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Panama Mandates ASCPi Certification for Lab Professionals
Panama was added to the growing roster of international countries that are using the ASCPi certification for its medical technologists. This initiative is part of Panama’s legal mandate to certify all of its medical professionals by Jan. 1, 2011. Global certification offers laboratory professionals worldwide the opportunity to earn the gold standard in certification from the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification (ASCP BOC) and to reap the career and public healthcare benefits of this distinction. more...
Innovative Academic Partnership Saves Medical Laboratory Science Program at Arizona State University
Two years ago, Arizona State University was on the verge of closing its Medical Laboratory Science program, initially in response to projected cuts in funding. Community leaders, however, urged ASU administrators to find another solution because of the demand for more laboratory professionals in the area. more...
Attack of the Pods
Alarmed by the potential for abusive billing practices , the ASCP launched the Stop Pod Labs Now campaign to raise awareness of the problems these ventures pose to patient care. A commentary from ASCP President, Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP, appears in the most recent Modern Healthcare. more...
ASCP President Responds to New York Times article, “Prone to Error: Earliest Steps to Find Cancer”
Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP, ASCP President writes: "An article in the July 19, 2010, New York Times has revealed a very real issue but in our opinion has focused on only a small part of the problem. While it may be true that even well-trained individuals may occasionally make an interpretive error when reading biopsies, the bigger issue is that even for experts there are a variety of borderline or gray-zone lesions that diagnostically are not very reproducible... " more...
Improving Laboratories in Haiti: ASCP’s Relief Mission
ASCP sent five volunteers to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in June to help reorganize two laboratories destroyed by the earthquake in January. These volunteers witnessed the State University Hospital of Haiti's diagnostic laboratory operating under two large white tents. Roughly 30 technicians and students worked elbow to elbow in the sweltering heat, often turning away large numbers of patients due to lack of supplies. more...
Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP Featured in The Progressive
ASCP President Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP is featured in the June issue of The Progressive. The article, "Patently Unjust," highlights the negative impact of gene patents.
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ASCP Receives Three Association Media Awards
ASCP on April 27 won a Silver Excel Award for the 2009 ASCP Annual Meeting Program Book, and a Bronze Excel Award for its new career comic book from Association Media and Publishing. Gelasia G. Croom, ASCP media relations manager, on May 7 won a Silver Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago in the international public relations category. more...
Science Fair Winner Honored by ASCP
Harraz Mohdreza, a high school junior at Union Colony Prep School in Greely, CO, was the winner of the Longs Peak Science & Engineering Fair’s 2010 Ralph Desch Technical Writing Award.
ASCP awarded Mohdreza a $25 gift card and copies of the ASCP Careers Comic. more...
ASCP Donates 2,000 Textbooks to Tanzanian Medical Technology Schools
Book hand-over ceremony recognizes Society’s efforts
CHICAGO – April 22, 2010 – The ASCP donated 2,000 textbooks to 10 medical technology programs in Tanzania as part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). more...
Archive of ACLU Lawsuit Opposing Gene Patents Stories
This page contains archived news headlines about the ACLU Lawsuit Opposing Gene Patents.
ASCP Board of Directors Names New Executive Vice President
E. Blair Holladay, PhD, SCT(ASCP)CM, has been named the new executive vice president (EVP) of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), effective July 1, 2010. more...
ASCP in Chicago Tribune on Gene Patents
ASCP leaders were quoted in the April 2 Chicago Tribune cover story, "Who owns your genes?" ASCP President Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP, and ASCP Executive Vice President John R. Ball, MD, JD, FASCP, hailed the recent ruling against holding patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer.
Read the entire story here . . .
Gene Patents Ruling Gives People More Test Options to Assess Risk for Breast and Ovarian Cancer
(March 30, 2010)--The American Society for Clinical Pathology today hailed a federal court judge's March 29, 2010, ruling that patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are invalid.
“This ruling gives patients the right to choose who will perform the test that determines whether they are at greater risk for breast cancer—a right they never should have been denied,” said ASCP President Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP. more...
