SCASM_Official

🌟 Friday Scientific Sessions – SCASM 2025
📍 “Haves and Have-Nots in U.S. Clinical Lab Testing”
🧪 Featuring speakers:
Elizabeth Marlowe, PhD (Quest Diagnostics)
Deisy Contreras, PhD (Cedars‑Sinai Medical Center)
Susan Butler‑Wu, PhD (LAGMC)
🧑‍⚖️ Moderated by Jennifer Dien‑Bard, PhD (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles)

This compelling session dived into the disparities, challenges, and opportunities across U.S. clinical laboratory testing—exploring who has access, who doesn’t, and why that matters for patient care, diagnostics innovation, and public health equity, how we faced public health emergencies and weather or not we are prepared for what’s coming next. With perspectives from major diagnostic labs, academic medical centers, and lab leadership, the discussion shed light on resource gaps, technological divides, regulatory hurdles, and the ripple effects across the healthcare system.

🧬 “Infectious Nightmares: H5N1, Measles, and Mpox”
Speaker: Anthony Tran, PhPH (CDPH)
At SCASM 2025 annual meeting, Anthony Tran delivered a gripping talk titled “Infectious Nightmares: H5N1, Measles, and Mpox.”
With clarity and urgency, he walked us through three infectious threats that feel straight out of a thriller—but are all too real. From the evolving H5N1 avian influenza situation, to the resurgence of measles fueled by declining vaccination rates, to the continued challenges of Mpox outbreaks—his message was clear: these aren’t distant concerns; they’re here, now, and demand vigilance.
It was an eye-opening reminder that public health preparedness, communication, and collaboration are more important than ever.
Because sometimes, the scariest stories are the true ones

🧫 Specimen Trivia: A Journey from Collection to Action! 🧪

We had an amazing time at the Copan-sponsored talk, “Specimen Trivia: A Journey from Collection to Action”! 🎉
The session was both fun and informative, taking us through the fascinating process of specimen collection, transport, and testing — all the way to actionable results that make a real impact in the lab and beyond.
To make things even more engaging, we put our knowledge to the test with an interactive trivia game packed with fun questions about best practices, specimen types, and a few surprises along the way! 🧩💡
👏 Congratulations to our trivia winners, who walked away with some prizes — and major bragging rights!
A big thank-you to Copan for sponsoring this educational and entertaining session, and to everyone who joined in for making learning so much fun.

🧫✨ Just wrapped up an incredible Mycology Workshop with SCASM x CSULA! 🌿🔬

Attendees explored the fascinating world of medical mycology, diving into:
🧪 Specimen processing techniques
🎨 Common fungal stains (KOH, Calcofluor White, GMS & more)
🔍 Morphological ID methods under the microscope
💥 Key structural features of fungi causing:

Superficial mycoses (think tinea & Malassezia)
Subcutaneous infections (like Sporothrix spp.)
Opportunistic mycoses (e.g., Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis, Mucorales)
Systemic/invasive mycoses (such as Histoplasma, Coccidioedes & Blastomyces)
This hands-on workshop was a perfect blend of theory and practice—empowering clinical laboratorians to better recognize fungal pathogens. 🧠💡

🔁 Stay tuned for future events—more science, more skills, more spores! 🍄
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