The page on the AACC website that is dedicated to AACC Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo 2013 puts it in a nutshell: “Join AACC in Houston for the world's largest gathering for laboratory medicine.” That’s what MLO is going to do, and we hope to see you there, too.
This year’s AACC Annual Meeting, to be held July 28-August 1, will, in fact, be bigger than ever—because, for the first time, the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists will be joining AACC for the conference. Otherwise, convention attendees can expect the same experiences that have made the meeting exhilarating and valuable in the past: outstanding educational sessions, the latest in cutting-edge technology, and the chance to interact with fellow professionals who share your passion for the clinical laboratory profession and your commitment to the vital role it plays in healthcare. Here is a brief preview.
• Plenary Sessions
These daily sessions feature speakers—nationally recognized leaders—with different perspectives on the future of healthcare. Topics include metabolic syndrome; genomics; vitamin D; patient-based therapeutics; and the human microbiome. That last one has the irresistible title “Dining in with Trillions of Fascinating Friends.”
• Symposia Sessions
These morning and afternoon sessions, given by experts actively involved in the field, are lecture-format and presented in large, theater-style settings. A few of the topics to be covered include prenatal testing via next generation sequencing; clinical chemistry in disaster response; high-sensitivity troponin assays; diagnosis of diabetes—glucose vs. HbA1c; workplace, forensic, and clinical toxicology; predictive biomarkers of CVD; pediatric reference intervals; chemotherapy and drug management; biomarkers and the detection of Alzheimer’s disease; clinical proteomics; diagnosing celiac disease; point-of-care-testing and patient-centered care; monitoring chemotherapy-induced organ injury; clinical laboratories in developing countries; sepsis; QC; and more.
• Roundtable Sessions
These small discussion groups, scheduled for early morning or lunchtime, will provide an opportunity for lively discussion among participants and experts. The many scheduled topics include hepatitis C; pre-analytics; proficiency testing; macroenzymes; diabetic emergencies, electronic health records; infertility; pain management; laboratory/nursing teamwork; reference lab testing; LC/MS/MS; new biomarkers for prostate cancer detection (presented by Dr. Bernard Cook, who wrote an article for MLO on that topic that was printed in the April 2013 issue: www.mlo-online.com/articles/201304/prostate-cancer-diagnostics-now-and-in-the-future.php); molecular diagnostic testing for respiratory infections; geriatric reference intervals; drug abuse among children and adolescents; thyroid cancer; serum vs. plasma; urine testing for opioids; hemoglobinopathies and HbA1c; and more.
• AACC University
These Interactive Workshops and/or Short Courses will be held on Sunday, July 28. Topics include molecular diagnostics and pharmacogenomics; drug monitoring and toxicology; serum creatinine, eGFR, GFR, and clearance tests in CKD; extra-analytical practices; laboratory-driven testing algorithms; and more.
• Meet the Experts
These sessions provide an opportunity for attendees to join small groups of interested colleagues for intense discussions with plenary speakers and other invited experts, providing in-depth, interactive discussion.
Additionally, attendees will want to be aware of Industry Workshops sponsored by leading vendors…which brings me to the Clinical Lab Expo. Some 650 companies will be there to introduce more than 200 new products in automation, information systems, point-of-care, OEM, biotech, and more. The Exhibit Hall will be open on Tuesday, July 30, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, July 31, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday, August 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
MLO will be there: come see us at Booth 5253. We are open to feedback on how we can make the magazine more useful to readers. Please provide us with your input; it will be especially appreciated, as we will be firming up the Editorial Calendar for 2014 in the days just after the AACC Annual Meeting. Tell us what you’d like to see next year in MLO!
