The American Proficiency Institute (API) donated $160,000 to the ASCP Foundation in support of its efforts to promote excellence in laboratory medicine. The ASCP Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Society for Clinical Pathology, provides funding for educational programs and services, supports workforce shortage initiatives, and raises the visibility of the laboratory globally. 

API, long a champion of scholarship and education for laboratory professionals, views this donation as a commitment to the quality and availability of laboratory medicine in the U.S. and abroad.   

“The vital impact of laboratory medicine on patient care and public health is undeniable,” said API President Sue Harmer, MT(ASCP). “At API, we consider it our responsibility to support the profession through educational opportunities and scholarships. Our donation to the ASCP Foundation will further this charge.”   

“The ASCP Foundation is delighted with the generous contribution from API,” said Anne Walsh-Feeks, MS, MASCP, PA(ASCP)CM, FACHE, ASCP Foundation Chair. “For more than two decades, API has worked in partnership with ASCP to further our educational programs and commentaries.” 

“Medical laboratory scientists hold a special place in our hearts,” added Ms. Harmer. “I was certified as a medical technologist, and many API staff members are too. We care greatly about the quality and accuracy of laboratory medicine and want this donation to reflect that pride.” 

The American Proficiency Institute is one of the largest proficiency testing providers in the world, serving over 20,000 laboratories. API offers innovative solutions and technical excellence for the proficiency testing needs of hospital and reference laboratories, physician offices, clinics, and point-of-care testing sites. 

Contributions like those from the American Proficiency Institute, along with ASCP individual donors, allow the ASCP Foundation to continue advancing our mission and serving patients and members alike. If you are interested in donating to the ASCP General Fund, click here.  

ASCP’s Great Plains Chapter will bring Nebraska’s can-do spirit to Arizona when it hosts KnowledgeLab 2025 on April 7 and 8 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Great Plains Chapter’s leaders will share their know-how of how to build a thriving chapter. 

“We are honored to be invited to host KnowledgeLab 2025,” says Great Plains Chapter President Shanan Fuhrman, MLS(ASCP)CM.  

Arizona doesn’t have a chapter at present and the Great Plains Chapter has been very strong for a long time.  

“The mantle of strong leadership has been handed down by previous presidents of the Great Plains Chapter over the years,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “This is an opportunity for our members to share what we are doing and help other chapters get started. We are helping to grow the profession.”  

Mr. Fuhrman and several other board members of the Great Plains Chapter, including President-elect Linsey Donner, PhD, MPH, CPH, MLS(ASCP)CM, who served on the KnowledgeLab planning committee, and Jaime Perry, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, will participate in the KnowledgeLab opening ceremony to welcome attendees.    

“We’ll have a Chapter Meet-up session on day one during lunch, where there will be round tables with discussion topics to help attendees build and grow their local chapters while making connections with other members to encourage networking with future collaboration,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “To help raise chapter awareness and interaction, there will be chapter stickers handed out at registration.” 

The Great Plains Chapter leaders will be on hand to answer questions and talk about how to start a chapter. A key to maintaining a strong chapter is to have current leaders mentor up-and-coming leaders and to have a succession plan in place.   

“Succession planning is something our chapter has done really well,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “When you have a succession plan in place, you don’t lose institutional knowledge for how things are done. That is what builds your chapter up. Starting a chapter is the first step.” 

Register for KnowledgeLab 2025 here. 

Each year, ASCP honors members who have made significant contributions to pathology and the medical laboratory profession. Some of these awards are named in honor of pathologist or laboratory professional members for their specific accomplishments in advancing the profession and ASCP during their career.   

Ever wonder who were these giants in pathology for whom these awards are named? Here is a snapshot of some of these remarkable individuals and their legacies in pathology and laboratory medicine. 

H.P. Smith Award for Distinguished Pathology Educator 

This award recognizes ASCP pathologist members with distinguished careers in pathology and laboratory medicine who embrace education, research, administration, or service to organized pathology are ideal candidates for this award. This award was established in 1974 to honor former ASCP president, H.P. Smith, MD, FASCP, who served as professor and head of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of Iowa from 1930 until 1945 and later held a similar position at Columbia University in 1945. 

A Fellow of ASCP beginning in 1940, Dr. Smith served on the Society’s Executive Committee and was President-elect and President from 1957 to 1959. His expertise touched many areas of the Society, serving on the Master Program Planning Committee, the Research Committee, as ASCP Representative to the American Medical Association, the Plan and Scope Committee, and numerous other committees. For his service, he received the ASCP Ward Burdick Award in 1941. Read more about him here.  

Last September, the ASCP H.P. Smith Award for Distinguished Pathology Educator Award was presented to Alexa Siddon, MD, FASCP, during the ASCP 2024 Annual Meeting.

“Receiving the H.P. Smith Award for Distinguished Pathology Educator was both an honor and a total surprise!” says Dr. Siddon, who is a professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Yale School of Medicine/Yale New Haven Hospital, Director of the Hematopathology Fellowship, and Medical Director of the Clinical Molecular Diagnostics and Flow Cytometry Laboratories in Laboratory Medicine. A molecular hematopathologist, her research interests include refining the diagnosis and prognostication of myeloid neoplasms. 

