Revving Up for AACC Middle East

AACC Middle East, a partnership between AACC And Al Borg Medical Laboratories, March 22-24 will be bringing to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, world class experts addressing top clinical lab issues, as well as a dynamic expo featuring the latest in vitro diagnostic technologies. The conference’s scientific program and exposition will feature emerging innovations in mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, next-generation sequencing, point-of-care, and automation. “The ability to meet and network with new colleagues from the region will be a great opportunity for those who attend,” David Grenache, PhD, DABCC, chief scientific officer of TriCore Reference Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a member of the AACC Middle East scientific program committee, told CLN Stat.

Grenache and his AACC counterparts worked with Middle East-based colleagues on the programming committee to identify topics of interest to the region. “We then cross-mapped those to content that was delivered as part of the 2017 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego. We went through several iterations of this until we landed on the final program,” he said.

The program’s seven sessions run the gamut from current challenges in clinical laboratory practice to the future of diagnostic technologies, including:

The Importance of Quality Management: Impact on Clinical Decision Making
Bridging the Gap Between Lab Medicine and Clinical Decision Making
Knowing Your Assay: Is Your Assay Performing to Meet Clinical Needs?
Hot Topics in Laboratory Medicine 2018<
Emerging Diagnostic Technologies: Looking to the Future
Precision Medicine and Molecular Oncology
Maternal, Fetal, and Newborn: Laboratory, Diagnostics, and Screening

Each session features a panel of experts who will address specific topics related to the session’s theme. AACC designates this conference for up to 12.0 ACCENT® credit hours towards the AACC Clinical Chemist’s Recognition Award.

Grenache plans to take an active role at the conference, joining AACC’s CEO, Janet Kreizman and Sameh Al Sheikh, MBBS, CEO of Al Borg Medical Laboratories to deliver remarks at the conference’s opening ceremony.

Later in the week he’ll discuss, along with Ann Gronowski, PhD, DABCC, FADLM, professor of pathology and immunology and medical co-director for clinical chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and Susan Evans, PhD, FADLM, a consultant with BioDecisions Consulting, the various clinical lab tests used before, during, and after pregnancy.

Grenache said he’s looking forward to the entire program. “That said, I’m eager to hear the perspectives of our Middle Eastern colleagues and understand the challenges they face in their laboratories,” he said” I suspect they are similar to ours.”