|
Infectious Diseases
Subdivision Report
 |
By
Frederick S. Nolte, PhD, D(ABMM), F(AAM)
Chair, Infectious Diseases Subdivision
e-mail: nolte@musc.edu |
The
Infectious Diseases portion of the Annual Meeting program is
now set with selection of the abstracts for platform
presentation and the addition of an Early Bird Session on
Response of Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories to Novel
Influenza Virus Infections. In the Early Bird Session, on
Sunday morning, November 22nd, Jan Nowak
and Christine Ginocchio will share their experiences
on how their laboratories responded to the challenges posed
by the emergence of the novel H1N1 strain of influenza A
virus and collaborated with Public Health Laboratories in
validating assays that would specifically identify this
novel strain at the local hospital level. I hope to see
many of you there. Come prepared to share your experience.
Other ID sessions at this years Meeting include:
Plenary Session:
Mass Spectrometry for Infectious Diseases Applications
Donna
Wolk,
PhD, (ABMM) University of Arizona, AZ
Charlotte Gaydos, MPH, DrPH, Johns Hopkins Univ. School of
Medicine, MD
David
J. Ecker,
PhD, Ibis Biosciences, Inc, CA
Workshops:
1.
Platform
Presentations of selected Infectious Diseases Abstracts
2.
New
Strategies for Diagnosis and Prevention of Clostridium
difficile Infections
Karen
C. Carroll,
MD, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, MD
Dale
N. Gerding, MD, Hines Veterans Affairs Medical Center, IL
Early Bird Session:
Response of Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories to Novel
Influenza A Virus Infections
Christine C. Ginocchio,
PhD, North Shore-LIJ Health System Labs, NY
Jan A. Nowak,
MD, PhD, Northshore University Health System, IL
Jan Nowak also commented on behalf of AMP at a recent meeting of the
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC)
regarding the ability of clinical laboratories to respond to
public health emergencies and urged the Committee to
consider local molecular diagnostic laboratories as a
resource in planning for influenza pandemics. He encouraged
CLIAC to recognize the quality of laboratory testing
provided by molecular diagnostic laboratories during this
most recent threat to the public health.
Dave Persing and I had a difficult time selecting five abstracts for
platform presentation from among the 89 excellent Infectious
Diseases abstracts submitted this year, but I think we chose
abstracts that will have wide appeal to the membership. The
poster presentations are always a strong part of the Meeting
and I am sure that they will be well attended.
I look forward to
seeing you in
Kissimmee
and do not forget the Infectious Diseases Subdivision
Business Luncheon on Saturday, November 21st.
This is your opportunity to share your ideas for next years
program and shape the direction AMP efforts in the area of
Infectious Diseases. |