“I am so grateful to ASCP for recognizing me. I truly hope I am helping train future pathologists with the same enthusiasm and love of the field as my mentors trained me,” she adds.

Israel Davidsohn Award for Distinguished Service 

The Israel Davidsohn Award for Distinguished Service recognizes the rare individual who has made a significant impact within ASCP through a variety of roles. Established in 1989, this award recognizes Israel Davidsohn, MD, FASCP, ASCP President from 1951 to 1952 whose contributions touched every aspect of ASCP.  

Dr. Davidsohn was already 77 and had dedicated 50 years of his career to education and cancer research when he was interviewed for an article in the Feb. 1, 1973, issue of Laboratory Medicine. At the time, he was professor of pathology in the  

University of Health Sciences at the Chicago Medical School, and head of the Department of Experimental Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in Chicago. His research in cancer “resulted in the development of a highly sensitive and specific immunologic test for the diagnosis and prognosis of some cancers,” according to the article. Learn more about Dr. Davidsohn here.   

Philip Levine Award for Outstanding Research 

Established in 1969, this award honors ASCP members who have made significant contributions to molecular pathology, immunohematology, and/or immunopathology. It honors the late Phillip Levine, MD, FASCP, whose contributions to medicine included determining the etiology of Rh hemolytic disease of newborns.   

Born in 1900 near Minsk, now in Belarus, Dr. Levine and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was eight years old. He earned his MD at Cornell University Medical School in 1923, A few years later, he became an assistant to Karl Landsteiner, MD, an Austrian American biologist, physician and immunologist at the Rockefeller Institute, in New York. (Dr. Landsteiner had developed the modern system of classification of blood groups two decades earlier.) Dr. Levine went on to work as a bacteriologist and serologist at Newark Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey. He was among a handful of pioneers in the area of blood group genetics and immunology. He passed away in 1987. Learn more about his extraordinary career here.  

Ward Burdick Award for Distinguished Service to Pathology 

This award recognizes noteworthy contributions to pathology through sustained service to the profession and ASCP. Established in 1929, the award honors Ward Burdick, MD, FASCP, one of the founders of the ASCP. 

In 1961, ASCP presented its inaugural ASCP award named in honor of Ward Thomas Burdick. The presentation “bespeaks the high regard we still have for the memory of our founder and Secretary-Treasurer, who died 33 years ago,” according to an article in February 1, 1962, issue of AJCP. Born in Pennsylvania in 1878, he was sent to live with his paternal grandparents when his mother died during his infancy. When his father remarried, Dr. Burdick returned to live with his family who moved to Buffalo, New York. A few years later, a teenage Dr. Burdick struck out on his own to make his way in the world.  In 1908, he graduated from the American Medical College in St. Louis, Missouri, and then completed postgraduate studies at Washington University. In 1908, he received his license to practice medicine in Missouri and became a professor of bacteriology at his alma mater.  

He and his family later ended up in Denver, Colorado, where he opened a private practice. As he continued his studies, “foremost in his mind was the tremendous importance of ‘pathological examination and diagnosis,’” according to the AJCP article. “He had a vision, far in advance of his time, of the pathologist as a highly valued member of the medical and surgical team.” Learn more about Dr. Burdick’s fascinating career by clicking on the AJCP article here.  

Dr. Philip and Sandra Barney Resident Volunteer Service Award   

The Dr. Philip and Sandra Barney Resident Volunteer Service Award is the newest named award. The service award, which recognizes an ASCP resident member with outstanding ASCP volunteer experience, began in 2023 through the generous donation of ASCP Past President Dr. Philip Barney and Sandra Barney to the ASCP Foundation. Learn more here. 

Continuing the legacy 

These named awards are one way that ASCP continues to honor the legacies of these amazing professionals by recognizing the current generation of distinguished pathologists who are making their own imprints to the field to this day.   

Last September, at the 2024 ASCP Annual Meeting, the Society presented the Israel Davidsohn Award for Distinguished Service to Zubair W. Baloch, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. 

"I am deeply honored and grateful for this recognition,” says Dr. Baloch. “ASCP is an organization that consistently values and appreciates the contributions of its volunteers and members. This recognition inspires me to continue striving for excellence.” 

Dr. Baloch adds, “As John Ruskin once said, 'The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.’”  

KnowledgeLab is just a few weeks away, from April 7-8 in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you are a laboratory leader or an aspiring leader, this is your opportunity to expand your knowledge by learning from renowned experts in their fields and network with colleagues who are all tackling the same challenges as you. 

Attendees will learn from leaders in groups of about 30 participants and have opportunities to pose their questions directly to the presenter. Equally important are the conversations that attendees will have with each other, where they will share their own personal experiences and learn how their colleagues are addressing similar issues in their own laboratories.  

The sessions focus on topics related to laboratory leadership and management, from “growing” your own laboratory staff and programs to address the workforce shortage, to leading through change, and exploring the relationship between quality and change management while introducing tools and techniques to help you be the change-agent. 

