Introduction
The 132nd Meeting of the Association of Clinical Scientists will be held in Mobile, Alabama, from Wednesday, 23 May, to Sunday, 27 May 2012. The headquarters will be the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, located in downtown Mobile. The meeting, with a theme of Advances in Pathology for Personalized Medicine, will be hosted by the University of South Alabama, School of Medicine, where one of the meeting sessions will be conducted. Drs. J. Allan Tucker and Jacek Polski, Co-(Chairs of the Program Committee, cordially invite you to attend.
Details of the meeting program can be found in the next section.
Professor Wittliff’s team is internationally regarded for studies of estrogens and their mimics with receptor proteins in human cancer, exploiting proteomics and genomics. His laboratory was among the first to report estrogen receptors in a breast cancer biopsy predicted a patient’s response to hormone therapy. This finding led to collaborations with the NSABP, establishing Tamoxifen as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer and use of receptors as biomarkers of patient prognosis and response. With NEN/DuPont, Dr. Wittliff developed the original FDA-approved kits for assessing estrogen and progestin receptors in biopsies, celebrated as a major contribution to laboratory medicine. His laboratory, designated the National Reference Facility for historical clinical trials in North America, served more than 400 laboratories worldwide. Focusing expertise on molecules exhibiting estrogen mimicry, Dr. Wittliff and IA, Inc. patented receptor-based biosensors detecting endocrine-disrupting compounds in the environment. Awards include Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry from the AACC, Goldsmith Research Excellence Award from the American Cancer Society and the University of Louisville President's Award for Career Achievements. More than 200 students and research fellows from 45 countries have trained in his laboratory. Currently Dr. Wittliff directs the Institute for Molecular Diversity & Drug Design, which he co-founded.
Dr. Valdes is Professor and Senior Vice-Chairman in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine. He is also Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, serves as Chief of Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology and is the founder and director of a Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Clinical Chemistry in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Valdes is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in advancing the profession of clinical chemistry through his major contributions in promoting clinical chemistry as a discipline via the scholarships of clinical service, research, and teaching. As a result of these activities, Dr. Valdes has played a major role in heading and participating in numerous national committees and in leading several of our key professional organizations. He has served as president of the Clinical Ligand Assay Society (CLAS), president of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB), and is a past-president of the Commission for Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry (ComACC). Dr. Valdes has also served on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and as a director on the American Board of Clinical Chemistry (ABCC). Additionally, Dr. Valdes has been engaged in many other national work groups including federal government advisory committees. His scientific interests involve discovery and characterization of the mammalian cardenolides and their pathophysiologic role in cardiovascular disease and, more recently, in cancer therapeutics. For this scientific work, he has been awarded numerous grants from the NIH and other public and private organizations as well as several distinguished scientist awards from professional organizations such as the NACB, the CLAS, and the ACS. Dr. Valdes has authored more than 250 publications. In addition to his other research laboratories, Dr. Valdes is the principle founder and President of the Pharmacogenetics Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Louisville where he is currently working on transitioning the science of pharmacogenetics and proteomics into clinical laboratory practice.
Dr. Charles Hawker is Scientific Director for Automation and Special Projects at ARUP, where he has been for 19 years. Dr. Hawker is also Professor (Adjunct) of Pathology in the University of Utah, School of Medicine. Previously, over a twenty year period, he held various positions in research and development and management at Laboratory Procedures, Inc. (Upjohn) and SmithKline Beecham Clinical Labs. At ARUP he has installed several major automation and robotic systems that have made ARUP one of the country’s most automated laboratories. He is a past president of the Association of Clinical Scientists, the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB), and the Clinical Ligand Assay Society (CLAS). He has received the John V. Bergen Award of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), the Professor Alvin Dubin Award from the NACB, and the Becton Dickinson Award from the Association for Laboratory Automation.
Dr. Peter Hu is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Professions (SHP) and is Director for the Molecular Genetic Technology Program. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1990 with a major in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry. He later received his Master’s degree from Lamar University majoring in Microbiology and subsequently a Doctor of Philosophy from Trident University International (TUI) Healthcare Administration and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Hu also holds 3 specialty clinical certifications in Molecular Biology, Cytogenetics, and Clinical Laboratory Science. He joined MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in1995 and has worked in both clinical and academic environments.