In July 2023, we changed our name from AACC (short for the American Association for Clinical Chemistry) to the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM). The following page was written prior to this rebranding and contains mentions of the association’s old name. It may contain other out-of-date information as well.
1979 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry
Abraham Saifer received the 28th the AACC Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry through Research, sponsored by the Ames Company.
Dr. Saifer was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1911. He received his B.S. (Ch.E.) from the City College of New York and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, Brooklyn, NY, in 1961. After working as a clinical chemist in various large medical centers in New York City, he served in the U.S. Army as Chief of the Chemistry Section, 7th Medical Laboratory, 3rd Army, Medical Service Corps (1942–46). In 1950 he joined the laboratory staff of Kingsbrook Medical as Chief of the Biochemistry Department and of its affiliated Isaac Albert Research Institute. Dr. Saifer occupied his dual clinical chemistry laboratory and research institute positions for the next 27 years, being promoted to the position of Associate Director of Laboratories in 1968. He also held the following academic positions: Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Brooklyn College of Pharmacy of Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY (1959–61); Adjunct Professor of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY (1978 to present). Dr. Saifer has been certified in Clinical Chemistry by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry and as a Director in Clinical Chemistry by the New York City Department of Health (1952) and by the Connecticut State Health Department (1977).
He has also worked for the the AACC in a number of capacities. He served both as chairman and secretary-treasurer of the New York Metropolitan Section, as a member of the Local Sections Committee, and as a member of the editorial board of Clinical Chemistry (1974–78). Dr. Saifer served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Clinical Laboratories of the New York City Department of Health (1964–66) and as a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the National Tay-Sachs Association from 1960 to the present. In addition to his interest in clinical chemistry, he is an active member of other professional societies, including the American Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York Academy of Science, American Society of Biological Chemists, and the American Society of Neurochemistry.
Dr. Saifer’s research has been in the fields of clinical chemical methodology, protein-flocculation reactions, protein electrophoresis, protein-ion binding, and of biochemical studies on the lipids, amino acids, enzymes, and gangliosides of human brain tissue with special emphasis on Tay-Sachs disease and other cerebral lipidoses. He has published more than 125 scientific papers, and in 1966 he received the Van Slyke Award in Clinical Chemistry of the New York Metropolitan Section of the AACC