Kamran Mirza, MD, PhD, FASCP, MLS(ASCP), will deliver the Opening Keynote Session: A Symbiotic Vision: AI and Laboratory Professionals Driving Diagnostic Innovation. His presentation demonstrates how the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into laboratory medicine is transforming diagnostics, ushering in new possibilities for precision and collaboration. This session also explores how AI can serve as a powerful partner to laboratory professionals, enhancing their expertise while maintaining the irreplaceable human touch. Through real-world examples and practical insights, this keynote will address the challenges and opportunities AI presents, emphasizing a symbiotic approach where technology and professionals work hand in hand to elevate diagnostic accuracy, streamline workflows. 

Other session topics include how to improve and sustain your laboratory stewardship program, Reimagining the laboratory practice in an evolving Healthcare Landscape, creating successful employee engagement strategies, and building a “high value” laboratory using the ASCP Negotiation and Advocacy Toolbox to win leadership Investment. 

Learn more about the sessions here .  

ASCP’s Ask Me Anything initiative is garnering inquiries from pathology residents and fellows from around the United States and other countries since it launched last August. 

An initiative of the ASCP Resident Council, Ask Me Anything provides pathology residents and fellows an opportunity to connect with practicing pathologists via ASCP’s online Pathologist-in-Training community.  

Raul S. Gonzalez, MD, a professor of pathology and director of the gastrointestinal pathology service at Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, Georgia, served as the pathologist fielding questions last November.  

“I appreciated being invited to do this. It’s a great opportunity to interact with trainees at other institutions,” he says. “Teaching the next generation of pathologists is so important. They asked excellent questions.” 

“Social media has opened the doors to allow us to talk to people in our field all over the world,” he says. “I did my residency around 15 years ago when social media was not even a concept. Back then, exposure to attending physicians outside your institution was mostly limited to attending a national meeting, if you could bump into them.”  

In January, Zenggang Pan, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and director of hematopathology at the University of Colorado Anshutz Medical Campus, in Aurora, Colorado, served as the pathologist fielding questions. “Many asked questions about career development and some were curious about my training and studying in hematopathology,” he says, adding that an international medical student also asked some questions about “observership” opportunities in the United States. 

Residents also asked about common pitfalls when preparing to take the AP/CP board exams, while another was considering adding molecular pathology as a secondary aspect of her training because of its expanding importance in medicine. Still another resident asked about tips to manage stress during training.  

Overall, Dr. Pan says he was honored to be invited by ASCP Resident Council Chair Savanah Gisriel, MD, MPH, to be a guest respondent for Ask Me Anything. He got to know Dr. Gisriel when she was in residency at Yale University School of Medicine, where Dr. Pan had worked some years ago. 

It is of no surprise that Ask Me Anything has gotten such a robust response from residents and fellows. The opportunity to interact with seasoned pathologists who can respond to your questions in real time is like receiving a gift of their precious time. 

To find out more about the Ask Me Anything series, visit the Pathologist-in-Training community, part of the ASCP Communities.   

Attending a meeting in-person with colleagues and renowned presenters offers advantages that are hard to achieve via online learning. Pathology Update 2025, to be held May 19-23 at the ASCP headquarters in Chicago, offers that face-to-face contact and the opportunity to learn from subspecialty trained experts.     

“The interactive nature is what makes Pathology Update stand out. You attend sessions in a small room with approximately 30 people and can ask questions and discuss cases with an expert in a supportive environment,” says Gulisa Turashvili, MD, PhD, associate pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Dr. Turashvili and her colleague, Kyle Devins, MD, an attending pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, are teaching a full day course on gynecologic pathology at Pathology Update 2025.  

They will focus on updates and recent developments over the past few years. They will also cover new and emerging classification systems for diagnostic entities such as vulvar squamous cell carcinomas and endocervical adenocarcinomas, and present tips for distinguishing cancer from common benign mimics. “Something can appear benign, but it can behave in an aggressive fashion,” says Dr. Devins. “The pathologist will have to know the morphologic features to make the right diagnosis. Malignant entities can mimic benign entities.” 

Drs. Turashvili and Devins will show slides of specific cases with clinical history and then have participants divide into small groups to discuss the differential diagnosis for several minutes. Then the entire class reconvenes, and a member of each group summarizes their discussions and diagnosis. 

This process helps to reinforce the learning. Then, when participants return to their offices and try to apply these same concepts, they will have already practiced this and it will feel more familiar. 

Also teaching at Pathology Update 2025 will be Humberto Trejo Bittar, MD, an anatomic pathologist and section head of thoracic pathology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, and medical director of autopsy service at Moffitt. He appreciates the feedback and teaching resources that ASCP provides to the course instructors to make the sessions very engaging to participants.  

“We get a lot of support from ASCP’s education department so that we know how to give the most effective presentation of our teaching material,” he explains. 

