Introduction
The Association of Clinical Scientists has scheduled its 2021 Annual Meeting for Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14. with each day’s program beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT. The Program Committee, chaired by Jonathan B. Hoyne, PhD, has developed an excellent program for the two half days. This meeting will be open to all, Association of Clinical Scientists members and non-members alike, and registration details can be found here. ACCENT credit will be available. Registration details can be found here.
The Thursday program, which has a theme of “Emerging Technologies in Clinical Laboratory Medicine,” begins with the Claude P. Brown Memorial Lecture, presented by Faisal Khan, PhD, University of Calgary, on Towards Improved Outcomes of Hematological Malignancies: Three Approaches of Precision Medicine. This will be followed by two additional presentations (see Program).
The Thursday program then features short papers solicited from young scientists under the auspices of the Association’s Young Fellows Section. Abstract instructions for all young scientists, age 45 or younger can be found here.
The theme for the Friday session is “COVID-19 Surveillance in Public Health.” The program begins with the Abraham J. Gitlitz Memorial Lecture, presented by Maria Elena Bottazzi, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, on International Efforts in Combatting COVID19: Behind the Scenes of How to Develop a COVID-19 Vaccine Suitable for Global Access. It will be followed by two additional lectures that will address the public health response in the US. Following these presentations, at approximately 4:00 pm CDT, the Association will then hold its annual Business Meeting, to which all are invited, regardless of whether an ACS member or not.
The Association’s Annual Awards, which had previously been selected by the Awards Committee, but were not presented in Banff due to the cancellation of the 2020 meeting, will be presented virtually over the two days. On Thursday, just prior to the young scientist session, the Young Clinical Scientist Award will be presented to Amanda Haynes, D.O., Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA. On Friday, the Clinical Scientist of the Year Award will be presented to Keri J. Donaldson, MD, MSCE, Prescient Medicine and Penn State University, and, the F.W. Sunderman, Jr. Diploma of Honor will be presented to Robert W. Hardy, PhD., University of Alabama, Birmingham.
This exciting 2021 program follows up on the success of the Association’s first ever virtual symposium on November 13, 2020 which featured a program on Problems and Challenges with COVID19 Laboratory Testing.
Members of the Program Committee for the 2021 Annual Meeting include Jonathan B. Hoyne, PhD (Chair), Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville; Joshua A. Bornhorst, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester; Chris Crutchfield, PhD, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Evanston, IL; Keri J. Donaldson, MD, MSCE, Prescient Medicine and Penn State University, Hershey, PA; Alexander Feldman, MD, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL; Shuko Harada, MD, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Robert Hardy, PhD, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Charles D. Hawker, PhD, MBA, ARUP Laboratories (retired); M. John Hicks, MD, PhD, DDS, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Stephen M. Roper, PhD, Washington University, St. Louis; Consolato M. Sergi, MD, PhD, University of Alberta; and Roland Valdes, Jr., PhD, University of Louisville.