Nearly 200 ninth grade Chicago Public Schools students will be immersed in real-life scientific learning at a gathering of 1,500 pathologists and lab professionals during the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s (ASCP) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The meeting, which began on September 18, continues through September 21 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
ASCP will host students from Perspectives/IIT Math and Science Academy, a CPS charter school at 3663 South Wabash Avenue, to take part in ASCP’s “Building a Laboratory Workforce for the Future,” on Friday, September 20, from 9:15 am to 2 pm.
A group of ASCP Career Ambassadors, a program in partnership with Roche, will lead students in hands-on educational exercises that include:
- Looking at cells under a microscope
- Building DNA
- Learning about the human genome
The students will also mingle with some of the world’s most renowned medical laboratory experts.
“By inviting the students to take part in interactive experiments, encouraging them to meet with medical laboratory professionals and pathologists, and offering them educational exercises to learn about amazing new scientific discoveries, we hope to expand students’ awareness of the exciting career opportunities that exist in laboratory medicine and pathology,” says E. Blair Holladay, PhD, SCT(ASCP), executive vice president, ASCP.
Holladay will deliver a welcome address to kick off Activities for “Building a Laboratory Workforce for the Future,” followed by a scientific scavenger hunt in the Science Connection Central Exhibit Hall where students will explore various exhibitor booths and discover answers to questions that will familiarize them with lab medicine.
The students will also attend an education session that focuses on how new technology is revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare. The session, Preparing for Seismic Shifts in Pathology Informatics, will be moderated by Mark Tuthill, MD, FASCP, division head for Pathology Informatics at the Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, and brings together pioneers in this emerging field, known as clinical informatics.
Follow along with developments at the meeting and share your own impressions on Twitter, at #ASCP2013
The “Building a Laboratory Workforce for the Future” is one of several initiatives that ASCP has designed to address the critical shortage of lab professionals in the United States. As Baby Boomers get older, they require more diagnostic testing, which is increasing pressure on the nation’s medical labs—and, the majority of lab professionals are approaching retirement.
- To address these issues, ASCP has partnered with Roche, one of the world’s leading research-based healthcare companies, for many years to offer the ASCP Career Ambassador Program, in which ASCP members who are lab professionals visit high schools across the country to engage students in conversations about careers in lab medicine. Last year alone, the Career Ambassadors met with more than 10,000 high school students.
- Through the Siemens-ASCP Scholarship Program, $1.5 million in scholarships has been given to more than 1,200 students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees in medical lab science.
- In 2004, ASCP established the Resident Subspecialty Grant Program to provide financial support for pathology residents seeking to broaden their knowledge in a particular subspecialty. Since then, more than $100,000 in subspecialty grants has been awarded to 85 pathology residents.
[Source: ASCP]