His presentation will focus on emerging topics in thoracic pathology, including ways to diagnose mesothelioma, and the new staging system to address lung cancer. The course is targeted to community pathologists, who are generalists rather than specialists who see these types of cases frequently.  

He will teach the course in collaboration with Mitra Mehrad, MD, head of thoracic path at Vanderbilt University Medical School.  

Dr. Bittar, Dr. Turashvili, and Dr. Devins are only a few of the leading experts who will be teaching at Pathology Update. 

Dr. Turashvili points out that the caliber of the presenters is second to none. “All of us practice at academic medical centers where excellence is expected,” Dr. Turashvili adds. “We each go beyond what is typically required of us. We do research, we handle complex, challenging and interesting cases, and we train the next generation of pathologists. It is our background training and subspecialty expertise that makes us stand out.” 

Learn more about Pathology Update 2025 and register here. 

Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, in Glendale, CA, has been awarded the Leading Laboratories designation from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and The Joint Commission. The two-year designation acknowledges Glendale Memorial’s commitment to laboratory excellence and improving patient outcomes. 

“We are deeply honored to receive the Leading Laboratories designation in partnership with the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP),” says Betsy Hart, MSN, President and CEO of Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center. “This prestigious recognition reflects the excellence in quality outcomes, professional development, leadership, and visibility that our team consistently strives for.  

“To be the first in the CommonSpirit Health system, second in California, and among only a select few nationwide to achieve this incredible distinction is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and unwavering commitment of our staff,” she adds. “I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our entire team, and especially to Ramy Moawad, Director of Laboratory Services, for making this achievement possible!” 

Mr. Moawad embarked on the Leading Laboratory application process when he first joined the hospital just over two years ago. “Our goal has always centered around the patient, their needs, and our ability to make them as comfortable as possible and to provide quality care,” he says.   

The application process required a review of the hospital laboratory’s outcomes, indicators, metrics and evidence. Additionally, the laboratory had to demonstrate excellence in four key areas: supporting professional development, cultivating trusted leadership and promoting laboratory visibility. 

Mr. Moawad proudly points out some of Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial laboratory’s strengths that contributed to its successful application: 

• An emphasis on professional development, including offering up to $5,200 in tuition reimbursement per year for each staff member after they have worked there for six months 

• An effective test utilization program which has been in place for many years to ensure that unnecessary testing is minimal and that appropriate tests are used for each patient 

• A finance stewardship program which promotes reinvesting money in the hospital’s healthcare system and developing laboratory tests 

•  An outreach program within the community to boost awareness of careers within the medical laboratory and provide both a free medical laboratory technician internship program and a phlebotomy training program to residents of the surrounding community 

• A culturally diverse staff, which reflects the community’s richly diverse population. 

Glendale, situated five miles from West Hollywood, has a population of 400,000. The majority of its residents are of Armenian heritage, followed by a sizable Hispanic population, and a growing Asian population.  
 
Mr. Moawad explains. “A big factor in our hospital deciding to offer phlebotomy and medical laboratory technician (MLT) internships is to provide career opportunities” to meet the needs of our diverse patients. 
 
The internship programs have been remarkably successful. Early on, the local ABC television affiliate sent a news team to report on the programs, which generated a lot of buzz within the community. Since then, the programs have seen a steady increase in applicants.   
 
“We are getting a lot of interest from students who are first-time college graduates in their families,” Mr. Moawad says. “We are sending the message that we support our community, and we want to keep our community healthy.”   
 
Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial has also reached out to local physicians to inform them of the hospital’s services. For example, its cardiovascular fitness gym holds free blood pressure checks for local residents, as well as free glucose testing. The laboratory also conducts a successful local blood drive three times a year which has received strong community participation.   
 
Mr. Moawad credits Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial’s senior leadership team for their support in his team’s quest to seek Leading Laboratories designation.  “Our hospital administration is very focused on patient care and on supporting our community.” He is equally emphatic about giving credit to his laboratory team for their success.  
 
“I give a lot of credit to our team, who came together and were receptive to the idea of applying for Leading Laboratories designation. “We would not have been able to achieve this recognition without their input and leadership. Every single member of our team is invaluable.” 
 
Learn more about the Leading Laboratories initiative here.   

ASCP Releases Action Alert to Fix Medicare Payment Flaws 

ASCP is advocating for bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress to reverse a 2.8 percent cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and provide a 2 percent update. The Society recently issued an Action Alert urging members to contact their representatives and support the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act. Additionally, ASCP is pushing for reforms to the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), which has faced years of cuts, as part of its broader effort to stabilize Medicare payments for pathology and laboratory medicine. Read more.  

CMS Grants MIPS Exemption for Providers Affected by California Wildfires 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has granted an automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) exemption from MIPS reporting for clinicians affected by the California wildfires. ASCP continues to monitor this payment policy affecting our members, and you can read more about the EUC exemption and what it entails here.  

Ring Scholarship Expands Access to Laboratory Education 

Applications for the Dr. Alvin Ring Empowerment Scholarship, offering $1,000–$5,000 to support laboratory professionals pursuing education in histotechnology, medical laboratory technology, and medical laboratory science, will be open March 3-May31. This scholarship aims to expand access to laboratory science education, particularly for students in medically underserved and rural areas. Read more.  

