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 It may contain other out-of-date information as well.
1993 Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry
Jocelyn M. Hicks received the 42nd annual award, sponsored by Miles Inc. Diagnostics Division.
Hicks obtained her B.S. in physiology from the University of London and her Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She is currently Chief of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Children’s National Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology at the George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC.
Hicks has been an active member of AACC, both at the local and national level. She served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Capital Section of AACC in 1971 and was the Chairman of that section in 1974. She was Chairman of the Publications Committee from 1983 to 1987 and served as Chairman of the Board of Editors of Clinical Chemistry News in 1979. Hicks was a member of the AACC Board of Directors from 1977 to 1983, and was elected President in 1982. She is now Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Van Slyke Society, an AACC program that raises funds for education and research in clinical chemistry. She is also Chairman of the Publications Division of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) and was responsible, with others, for initiating publication of the Journal of the IFCC. Her publications, numbering more than 70, include several books, such as Pediatric Clinical Chemistry, which she coedited with Roger Boeckx, Ph.D., and The Biochemical Basis of Pediatric Disease, which she coauthored with Steven J. Soldin, Ph.D., and Nader Rifai, Ph.D. She also edited the Directory of Rare Analyses (DORA) with Donald S. Young, M.B., Ph.D.
Among the major awards that Hicks has received in the field of clinical chemistry are the Kone Award (UK), the Van Slyke Award (NY Metropolitan Section), the Bernard F. Gerulat Award (NJ Section), the Joseph H. Roe Award (Capital Section) for Outstanding Achievements in the Science of Clinical Chemistry, the Miriam Reiner Award (Capital Section), and, in 1984, the AACC Award for Outstanding Contributions through Service to the Profession of Clinical Chemistry. This year she received Honorary Membership in the Israel Society of Clinical Biochemistry.
Hicks is also on many of the major committees of the Children’s National Medical Center, including the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff. She is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Children’s Faculty Associates (a subsidiary of the hospital) and a member of the Strategic Financial Planning Committee of the Medical Center.
Hicks holds other appointments in several organizations, including: member and international editor of the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry (UK); member of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA) Consensus Development Committee for response to CLIA ’88; member of the CLMA Legislative and Regulatory Consensus Group; and member of the Advisory Board of the International Foundation for Russian Drug Efficacy and Safety.
Because of her interests in pediatric clinical chemistry, she has frequently been invited to lecture at the national and international level. She has a deep interest in assisting developing countries in the area of clinical chemistry, and has lectured in more than 30 countries. Although much of her time is now dedicated to administrative matters, she maintains a keen interest in instrumentation, physicians’ office testing, and reference values in pediatrics.
1984 Outstanding Contributions through Service to the Profession of Clinical Chemistry
Jocelyn M. Hicks will receive the 19th AACC Award for Outstanding Contributions through Service to Clinical Chemistry as a Profession. This award is sponsored by Fisher Scientific, An Allied Company.
Dr. Hicks was born in Leamington Spa, England. She received her B.Sc. (honors) and M.Sc. degrees from the University of London and, in 1971, her Ph.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. She has served as a biochemist and supervisor in clinical chemistry laboratories at the Postgraduate Medical School, University of London, and Georgetown University Medical School in the Health Sciences. Currently, she is Chairman, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, D.C., and Professor, Child Health and Development, George Washington University.
A member of AACC since 1966, she has served on 33 committees and boards on both the local and national levels. She served as a member of the AACC Board of Directors from 1978 to 1980, and was president of AACC in 1982. Currently, she is chairman of the AACC Publications Board, as well as chairman of the 36th AACC National Meeting. Along with her service to the AACC, she has served on 22 committees at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center. Currently she is serving as a member of the Medical Staff Planning Advisory Committee, Committee on Academic Promotions, Accreditation Committee, Divisional Council of Surgery, Divisional Council of Medicine, and the Medical Board. Dr. Hicks also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Department of Child Health and Development at George Washington University. She is a member of the International Advisory Board for the Clinical Chemistry Newsletter from African, Mediterranean, and Near East Countries; is the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry representative for the World-Wide Task Force on Formats for Documentation of Reference Technology; and is an associate member of the IUPAC Commission of Teaching in Clinical Chemistry.
Dr. Hicks’ main interests are in the areas of metabolic screening, the organization and management of pediatric laboratories, reference values, and instrument evaluations. She has also studied autoantibodies and beta-adrenergic receptors in childhood asthma. She lectures both nationally and internationally on pediatric clinical chemistry, and is noted for the flair and organization that characterize her direction of the laboratories at Children’s Hospital, as well as those committees and boards she has chaired.
During her free time she enjoys gourmet cooking, reading, the theater, and bridge, and is an avid tennis player.
1982 AACC Past President’s Award
Jocelyn Hicks, PhD served as AACC president in 1982.