Today, ASCP and the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA) announced that CLMA will join the ASCP as a division of ASCP, thus aligning the organizations.
The agreement includes full integration of CLMA’s offerings, governance, and membership into ASCP. Both organizations worked to develop and mutually approve an alignment agreement that preserves CLMA branding, support for CLMA state chapters, and a governance structure to ensure the voice representing Laboratory Directors and Managers is critically supported.
“This agreement provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring the best of CLMA's activities, meetings, its experts, and leadership within ASCP to promulgate excellence in laboratory management and leadership and to further develop and leverage a deep knowledge base that will enrich the development of leaders within the laboratory community," states ASCP CEO Dr. E. Blair Holladay, PhD, MASCP, SCT(ASCP)
CM. “Together, we can elevate the visibility of laboratory leadership and support the growing needs of its Directors and Managers, including developing a pipeline to ensure the legacy of laboratory leadership."
"ASCP is committed to the success of this venture and is prepared to expand the offerings necessary to ensure current and next generation laboratory leaders have the resources they need to face challenges and are prepared to position laboratory medicine in the center of health care," states ASCP President Henry Rinder, MD, FASCP.
Following a successful joint membership agreement and KnowledgeLab 2021 collaboration earlier this year, the two organizations engaged in new rounds of strategic thinking to explore further synergies. The CLMA Board of Directors will transition to a newly formed CLMA Advisory Group within a divisional structure of ASCP, with explicitly defined duties and obligations.
“The CLMA Board of Directors has full confidence in ASCP and they have displayed nothing but enthusiasm and trust during our conversations,” said CLMA President Christina P. Nickel, MHA, MLS(ASCP)CM, CPHQ. “Member feedback following the KnowledgeLab collaboration in March gave us confidence that ASCP is fully committed to serving the laboratory management profession.”
The alignment was ratified by a majority vote of the CLMA membership last month and the transition is now in progress. CLMA membership will expire on Dec. 31, 2021 and members will be invited by ASCP to continue their membership, both at the state and national levels.