Current Study on Laboratory Professionals’ Education, Exposures, and Motivations Identifies Timely Recommendations to Support the Workforce 

ASCP, in collaboration with the University of Washington Center for Health Workforce Studies, has released results from a new survey that looks at the pathways that lead people to careers in the laboratory. This first-of-a-kind survey provides insight that can help the profession better understand the paths leading to the laboratory, and how we can better recruit, retain, and advocate for the laboratory. Read more.  

ASCP Workforce Data Included in the AHA 2025 Environmental Scan Report 

For the first time, laboratory workforce data from ASCP has been included in the AHA’s 2025 Environmental Scan. The inclusion of ASCP workforce data highlights the critical role of the laboratory in shaping the healthcare landscape and the essential contributions of medical laboratory professionals in delivering patient care. Read more.  

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has released its 2025 Environmental Scan, a comprehensive report offering critical insights into the evolving health care landscape. This year’s edition includes workforce data from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), marking a milestone in cross-sector collaboration. This partnership underscores the growing recognition of laboratory professionals’ vital role in addressing systemic workforce challenges and advancing patient care. The report equips hospitals, health systems, and community stakeholders with data-driven insights to navigate staffing shortages, operational pressures, and emerging trends, fostering strategic planning and dialogue among leaders, boards, and staff. By integrating ASCP’s data, the AHA amplifies the importance of a resilient, multidisciplinary workforce in shaping health care’s future.  

Please visit the link to read the complete 2025 AHA Environmental Scan report. 

A recent collaborative study by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the University of Washington Center for Health Workforce Studies (UW CHWS), was published in AJCP in January 2025. The study examined professionals across six occupations, including medical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, and phlebotomists, and their career pathways into the medical laboratory workforce. The study reveals diverse educational backgrounds and career trajectories, with nearly 50 percent of respondents introduced to the field through personal networks in healthcare. Despite high job satisfaction (75 percent would recommend their careers), challenges persist: inconsistent job titles limit career advancement, staffing shortages strain workplaces, and public awareness of these vital roles remains low. The findings highlight the importance of hands-on-training and professional development while emphasizing the urgent need to clarify entry pathways and enhance the visibility of these critical healthcare roles. 

To strengthen the workforce, the study advocates targeted policy and organizational reforms. Key recommendations include standardizing job titles to improve role clarity, expanding outreach to schools and career counselors to promote laboratory careers, and investing in training programs to address staffing gaps. By prioritizing these strategies, stakeholders can foster a resilient pipeline of skilled professionals to meet growing healthcare demands. Enhancing public recognition of the medical laboratory field’s critical impact on patient care and streamlining entry pathways will ensure a sustainable workforce capable of maintaining community health.  

To read the full study and learn more about the results, click here.  

Do you know any high school or college students from medically underserved and/or rural communities looking to start or continue their laboratory science education? If so, stay tuned as ASCP opens its application window for the Dr. Alvin Ring Empowerment Scholarship for Laboratory Professionals! Scholarships range from $1,000-$5,000 depending on applicant qualifications and degree program pursued. The ASCP Foundation is also conducting a public donation campaign to fund additional scholars through this award.  

In its inaugural year, this scholarship provided $55,000 in financial support for tuition and needs-based expenses to 14 laboratory science students from medically underserved and/or rural areas. Current and prospective laboratory professionals across a wide range of geographies, professional training, and backgrounds were considered and selected for the first scholarship cohort.  

This scholarship will re-open its application window on March 3, 2025, and will continue to expand access to laboratory science education for students in need of financial aid to pursue or continue their journey into the laboratory workforce. Applications will be accepted through May 31, 2025. The scholarship application and additional information about eligibility criteria and application details will be available here by March 3. ASCP members are encouraged to share this opportunity widely with their network and trainees that may be interested in or eligible for this opportunity.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently granted an automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) exemption from reporting to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for those clinicians affected by the California wildfires. Following the official public health emergency and disaster declarations, CMS is applying the automatic EUC for those affected from both the 2024 and 2025 performance periods (2024: Jan 2- Mar 31, 2025, and 2025: Jan 2-Mar 31, 2026). 

The EUC will be automatically applied to those MIPS-eligible clinicians in areas affected by the fires and will result in all four performance categories being reweighted to 0 percent. It will result in a neutral payment adjustment for the 2026 and 2027 MIPS payment years.  

Two important things to note: 1) If providers in these geographic areas submit data on two or more performance categories for either/both performance years, they will be scored and not be exempted from payment adjustments; 2) The EUC policy does not apply to groups, subgroups, virtual groups, and APM entities unless they submit an EUC exception application.  

For more information, please see the following resources: 2024 MIPS Automatic EUC Policy Fact Sheet (PDF, 401KB) and 2025 MIPS Automatic EUC Policy Fact Sheet (PDF, 326KB).  

ASCP will continue to monitor this and other payment policy issues affecting our members.  

