Two extraordinary individuals who are making an impact on public health and patient advocacy will headline the ASCP 2023 Annual Meeting next fall in Long Beach, CA. Hollywood icon and cancer patient advocate Rob Lowe will be the keynote speaker on the opening day of the Annual Meeting, on Oct. 18. The following day, the scientific keynote speaker will be Kizzmedia S. Corbett, PhD, scientific lead of the Vaccine Research Center Coronavirus Team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
For decades, Mr. Lowe has leveraged his platform to stand up to cancer. A passionate advocate for resiliency in the face of adversity, the New York Times best-selling author delivers an inspirational message about the fight against cancer from a deeply personal perspective. When he lost three loved ones to cancer – his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother – and his father survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the award winning actor knew that he had to get involved and take a stand against cancer, becoming the first spokesman for breast cancer.
A devoted advocate, Mr. Lowe has talked with groups of all kinds about his experiences with the disease, his victories from the work he has been involved with in the fight against cancer, and the importance of continued work by everyone to support breast cancer survivors. His work is a reminder that patient care and advocacy is central to all that pathologists and medical laboratory professionals do.
Meanwhile, the impact that Dr. Corbett and her colleagues have made on the development of a coronavirus vaccine has made an impact around the world. She and her team were central to the development of the Moderna mRNA vaccine and the Eli Lilly therapeutic monoclonal antibody, both of which were first to enter clinical trials in the world. As a result, her work has had a substantial impact on ending the worst respiratory disease pandemic in more than 100 years. Dr. Corbett is now an assistant professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston, MA. Her work now extends beyond the development of the COVID 19 vaccines to the outlook of this pandemic and future viral pandemics.
These two inspirational leaders will kick off the ASCP 2023 Annual Meeting, which will provide you with the vital knowledge you need to stay at the forefront of your profession. From cutting-edge techniques and emerging trends to best practices, ASCP 2023 will help you to build the skills and expertise you need to make an immediate impact in your lab.
Highlights of this year’s meeting will include a dedicated track for laboratory professionals, developed by laboratory professionals. Begun several years ago, this ever popular track includes a laboratory professional session in each time slot during the Annual Meeting. Renowned laboratory professional leaders will present all of the sessions, which are focused on the following four areas: Chemistry, Hematology / Coagulation, Blood Banking / Transfusion Medicine, and Microbiology.
In addition, there will be two new workshops offered for laboratory professionals and pathologists the day before the start of the Annual Meeting. There will be two concurrent, four-hour sessions, one focusing on GI pathology and the other focusing on technology trends in the laboratory.
The “Birds of a Feather” roundtables were a big hit at last year’s Annual Meeting and will return again this year. Attendees do not need to register for these; they can just show up and engage with their peers who are in similar fields, to talk about top-of-mind topics in a lively and informal setting.
This year’s education program is being developed with your input. When ASCP sent out a call for topic proposals earlier this year, nearly 300 responses were received, with many suggestions being integrated into the meeting.
Over the past few years, the topic of wellness has become a concern of all healthcare providers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when hospital staff worked around the clock to care for patients. That concern continues, especially as many have retired or leaving the profession because of burn out. In addition to sessions that focus on wellness, there will be a number of interactive activities built into this year’s meeting to help attendees de-stress, re-charge, and have fun!! And the ultimate in wellness activities – you’ll have Long Beach by the ocean so close by! So bring the family and make ASCP 2023 a destination trip you’ll never forget!
Learn more and register at
ascp.org/2023
