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 It may contain other out-of-date information as well.
1996 International Travel Fellowship
Rosa I. Sierra-Amor, Ph.D., has directed the Research Mineral Metabolism Laboratory (RMML) since October 1990. This specialized laboratory is affiliated with Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, and with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The RMML provides laboratory services for patients of Children’s Hospital and supports clinical research in bone and mineral metabolism at both institutions.
In 1979, Sierra-Amor received her Licensure degree from the Motolinia University, part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 1982, she did a fellowship at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, MO. In 1986, she attended a postgraduate course in clinical chemistry at the University of Reading in England. In 1992, she finished her Master’s program at the University of Mexico, obtaining her degree summa cum laude, and enrolled in the University’s doctoral program in physiological science. She completed her research for her doctorate at Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Since 1982, Sierra-Amor has collaborated with the Mexican Association of Clinical Biochemistry. She has served as chair of the association’s Continuing Education Committee and as a member of the Scientific Program and the Congress Organizing Committee, and she has lectured at scientific meetings. She has taught several courses in clinical chemistry, quality assurance, and mineral metabolism. At the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry, she has served as the Alternative Representative of the Mexican Association, newsletter correspondent, and reviewer of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Journal.
Sierra-Amor cofounded (1984) and chaired (1985–1986) the Chemist Association of the National Institute of Nutrition Salvador Zubiran. In 1987, as associate investigator of the Department of Nephrology and Mineral Metabolism of this institute, she standardized the methodology for determining vitamin D metabolites in serum in the Mexican population. Since then, she has trained several clinical biochemists and medical students in the field of mineral metabolism. She has presented over 50 abstracts, workshops, and invited lectures, and contributed as author and reviewer of clinical chemistry textbooks.
In 1990, Sierra-Amor was an American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) travel awardee during the International Congress in Clinical Chemistry held in San Francisco, CA. In 1991, she became an AACC member. She was appointed as a member of the International Relations Committee in 1992 and as a member of the AACC International Advisory Panel in 1994. She is currently a member of the AACC Pediatric Division, the American Association for Bone and Mineral Research, and the Iberoamerican Society for Osteology and Mineral Metabolism. In Mexico, she is a member of the National Academy of Pharmaceutical Science, the Mexican Association of Clinical Biochemistry, and the Chemist Association of the National Institute of Nutrition Salvador Zubiran.
Sierra-Amor was appointed liaison between the American and Latin American associations in 1992. Her activities facilitated interaction and improved relationships between these two associations. In addition she organized, with AACC sponsorship, two symposia in Molecular Biology: one at the Latin American Congress in 1993 in Mexico City, and another in 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 1993, Sierra-Amor received the Ames/Bayer Latin American Award for her research on mineral and bone metabolism in the experimental acute nephrotic syndrome. In 1994, she was recognized by the Mexican College of Professionals in Chemistry for research and contributions to chemistry.
In 1994, Sierra-Amor was on the faculty of the Initiative Project of the Latin American Confederation of Clinical Biochemistry (COLABIOCLI). She lectured at the international seminar in Mexico City, at the regional seminars in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1995, and in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in 1996.
At the Ohio Valley Section of AACC, she started and chaired the International Exchange Program in Clinical Chemistry with Mexico, particularly with the Mexican Association, a program that recently was extended to the rest of Latin America. The OVS/AACC Exchange Program in Clinical Chemistry offers short stays to visiting clinical biochemists interested in learning the organization of a clinical laboratory in the US.
In 1995 and 1996 she was chair of the OVS/AACC Membership Committee. Currently she is coordinating efforts among AACC members for a joint meeting of the OVS/AACC, the AACC/Management Division, and the AMBC. This meeting is scheduled in Mexico City in 1997.
Sierra-Amor’s future international and national activities include AACC participation at COLABIOCLI congresses; organizing a Pan-American meeting with the collaboration of AACC members from North, Central, and South American countries; and establishing a doctoral program in clinical biochemistry, to be a collaborative project of the Mexican Association and the chemistry department of the National University of Mexico. She is also collaborating with the Mexican Association and the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry in establishing a postdoctoral exchange program in clinical biochemistry for Mexican scientists interested in doing postdoctoral fellowships in laboratories in the US.