ASCP is working to enact bipartisan legislation to reverse the 2.8 percent cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and provide a 2 percent update. The 2 percent update is consistent with a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommendation that the PFS be updated by half the Medicare Economic Index, a barometer of medical practice inflation. The measure was introduced by Representatives Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and eight  other members of the U.S. House of Representatives to stabilize Medicare payment for physician services (See press release here). 

In response to the bill’s introduction, ASCP quickly released an Action Alert urging its entire membership to contact their elected representatives in Congress and ask them to support the legislation, known as the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act. ASCP has also sent a letter to Congressional leaders endorsing the measure and urging that it be included in the upcoming March 2025 government funding bill. 

Addressing flaws in the Medicare fee schedules impacting pathology and laboratory medicine is a top advocacy priority for ASCP. In addition to working to fix the PFS, which has seen payment rates decreased by 33 percent since 2001, largely due to the impact of inflation, ASCP is also working to address flaws in the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). Similarly, the CFLS has suffered from years of cuts and the lack of an inflationary adjustment. ASCP’s recent action alert urges Congress to address flaws in the CLFS as well.  

As we are asking all ASCP members to take part in this advocacy campaign, please take a few minutes to send your members of Congress a request to address Medicare payment and please urge your colleagues to do the same. 

The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions has selected ASCP as the winner of the 2025 Award for Outstanding Outcomes in CE for its submission “Building Knowledge and Skills in Biomarker Testing and Assessment of Pathological Response to Improve Care for Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Melanoma.” 

The award was accepted on behalf of ASCP by Meredith Engel, MA, ASCP director of learning innovation, Melissa Kelly, PhD, ASCP senior manager in evaluation, measurement and assessment, in collaboration with Joe Kim, MD, MPH, MBA, FACHE, President of Q Synthesis. A plaque commemorating the award was presented on January 8 during the Alliance 2025 Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.  

“It is most gratifying to recognize you and your colleagues for your outstanding work,” ACEHP Membership and Operations Associate Lille Gaeta wrote in her notification email to ASCP. “It is through such efforts that we advance the quality and integrity of continuing education in the health professions. We commend your collective contributions to this goal and your commitment and dedication to our profession.” 

This is the second time the ASCP team’s work has been recognized by the Alliance in this category. Additionally, in 2023, ASCP won the Award for Excellence in Educational Design for its submission “Navigating the Emerging and Evolving Landscape of HER2-low Breast Cancer.” 

The fourth annual Cell Bowl national hematology competition, organized by Tiffany Gill, MA, MLS(ASCP)^CM, (aka Medical Lab Lady Gill ) and sponsored by ASCP (Gold Level) and CellAVision (Silver Level), experienced several “firsts” when it concluded last fall. 

The winning team from Jacksonville, FL, was the first clinical team comprising both medical laboratory technician (MLT) and medical laboratory scientist (MLS) students. Previous Super Cell Bowl Champions have all been MLS or MLT teams from NAACLS-accredited programs and have never had a combination of MLT and MLS students on one team, according to ASCP member Aaron Odegard, MS, MLS(ASCP), who organized the winning team. 

Another “first” for the 2024 Cell Bowl was a community outreach component to build awareness of the laboratory profession. Ms. Gill added the community engagement component in the form of a scavenger hunt. Teammates had to go out into the community to seek or create opportunities to share information about careers in the laboratory profession with individuals or groups around campus, the gym, grocery store, or blood drives. The community could “up-vote” their favorite team by donating at least 30 whole blood units per vote at a local blood drive. 

The Cell Bowl is an interactive competition between medical laboratory science programs nationwide that culminates in the Super Cell Bowl for the Varsity league and the Second Chance Showdown for the Junior Varsity league. It tests the scientific knowledge of MLT and MLS students with team competitions that enhance their knowledge of blood cell morphology and build their professional networks. It also helps prepare them for the ASCP Board of Certification exams. 

ASCP’s Council of Laboratory Professionals has been supportive of the Cell Bowl since it began, with many of its members assisting in the planning and also promoting it on social media. 

“I am very excited about where this cell bowl competition is headed,” says Ms. Gill, a tenured professor and coordinator of the MLT program at the College of Southern Maryland, in Hughesville, MD. “I am excited to have more community involvement. Overall, the Cell Bowl emphasizes what the laboratory profession does, it highlights the medical laboratory education programs, and it raises awareness of the important work of the medical laboratory as part of the healthcare team.” 

Mr. Odegard, a laboratory quality coordinator at Baptist Health Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, FL, is delighted that the team he put together took first place. Throughout the six weeks of competition, his executive laboratory director, Gwendolyn Robles, and other leaders from departments across his health system frequently inquired about how the team was performing. Even the health system’s president, Ms. Nicole Thomas, offered her congratulations after the team won.  

Overall, “The Cell Bowl helped to create a strong sense of community for our team in the clinical setting. It’s fun and helps prepare the participants for the ASCP Board of Certification exams. Lastly, it raises the visibility of the laboratory profession throughout the health system and the surrounding community,” says Mr. Odegard. 

