2024-2025 Education Roundtable Series
1Save today! Club members are entitled to join any or all of the Roundtables. Register once only and automatically receive an invitation for each Roundtable and access to the slides and recordings of past roundtables for the current year.
- Registration is by pre-payment only using the online registration form.
- Each registration is restricted to one (1) phone line; you may have as many participants using that line as you wish. You are welcome to sign up more than one (1) phone line but each line must be a separate registration and payment.
- Participants will be sent a link to the zoom session.
2024/2025 Roundtable Series Dates:
2024
Date | Time (Eastern) | Presenter(s) | Topic | |
1 | September 19th | 14:00-15:00 | Samantha Logan | Implementation of an intrasite quality assurance program in a high-volume clinical laboratory |
2 | October 3rd | 14:00-15:00 | Qian (Katie) Sun | Beyond Intended Use: designing validation protocols for accurate PSA testing for patients under 50 |
3 | October 17th | 11:30-12:30 | Katharine Hayden / Rob Shorten | The laboratory’s role in achieving Net Zero healthcare |
4 | October 31st | 11:30-12:30 | Heather Paul | Transcutaneous Bilirubin (TcB) Testing – Triumphs and Tribulations |
5 | November 14th | 11:30-12:30 | He Sarina Yang | AI Chatbots in Laboratory Medicine: From Foundations to Clinical Applications and Emerging Trends |
6 | November 28th | 14:00-15:00 | Kika Veljkovic / Matthew Nichols | CKD-EPI eGFR and KFRE Implementation in community labs M-protein detection via mass spectrometry |
7 | December 12th | 11:30-12:30 | Anna Fuezery | Implementing dual HIV/syphilis POCT at STI clinics across Alberta |
2025
Date | Time (Eastern) | Presenter(s) | Topic | |
8 | January 23rd | 11:30-12:30 | Abdi Sokoro / Allan Garland | Reducing Unnecessary Diagnostic Tests: Issues and Opportunities |
9 | February 6th | 11:30-12:30 | ||
10 | February 20th | 11:30-12:30 | ||
11 | March 6th | 11:30-12:30 | ||
12 | March 20th | 14:00-15:00 | ||
13 | April 3rd | 11:30-12:30 | ||
14 | April 17th | 14:00-15:00 | ||
15 | May 1st | 11:30-12:30 | ||
16 | May 15th | 11:30-12:30 | ||
17 | May 29th | 14:00-15:00 |
#1. September 19, 2024 | Implementation of an intrasite quality assurance program in a high-volume clinical laboratory |
Speaker: | Dr. Samantha Logan, Alberta Precision Laboratories and the University of Calgary |
Overview: | This presentation will highlight the rationale, advantages, and challenges of implementing a quality assurance program examining the comparability of multiple chemistry autoanalyzers in a high-volume community laboratory in Calgary. An overview of accreditation requirements for assessing comparability between instruments will also be discussed. |
Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
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#2. October 3, 2024 | Beyond Intended Use: designing validation protocols for accurate PSA testing for patients under 50 |
Speaker: | Dr. Qian (Katie) Sun, Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Michigan
Dr. Sun is a board-certified Clinical Chemist at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Michigan and Assistant Professor at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. She serves as the Technical Director of the Automated Chemistry and Urinalysis Laboratories. She has been highly productive in clinical service, scientific research, and in the professional community as evidenced by her publications and presentations nationally and internationally. Dr. Sun has published more than 30 book chapters and peer-reviewed articles in journals including Clinical Chemistry, Blood, and JAMA Cardiology. The many awards she has received include the Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists and Outstanding Speaker Award from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. Her research interests include endocrine and autoimmune biomarkers, as well as quality improvement in the clinical laboratory. |
Overview: | This session delves into the complexities of designing validation plan for detecting PSA (Prostate-specific antigen) in a patient population beyond intended use specified by manufacturers. Real world examples will be presented for analytical and clinical validation of PSA tests for patients under 50 years old, as well as for comparison of validation results from different institutions using various PSA methods. Professionals attending this session will be better equipped to implement testing methodologies beyond the intended use, ensuring that needs for diverse patient populations are met. |
Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
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#3. October 17, 2024 | The Laboratory’s Role in Achieving Net Zero Healthcare |
Speakers: | Dr Rob Shorten, Consultant Clinical Scientist, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, and Katharine Hayden, Consultant Clinical Scientist, Manchester Foundation Trust, both representing the Association for Laboratory Medicine (as a note we changed the name of our Association earlier in 2024 from the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine).
