Chicago to Host Annual Clinical Chemistry Meeting

The annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry will take place in Chicago (IL, USA) from July 23 to July 27, 2006. The extensive program will include five plenary sessions, thirty symposia, fifteen short courses and interactive workshops, meet-the experts sessions, and small brown bag sessions.

Five plenary sessions will feature speakers with different perspectives on the future of health care. Harvey Fineberg, M.D. Ph.D., from the Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC, USA), will identify key factors, publications, and initiatives that have resulted in a renewed demand for increased quality and delivery of healthcare. He will stress the importance of issues relating to patient safety and medical errors. In addition, he will outline the ways that laboratory medicine can make a greater contribution to improving healthcare.

Carolyn Kovac, Ph.D., IBM Life Sciences (Somers, NY, USA), will describe how the convergence of life sciences, healthcare, and information technology is revolutionizing the discovery of new treatments and the practice of medicine. She will discuss how this new paradigm of information-based medicine might be the catalyst that transforms healthcare into a more personalized model.

Dr. Quadracci and his innovative company, Quad/Graphics (West Allis, WI, USA), will demonstrate how they have been able to increase employee health and reduce morbidity by using a model of care that is fully self-insured and includes self-delivered primary and specialty care that incorporates an onsite laboratory service.

William Clarke, M.D. M.Sc., GE Healthcare (Chalfont, St. Jiles, UK), will focus on the role of molecular diagnostics in directing clinicians towards highly specific molecular imaging diagnostics. Dr. Clarke will discuss the benefits of this technology in the synergy between in vitro molecular diagnostic tests and molecular in vivo imaging.

Mitochondria are the subject of the fifth plenary session. Douglas Wallace, Ph.D., of the department of molecular and mitochondrial medicine and genetics at the University of California (Irvine, CA, USA), will explain how mitochondrial analysis has allowed the exploration of the relationship between evolution and some of the most common and disabling diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, seizure disorders, and Parkinson's disease.

A Clinical Laboratory Exposition will take place in Chicago on July 25–July 27, showcasing new scientific and technology development, including areas of clinical diagnosis, automation, information systems, and point of care.



Related Links:
AACC Annual Meeting