NAACLS-accredited MLT and MLS programs and clinical sites who host these programs’ students can learn more about the Cell Bowl and sign up at the new Medical Lab Lady Gill website. 

ASCP has been selected as a winner of the 2024 Amazon Web Services (AWS) IMAGINE Grant, which will accelerate the Society’s mission of using cloud technology in an innovative way. The grant, awarded to nonprofit organizations who are using technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges, will help ASCP build a data lake and enhance its analytics capabilities to strengthen data governance, generate actionable insights, and support advanced analytics. 

By increasing the visibility and accessibility of its data, ASCP aims to accelerate decision-making processes that will improve patient care worldwide. 

ASCP was named a winner in the Momentum to Modernize category, which recognizes foundational technology projects. ASCP will receive up to $50,000 in unrestricted funding, up to $30,000 in AWS Promotional Credits, and project implementation support. Proposals were judged on several factors including the innovative and unique nature of the project, impact on mission-critical goals, and clearly defined outcomes and milestones.  

“Effective data governance is not just about compliance — it’s about creating a foundation for trust. By securing our data, standardizing practices, and enhancing quality, we empower our team members to make informed decisions that drive better outcomes for the organization, our partners, and patients alike,” says Dr. Ali Brown, Chief Medical Officer for ASCP. 

“In today’s data-driven world, actionable insights are the cornerstone of innovation. By leveraging advanced analytics, we can uncover trends and deliver actionable insights that will optimize laboratory operations,” says Dr. Sachin Gupta, Scientific Director of ASCP’s Center for Quality and Patient Safety. 

The AWS IMAGINE Grant will help expand two ASCP initiatives: 

Currently, data resides in four separate legacy systems (older systems still in use even though newer alternatives are available), and a cross-platform analysis is cumbersome, manual, and time-consuming. On-demand, near-time assembled 360-views are necessary to meet the needs of our business/organization. The process ASCP envisions will ensure secure and consistent consumption from legacy platform feeds and transform it into a 360-view analysis via the data lake. 

NPQR (National Pathology Quality Registry) is a quality and benchmarking platform that promotes best practices in laboratory medicine and ensures excellence in patient care, providing customers access to aggregated and comparative insights (laboratory operations, test utilization, and patient results). Pathologists, laboratory professionals and administrative laboratory leaders understand that patient care is improved by leveraging benchmarking and quality performance measures. The challenge is to scale it up, and capacity is needed to ingest and absorb data from newly onboarded laboratories with efficiency. Innovative solutions will help streamline the processes for data ingestion, data transformation, and analysis of data. 

“With the AWS Momentum to Modernize Award, we’ll be able to build a data lake — storing vast amounts of information in a secure, unified, and scalable platform that transforms raw data into actionable insights — this is necessary to enable advanced analytics,” says Dr. Brown. 

The ASCP Chapters and Ambassador programs are reaping the benefits of “cross pollination” that is helping strengthen each. The chapters can encourage their members to sign up as Ambassadors, and the Ambassadors program can encourage their volunteers to join the local ASCP chapters in their area. The end result is the boost of visibility of the laboratory profession across the nation. 

“When you are doing outreach into the community (as an Ambassador, for example), you are doing outreach at a local level,” says Kerwin Kolheffer. MS, PA(ASCP)CM, a longtime ASCP Career Ambassador. “The chapters are a great resource for providing members to serve as Ambassadors who can speak about the medical laboratory profession. Similarly, the Ambassador program has the opportunity to bring new members into the chapters.” 

The key is to engage ASCP members as volunteers. Mr. Kolheffer chaired the Ambassador subcommittee of the ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals last year, so he is very familiar with a variety of ASCP career outreach activities, including NextPo-to-Go. 

“The idea for NextPo-to-Go came about later at a retreat of the Council of Laboratory Professionals," he explains. "NextPo-to-Go is a digital toolkit which includes online training sessions where we give volunteers the tools they need to set up NextPo at their laboratory or location.” 

As a result of ASCP's various career outreach efforts, these initiatives are gaining traction in communities across the nation. And the synergy between the ASCP Chapters and Ambassadors programs is largely responsible for that. 

Mr. Kolheffer finds tremendous satisfaction in serving as a Career Ambassador. “For me, the best part is seeing people learn something they did not know before the session. It is always a bit surprising that so many people have no idea about the number of people who comprise the laboratory team,” he says.  

To get involved in the Ambassadors program, click here.To learn about joining an ASCP chapter in your area, click here.  

World Cancer Day will be held on February 4. Organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), World Cancer Day 2025 has chosen the theme United by Unique, emphasizing the importance of a people-centered approach to cancer care. This approach represents a fundamental shift in how health and cancer services are designed and delivered, placing individuals, families, and communities at the heart of the health systems. 

The ASCP Patient Champions program also embraces a patient-centered approach to care. The Patient Champions program educates patients about their diagnostic test results so that they can better advocate for their own care.   

