Michele L. Best, MASCP, MT(ASCP) was honored with the 2009 ASCP Member Lifetime Achievement Award at the ASCP's Leadership Exchange Awards Presentation and Keynote Luncheon, at noon March 20, in Philadelphia.

The award was established to honor an ASCP laboratory professional Member who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the profession through work, attitude, and Society activities.

Best is System Director for Clinical Laboratories in the Department of Pathology at Dimensions Healthcare System in Cheverly, Maryland. In this capacity she directs three clinical laboratories providing services to five healthcare facilities. She has been a director, educator, workshop presenter, and management consultant for more than 25 years.

Her contributions to the ASCP are numerous. She was Chair of the Associate Member Section (now known as the Council of Laboratory Professionals), and completed two terms as Member-at- Large of the ASCP Board of Directors.

Best has also served as Chair of the ASCP Membership Commission and as a member of the ASCP Nominating Committee, Laboratory Medicine Editorial Advisory Board, and Government Relations Committee. Currently, she is a member of the Annual Meeting/Weekends of Pathology Committee, ASCP Institute Advisory Committee and has served as an ASCP Consultant for the PEPFAR project for the past 4 years. Most recently, she was instrumental in developing the Maputo Report which is being used in many countries as a model for laboratory system development.

Throughout her career, she has presented more than 200 seminars and workshops on clinical hematology, laboratory management, and regulatory affairs, has authored numerous publications in the fields of clinical hematology and laboratory management, and has held leadership positions in a variety of organizations.

In 2007, Best was one of the first eight to be honored with an ASCP Mastership Award, and she is a past recipient of the Society’s Excellence in Management Award. Representing the profession, she also served as a federal appointee to the Centers for Disease and Prevention’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee.