Greetings, esteemed CSCC members! The council, along with other CSCC members, continues working through several initiatives; below are key discussions and updates from our Winter Council Meeting on February 8, 2025, in Toronto, Ontario.
President’s Report (Dr. Paul Yip)
IFCC
The CSCC Executive Committee reviewed and voted on two IFCC membership applications, both of which were approved: the Thai Society of Clinical Pathologists and the Association of Physicians and Specialists in Laboratory Medicine of Moldova. A review is ongoing for two additional applications from Mauritania and BruneiDarussalam. The election of Ms. Tricia Ravalico as Corporate Members’ Representative on the IFCC Executive Board for 2024-2026 is in progress. CSCC has also submitted two nominations for the IFCC Distinguished Awards.
NAFCC
Dr. David Grenache resigned as the NAFCC representative to IFCC. ADLM proposed Dr. Shannon Haymond as his replacement, with CSCC’s support. IFCC approved the nomination, and Shannon will serve until December 2026.
ADLM
CSCC is collaborating with ADLM on an Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Document, co-chaired by Dr. Mari DeMarco (St. Paul’s Hospital and Providence Health, BC) and Dr. Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich (Mayo Clinic, MN). The document will be simultaneously published in Clinical Biochemistry and an ADLM journal.
Regulation of the Profession and Advocacy Subcommittee (RPAS)
The committee continues to hold bimonthly meetings. The CSCC awarded a special project grant to advance regulation in Alberta, which the Alberta Association of Clinical Laboratory Doctoral Scientists (AACLDS) has hired a lobbyist and arranged key meetings, including one with the Minister of Health. Educational materials, including a document on regulatory steps and a list of regulated professions by province, have been posted on the RPAS webpage.
President Elect’s Report (Dr. Jennifer Shea)
A reminder to members: the next CSCC conference will be a joint event with ADLM in Chicago from July 27-31, 2025. The CSCC will host a special educational and networking event for Canadian attendees. The CSCC Annual General Meeting and Awards Presentations is also in the works. Future CSCC meeting locations are confirmed and more announcements are coming soon!
Public Outreach Division (Dr. Lori Beach)
In October 2024, a presentation on the CSCC’s public relations initiative was made at the Town Hall. The Communications Content Committee (CCC) is exploring social media training with the firm National PR to help translate ideas into content for platforms including X, BlueSky, and Threads. The CCC aims to build a CSCC presence online, develop a list of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for engagement, and potentially create a public-facing landing page. In January 2025, the CSCC podcast was featured in a special issue of JALM, receiving positive feedback. The National PR firm has completed branding and content templates, and the committee is now reviewing analytics and preparing a communications calendar.
Professional Affairs Division (Dr.Danijela Konforte)
Council positions
The CSCC Council is pleased to welcome Dr. Ashley Newbigging as a first-term Councillor (2025-2027) and Dr. Berna Aslan for a second term (2025-2027). Announcements for the President-Elect, Professional Affairs Division Head, and Education & Scientific Affairs Division Head positions will follow upon nominee acceptance. Stay tuned for announcements of the 2025 CSCC Awards!
Clinical Biochemist Position Description
The Clinical Biochemist Position Description underwent an extensive review, including member feedback, and was fully approved by CSCC Council. This document will be shared with CSCC members and posted in the members-only section on the website soon.
Job Postings
The Professional Affairs Division tracked 23 clinical biochemist job postings including some new positions in 2024 consistent with the previous two years, reflecting a robust job market.
Salary Survey
The salary survey is now closed. Overall, a total of 72 responses were received including 5 trainees. Respondent data is currently being analyzed and will be presented at the next council meeting before being published on the CSCC website.
Publications Division (Dr. Nicolas Tetreault)
Clinical Biochemistry Journal
The Journal continues to perform well. Recently, two new associate editors were recruited. Two special issues are planned for 2025. Efforts are ongoing to define a social media editor role and encourage special interest group submissions through open access discounts. A task force will be formed to promote submissions and to enhance the journal’s impact factor.
CSCC Newsletter
The Newsletter is published bi-monthly, with three issues released since June 2024. The Newsletter is transitioning to an online format, with a proposed tile/blog layout as an option. The committee aims to make relevant content public to boost readership and professional visibility while ensuring personal information remains private. The editorial team plans to engage SIG Chairs for more submissions, and making the newsletter more interactive next year.
CSCC website
The CSCC website is in its final phases, with development advancing through Phases 2, 3, and 4 simultaneously. The award nomination forms are being finalized and will be launched soon.
Archives Committee
The Archives Committee remains active. It aims to develop a formal Sunday social at future conferences, is coordinating 70th-anniversary activities for next year, and is seeking a dedicated webpage, with details to be confirmed.
Education & Scientific Affairs Division (Anna Fuezery)
Education Roundtables
The Education Roundtables has seen strong viewership following the decision to make the lectures free to CSCC members.
hRI (Harmonized Reference Interval) Working Group
The group continues to be active and CSCC Council approved funding to support workshops in 2025.
CLiCK study tool
Council continues to support this group, which has been highly active. At the end of 2024, there have been over 200 downloads. The committee plans include promoting the tool to CSCC, ADLM, and CSMLS, expanding the deck library with expert contributions, and launching new decks in 2025. Participants can earn CE credits for developing and reviewing decks.
CSCC Travelling Lectureship sponsored by Bio-Rad
The Travelling Lectureship program will be discontinued due to technological advancements and speaker availability, with plans to explore a suitable replacement that will benefit members.
Special Projects Form
An online form for Committees and Working Groups is being drafted to streamline request submissions, which will be received by Head Office and forwarded to the relevant Council members.
Secretary’s Report (Dr. Teralee Burton)
The CSCC membership continues to be stable and has good national representation. As of Feb 8, 2025 the CSCC has 320 members.
Treasurer’s Report (Dr. Saranya Arnoldo)
CSCC remains financially stable, continues investing in professional development, website enhancements, and other member-led projects.The Council voted to increase funding for Trainee Travel and Elective Visit Grants in 2025 to account for inflation.
Head Office
Head Office continues to support all CACB and CSCC activities. Membership renewals are in good shape for the 2025 year. The Head Office staff meet weekly with the President and President-Elect to review operational tasks and ensure deadlines are met.
Introducing Wordle – Clinical Chemistry edition!
Hi CSCC Colleagues,
Get ready and put your thinking caps on!
The CSCC Newsletter is introducing the Clinical Chemistry edition of Wordle! Just scan the QR code to access the Wordle puzzle of the month. If you haven’t played Wordle before, it is a popular word puzzle game where the goal is to guess a secret word within six attempts. After each guess, the game provides feedback by coloring the letters: green means the letter is correct and in the right position, yellow means the letter is correct but in the wrong position, and gray means the letter isn’t in the word at all. Using this feedback, you refine your guesses to gradually narrow down the possibilities and try to figure out the hidden word before running out of attempts. Each new guess should be
based on both the clues and any letters you’ve already ruled out.
The Wordle themes will be Clinical Chemistry related and can range from biomarkers, diseases, methodologies, and so on. Give this month’s Wordle a try! Scan the QR code and it will take you to a webpage (see image above). You can see this month’s Wordle has 7 letters! Using the keyboard, enter the letters you think are part of the word. Click “Enter” to see whether you are correct.
How many guesses until you’ve solved the puzzle?