“ASCP Patient Champions share what they’ve learned to empower patients to do the same. Empowered patients are essential to create optimal health care worldwide,” says Deedee O’Brien, co-chair of the ASCP Patient Champions Steering Committee.  

As an example, this is the first year that the ASCP Patient Champions Steering Committee has realigned its board to have both an ASCP pathologist and a Patient Champion serve together as co-chairs of its steering committee. Ms. O’Brien, who has long been involved in the Patient Champion program, is the first layperson to serve as a co-chair. 

Jeff Myers, MD, MASCP, immediate past chair of the steering committee, explains, “We are always looking for ways to work directly with our Patient Champions, not only to elevate their lived experiences in ways that inform the work we do in our laboratories, but also to more effectively tap into their own ideas and insights for innovations likely to impact patient-centered care.” 

Joseph J. Maleszewski, MD, FASCP, who currently co-chairs the steering committee with Ms. O’Brien, adds, “Joint physician-patient leadership is the most outward reflection of the spirit of this committee. Increasingly, patients are being empowered with their own data and the desire to interact with and understand those who are helping that data is likewise growing. Pathologists must embrace this new paradigm and find ways of meeting the new needs of our patients. Partnerships between pathologists and patients are critical to advocacy, advancement, and ultimately better medicine.” 

Ms. O’Brien’s experiences as the final caregiver for her mother and her husband until they passed away, as primary caregiver for her current partner, Bob, who is paralyzed with transverse myelitis, and dealing with her own cancer diagnosis, have taught her the importance of education, gathering second opinions, seeking different opinions, and advocating for loved ones.  

Aisha Mohamed, MD, was 10 when her family embarked on an experience that fueled her interest in global health. Dr. Mohamed, now a second-year pathology resident at the University of Minnesota Medical School, was recently awarded an ASCP Trainee Global Health Fellowship to spend a month-long rotation at a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, to support an existing research project on prostate cancer. This visit will occur in addition to virtual support for program implementation. 

In her application for the fellowship, she recounted her experience as a child when her parents sat Dr. Mohamed and her sister down just before the winter holiday began, and informed them they would be going to Kenya to visit family. “I was thrilled. What was supposed to be a vacation ended up being four years in my father’s hometown of Nairobi,” she recalls. 

She attended school in Nairobi, learned the local language, and really loved her science classes. However, when her sister became gravely ill and was taken to the hospital, Aisha became aware that some families could not afford care at the hospitals as her family could. Those families either had to forego medical care or visit local free clinics. 

She was so moved by this experience that when she began medical school years later, she joined the student-run free healthcare clinic and became involved in community healthcare initiatives. 

The ASCP fellowship will enable her to further her passion to improve global health. In Moshi, she will work alongside Dr. Alex Mremi, a pathologist at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), on a research project involving prostate screening of men in Northern Tanzania. 

“Dr. Mremi and his colleagues have screened 6,205 men for prostate cancer. While 572 underwent biopsies after elevated PSA levels, only 172 were diagnosed with cancer, highlighting the need for follow-up with men who had had normal biopsy results,” she explains. In addition to supporting the pathology aims of the research project, Dr. Mohamed, as an ASCP resident member, will work with Dr. Mremi to support and collaborate with KCMC’s pathology training programs and participate in review of interesting clinical cases and virtual tumor boards via KCMC’s telepathology program, supported by ASCP. 

ASCP is proud to support pathology residents such as Dr. Mohamed as they expand their training and skillsets to support global pathology efforts. 

“By working with Dr. Mremi at KCMC, Dr. Mohamed will not only gain invaluable, hands-on experience, but will also help enhance diagnostic services that are critical to patient care,” says Ken Landgraf, MSc, Executive Director of the ASCP Center for Global Health.    

ASCP Comments on USPSTF Draft Recommendations on Cervical Cancer Screening 

The USPSTF’s draft recommendations for cervical cancer screening mark a significant milestone for women’s health by ensuring access to preventive care. While ASCP and its members actively supported the draft language, submitting hundreds of comments, ASCP raised concerns about language around self-collected specimens in our organizational comment letter. Read more. 

Fixing Medicare Payment: Make it a Priority for Congress 

Pathology and clinical laboratory are once again facing destabilizing payment rates and reimbursement, which impacts every aspect of pathology and clinical laboratory operations, and threatens staffing, training, and patient access to vital services. ASCP urges all members and credential holders to advocate for Medicare payment reform by using the ASCP eAdvocacy Center to send Congress a clear message to fix payment rates now. Read more.  

CMS’s CLIA Rule Now Fully in Effect 

The updated CLIA regulations took full effect in late 2024, introducing increased fees,  updated histocompatibility requirements, and more. ASCP and the ASCP Board of Certification played a pivotal role in shaping the rule, influencing CMS to adopt critical changes, such as ensuring high complexity testing requires degrees with a strong academic science foundation and excluding nursing degrees from eligibility. Read more.  

New Healthcare Policymakers for 2025: President-elect Trump’s Nominees and Congressional Leadership 

As the Trump administration prepares to take office, President-elect Trump has nominated individuals and congressional leaders to help enact his policy priorities. Read more.