The 2008 CLSI Leadership Conference will feature a special keynote session to kick off a focused To Your Good Health Workshop on 2 April 2008. 

• Controlling Microbial Threats: New Approaches and Ongoing Challenges
   Wednesday, 2 April 2008, 8:00 am

Presented by: Rima Khabbaz, MD
Rima Khabbaz, MD, is the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID), and a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Emory University. She previously served as acting deputy director, National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID); associate director for epidemiologic science, NCID; deputy director, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases (DVRD), NCID; associate director for science, DVRD; chief, hantavirus surveillance, DVRD; and medical epidemiologist, DVRD.

The keynote session will provide an overview and examples of the challenges related to emerging diseases from national and global health perspectives. Examples will highlight challenges related to tuberculosis (TB) and testing, and antimicrobial resistance related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

This presentation serves as the start to a comprehensive workshop for manufacturers, regulatory agencies, health care professionals, and educators and students. Among the topics that will be examined are global health—STDs/STIs, TB, and malaria; MRSA—testing, surveillance, and treatment; newborn screening by tandem mass spectrometry; and quality practices for noninstrumented testing in all point-of-care settings.

Learn how CLSI quality laboratory testing and clinical practices may impact your work and global public health, as we move forward together in this time of change.

Session titles and learning objectives include:

Population Health From a Global Perspective

• Understand the state of Global Health from the perspective of morbidity and epidemiology due to sexually transmitted diseases/infections (STDs/STIs), TB, and malaria.
• Describe how new molecular and point-of-care diagnostic assays can change our understanding of the epidemiology of STIs, malaria, and TB, and might change global health. 
• Create new approaches to standardizing and harmonizing laboratory assays that can affect global health due to diseases such as HIV, STIs, malaria, and TB.

Speaker: Charlotte A. Gaydos, MT, MS, MPH, DrPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
Thomas C. Quinn, MHS, MD, Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

Take the First Step Toward Clarity in MRSA Screening Programs

• Review the prevalence and risk of MRSA in acute care hospitals.
• Discuss the impact of community-acquired MRSA among hospital patient populations.
• Understand the measures available for detection and prevention of MRSA, including surveillance.

Speaker: Cassandra D. Salgado, MD, MS, Medical University of South Carolina

Expanding the Power of Newborn Screening With Tandem Mass Spectrometry

• Learn how the latest technology advancements have made possible the identification of many more treatable diseases and disorders in newborns.

Speaker: David S. Millington, PhD, Duke University Medical Center

Establish Quality Practices in Noninstrumented Near-Patient Testing

• Get the latest details on CLSI efforts to create quality practice guidelines for noninstrumented tests.
• Learn how to teach clinicians and nonlaboratorians about point-of-care testing quality standards.
• Understand quality concerns with noninstrumented point-of-care testing.

Speakers: James H. Nichols, PhD, DABCC, FACB, Baystate Medical Center 
Sheldon Campbell, MD, PhD, FCAP, VAMC West Haven

Don’t miss this opportunity to influence and participate in the development of consensus-based best practices for the clinical laboratory environment!

The workshop concludes with a special event—a 40th anniversary celebration dinner. CLSI will thank the outstanding and important contributions of members and volunteers, acknowledge the new executive leadership and directors, and recognize 2008 award recipients.

Join us in celebrating the 40th anniversary of CLSI! Register now, call +610.688.0100, or toll free +877.447.1888.
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