and monitor treatments. The advent of monoclonal antibodies increased the specificity of diagnostic cancer tests over previous methodologies. Advances in the treatment of previously “untreatable” cancers are being seen using novel immunotherapeutic drugs. This presentation discusses the role of the immune system in the development, advancement, and even elimination of specific types of cancers resistant to traditional therapies. The role of these biological response modifiers as therapeutic drugs in the stimulation of the immune system will be discussed, as well as the support role of immunotherapeutic drugs in conjunction with traditional chemotherapies.  

3:00—4:30 PM     AACC

8. What Clinical Chemists Need to Know About

Proteomics and Molecular Diagnostics

Jim Ritchie, PhD, DABCC, FACB

Lawrence Silverman, PhD, DABCC, FACMG

Level of  Instruction:  Intermediate Contact Hours:  1.5

This session will review what clinical chemists of today and the future need to know about the contemporary disciplines of proteomics and molecular diagnostics. Dr. Ritchie will examine the proteomic techniques currently in use and the controversies surrounding the filed. He will also examine the potential role of the clinical chemist in developing and implementing these new assays. Dr. Silverman will discuss the new generation of molecular diagnostic tools which include multiplex analysis, traditional sequencing, and alternative sequencing platforms as well as comparative genomic hybridization and gene expression assays that pose new challenges to our basic understanding of disease mechanisms

3:00-5:00PM                                            STUDENT 

9.  Strictly Chemistry

Lester Pretlow, PhD, CLS(NCA), NRCC(CC)

Level of Instruction: Intermediate