Bryan Mitchell, MD FASCP, 1965-2010
Bryan Mitchell, MD FASCP, 44, died of complications from cancer surgery on Thursday, March 11, at Loyola University Medical Center. The forensic pathologist performed autopsies for some of Illinois' biggest cases including the victims of the 2008 shootings at Northern Illinois University. more...
ASCP in Washington Post Opposing Gene Patents
The Washington Post on March 2 reported on ASCP's opposition to gene patents. "Our first question is, is it good lab practice to have a monopoly?" said ASCP President Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP. "The second question is, should genes be patented? Most of us agree the answer is no, genes should not be patented, and there should not be monopolies on lab tests." Access to the article is free, but login may be required.
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UNLV CLS Program Discussed on TV
ASCP is working to save the clinical laboratory science program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, as state budget cuts threaten its existence. Program Director Janice M. Conway-Klaassen, MT(ASCP)SM discusses the potential closure on "Face to Face with Jon Ralston," an NBC-affiliate public affairs program in Las Vegas. Click on Block 4 to see Klaassen's portion of the Feb. 11 segment.
ASCP Letter about Gene Patenting Appears in Boston Globe
ASCP President Mark H. Stoler, MD, FASCP, shares the Society's position opposing gene patents in response to a recent Boston Globe editorial on the subject. Dr. Stoler's letter was printed in the major daily publication and can be viewed here.
A Cloudy Future
An experienced cytotech examines how healthcare economics and managed care impact the cytotechnology field. more...
Congress Clears Path for Obama’s Overhaul of Health Care
In what can be considered the most sweeping health care overhaul since the introduction of the Medicare program, the House of Representatives narrowly passed health care reform legislation, March 21. In a vote of 219 to 212 the House cleared the way for President Obama to sign health care reform into law. For an explanation of the political maneuvering and what these changes mean to pathology and laboratory medicine, view the full story.
ASCP members speak to ADVANCE about disaster preparedness
ASCP members Irina Lutinger, MPH,MASCP, H(ASCP)DLM,FACHE, and Tom Williams, MD, FASCP speak to ADVANCE about disaster preparedness.
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Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Gene Patents Denied
A federal district judge has denied Myriad Genetics’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit opposing patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, whose mutations are associated with an increased hereditary risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
CDC Awards ASCP $5.5 Million for Global Laboratory Outreach
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Institute for Global Outreach has been awarded $5.5 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue the Society’s collaborative work with the agency in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during 2009-10. more...
ASCP BOR and NCA Form Single Certification Agency
The American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Registry (BOR) and the National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel (NCA) on July 21, 2009, signed an agreement forming a single certification agency for medical laboratory professionals. The agency will be called the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC). The agreement is effective on Friday, October 23, 2009. At that time, the NCA will be dissolved as a corporation. more...
BOC Volunteer Introduces ASCPi to Japan
Hideo Sakamoto, PhD, a member of the ASCP Board of Certification’s international certification consortium, wrote an article in a recent issue of the Japanese Journal of Clinical Laboratory Instruments and Reagents. In the article, “Introduction of the Medical Technologist Licensure System in the United States of America and ASCPi” Sakamoto summarizes the MT licensure system in the USA and discusses ASCPi. The journal's website can be found here.
Workforce Shortage Making National News
The Wall Street Journal reported on the laboratory workforce shortage and its impact on laboratories’ ability to keep up during the swine flu crisis. Meanwhile, US News and World Report
highlighted career opportunities in the lab in the story, "A Guide to Confusing
(but Promising) Healthcare Jobs."
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Medical Laboratory Scientists wanted
ABC affiliate in Topeka, KS, KTKA-TV reports on the lab workforce shortage: A hospital needs more than just doctors and nurses. Hospitals like Coffey County Hospital are having a tough time finding lab professionals.
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ASCP Joins ACLU Lawsuit Opposing Gene Patents
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) has joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a lawsuit challenging the legality of patents on human genes—specifically, patents covering the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are associated with breast and ovarian cancer.
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CNN Recognizes “Heroes in Lab Coats”
Noted author and CNN contributor Bob Greene lauds the quiet professionals working in the world’s laboratories. more...