Dr Rob Shorten is a Consultant Clinical Scientist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. He has broad experience in clinical microbiology and is the departmental lead for research, and the pathology lead for clinical audit. He is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, and his research interests have included tuberculosis, laboratory diagnostics, and viral haemorrhagic fevers. His current interests include diagnostic stewardship and environmental sustainability. He is also the current Chair of the Microbiology Professional Committee of the Association for Laboratory Medicine. Kath Hayden is a Consultant Clinical Biochemist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Following training in South Manchester, she has held posts in hospital laboratories in Manchester and Liverpool for over 35 years, overseeing advances in analytical technologies, point of care testing and harmonisation of laboratories, and her research interests include endocrinology and renal medicine. She is an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester and her last role was as Clinical Head of Division for Laboratory Medicine at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, before taking up her current role as President of the Association for Laboratory Medicine, UK. Current interests include sustainability of laboratories and appropriate test utilization. |
Overview: | This lecture will outline the importance of the climate emergency and its consequences for the planet and health. It will detail the role that healthcare, and in particular diagnostic laboratories plays in contributing to the carbon footprint. Challenges, and opportunities of how laboratory services can contribute to making patient pathways more environmentally sustainable will be explored. |
Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
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#4. October 31, 2024 | Transcutaneous Bilirubin (TcB) Testing – Triumphs and Tribulations |
Speaker: | Dr. Heather Paul is a Clinical Biochemist for Alberta Precision Laboratories and is based in Calgary, Alberta. She works in both Point of Care Testing, for which she is the South Sector Point of Care Medical Lead, and Chemistry, where she is the Clinical Biochemist for the Chemistry Laboratories in two Regional Hospitals and several Rural Hospitals in Calgary and Southern Alberta. She is also the Clinical Biochemist for First Trimester Screening in Southern Alberta and one of the Co-Directors of the Calgary Clinical Biochemistry Fellowship Program.
Dr. Paul completed her Fellowship in Clinical Biochemistry in Calgary in 2020, was CACB certified in 2021, and became a Diplomate of the American Academy of Clinical Chemistry earlier this year. Her interests include maternal and newborn care, acute care medicine, rural healthcare, and teaching in laboratory medicine. |
Overview: | Transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) testing is a noninvasive method used to estimate total serum bilirubin (TSB) in newborns. This presentation will cover the need for screening for hyperbilirubinemia in newborns, how TcB testing is used to estimate TSB, and will discuss challenges in point of care testing oversight of TcB programs. |
Learning Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Understand transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) measurements and their use in jaundice management in newborns 2) Recognize challenges in analytical validation of TcB meters 3) Discuss approaches to long-term monitoring of TcB meter performance |
#5. November 14, 2024 | AI Chatbots in Laboratory Medicine: From Foundations to Clinical Applications and Emerging Trends |
Speakers: | Dr. Sarina Yang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory, and Co-Director of the ComACC accredited Clinical Chemistry Fellowship Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine. She is board certified in both Clinical Chemistry and Toxicological Chemistry by ABCC. She currently serves as the Chair of Artificial Intelligence Working Group in the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and is a member in the ADLM Academy Council, Education Core Committee, and Data Analytics Steering Committee. She serves as an Associate Editor of Clinical Chemistry Journal, and in the Editorial Board of Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Annals of Laboratory Medicine. Her clinical and research interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, clinical mass spectrometry, and toxicology/TOM. |
Overview: | This lecture will provide learners with an overview of the history of Al chatbots in medicine, knowledge about the latest development of ChatGPT and other large language models, as well as opportunities and challenges of using chatbots in laboratory medicine field. I will discuss the cutting-edge research that assess the accuracy and reliability of chatbots in answering questions related to laboratory tests or interpretation of laboratory data. I will use ChatGPT demo to show the functions and inherent limitations of chatbots, including issues such as “hallucinations”, and further elucidate the root causes of these limitations. |
Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
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#6. November 28, 2024 | Analyzing M-proteins by Mass spectrometry: A view from the driver’s seat |
Speakers: | Matthew Nichols is a clinical biochemist at London Health Sciences Centre where he oversees trace elements, therapeutic drug monitoring and toxicology. His focus is on clinical applications of different mass spectrometry platforms. |
Overview: | This presentation will quickly cover our M-protein method including sample preparation with the liquid handler, LC-QTOF data acquisition and data analysis. The focus of this presentation will be on data analysis where the screen will be shared as we work through a QC (positive and negative), 1 patient for GAMKL and a reagent blank as if you were the biochemist signing the case out.
The primary goal will be to showcase the software functionality as if you were the biochemist responsible for the interpretation of the results. A view from the driver’s seat. |
Objectives: | At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) gain introduction to M-protein analysis by mass spectrometry 2) demonstrate software functionality 3) See data analysis from the view of the interpreting biochemist |