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 It may contain other out-of-date information as well.
1985 Outstanding Contributions through Service to the Profession of Clinical Chemistry
Raymond E. Vanderlinde will receive the 20th AACC Award for Outstanding Contributions through Service to Clinical Chemistry as a Profession. This award is sponsored by Fisher Scientific, an Allied Company.
Dr. Vanderlinde is director of clinical chemistry laboratories and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. He is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Syracuse University and in 1950 received the first Ph.D. degree to be awarded through the Syracuse University College of Medicine, now the SUNY Upstate Medical Center. As the youngest assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, he taught biochemistry to many older postwar medical students.
In 1957 he became the first clinical chemist/director of clinical laboratories at the Syracuse Memorial Hospital unit of the Upstate Medical Center where he pioneered in setting up the pediatric microchemistry laboratory in 1957–1958. Earlier the same year he had joined the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and that fall became a charter member of its Upstate New York Section. His first enzyme survey was conducted in 1959 and he served twice as the chairman of the Upstate Section, in 1959–1960 and 1966–1967. After examination, he was certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry in 1960.
Elected to the AACC board of directors for 1979–1981, his prior service included first chairman of the Enzyme Subcommittee (1971–1974), chairman of the Standards Committee (1975 and 1976), and member of the board of editors of Selected Methods (1977–1983). Currently he is a member of Professional Affairs Committee, chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee, co-chairman of the Task Force on Professional Status of the Clinical Chemist, and member of the Board of Editors of Clinical Chemistry. In addition, he serves as president of AACC's Commission on Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry, as a member of the Council of the National Reference System for Clinical Laboratories, and as a member of the scientific and editorial boards of the Association for Clinical Scientists.
Dr. Vanderlinde is the author or co-author of more than 80 publications, principally in the areas of enzyme measurement and standardization, enzyme reference materials, laboratory evaluation, and quality control. His contributions include papers on the first proficiency and/or earliest survey testing in enzymes, drugs of abuse, acid-base, spectrophotometry, and quantitation of drugs, which he carried out as director of clinical chemistry for the New York State Department of Health from 1965–1977. Also, under his direction an innovative program of laboratory improvement of the hospital and independent clinical laboratories in New York State was implemented. Simultaneously he participated in several national committees that were establishing federal regulations for clinical laboratories under Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the FDA Advisory Committee from 1972–1976. He was president of the New York State Association of Public Health Laboratories in 1975–1976.
In 1974 he was a visiting scientist at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul, and he has participated in scientific meetings in Mexico City, Vienna, Salzburg, and Rome. He is listed in Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.
Among his hobbies are sailing, bowling, genealogy, stamp collecting, and showing his trophy-winning restored 1966 Mustang convertible. He has been a certified lay speaker in the Methodist Church since 1952, and a member of Rotary International since 1966. Dr. Vanderlinde and his wife, Ruth, reside in Wayne, PA. They have three children: Susan, an attorney; Jeanne, a clinical pathology resident; and William, a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science Engineering at Cornell University.