ASCP 2023 Annual Meeting Equips Attendees with Skills and Knowledge

ASCP welcomed more than 1,500 attendees from around the world to gain valuable knowledge from renowned faculty spanning pathology and laboratory medicine at the ASCP 2023 Annual Meeting, Oct. 18-20, in Long Beach, CA.   

If you missed it, there is still time to access 90+ recorded sessions from the Annual Meeting, which are accessible for purchase through April 20, 2024. Recordings will be available via the ‘ASCP 2023 Annual Meeting App’ and virtual meeting platform, accessible at ascp.org/2023.

During the Annual Meeting, two distinguished general session speakers—actor and patient advocate Rob Lowe and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett inspired the audience. Mr. Lowe shared his story about having several family members who had cancer and how that empowered him to become an advocate for cancer patients. He was also presented the ASCP 2023 Patient Advocate Award.

Dr. Corbett, the Scientific General Session keynote speaker, shared what led her into the medical laboratory profession and her involvement as leader of the Vaccine Research Center’s coronavirus team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where she studied coronavirus biology and vaccine development.  The vaccine developed by Dr. Corbett and her colleagues were central to the development of what would become the Moderna mRNA vaccine and the Eli Lilly therapeutic monoclonal antibody, and ultimately, help end the worst respiratory-disease pandemic in more than 100 years.   

Meanwhile, ASCP’s annual awards lauded exemplary members whose leadership has shaped the Society and the profession as well as ASCP’s 2023 40 Under Forty Top Five honorees. The luncheon featured the presentation of the inaugural ASCP Resident Service Award, presented by ASCP Past President Dr. Barney and his wife, Sandra Barney, to acknowledge a resident with outstanding achievement in ASCP volunteer service. The award was presented to Constantine Kanakis, MD, a senior pathology resident at Loyola University Medical Center and adjunct faculty in the graduate MLS program of Loyola's Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.

During the meeting, ASCP hosted more than 60 local high school students at NextPo, where they were immersed in a morning of real-life scientific experiments and learned about careers in the medical laboratory. One academically talented senior student was presented with ASCP Foundation STEM Student Scholarships.

A few days before the start of the Annual Meeting, ASCP CEO Blair Holladay, PhD, MASCP, SCT(ASCP)^CM, welcomed global health leaders and other dignitaries from around the world for the World Cancer Summit in Long Beach. Dr. Holladay shared an update about ASCP’s work with Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa initiative which showcased ASCP’s commitment to battling cancer on a global scale. 

ASCP also hosted a pre-meeting workshop on the growing role of artificial intelligence in the laboratory which was very well received. In addition, the Society held its inaugural 5K walk/run.  The early morning run along the harbor in Long Beach drew more than 100 participants who helped raise funds in support of the ASCP Foundation.

Save the date for ASCP 2024 Annual Meeting, September 4-5, 2024, in Chicago!