NACCCA 42nd Annual Banquet was held in Chicago on 27 July 2022. Nearly 160 members and non-members from various fields of clinical laboratory medicine attended this event. The participants came from many countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, including leaders of international laboratory medicine associations, e.g. AACC, AACC Academy and IFCC, clinical laboratory experts from different countries, and professionals in in vitro diagnostic industry.

From left to right: AACC 2022 President, Dr. Steve Master; AACC 2014 President, Dr. Steven Wong; AACC 2020 President, Dr. Carmen Wiley; NACCCA 2015 President, Dr. Victoria Zhang; AACC CEO, Mark Golder.

Dr. Khosrow Adeli (left), IFCC President, and Dr. Maurizo Ferrari (right), IFCC Past President

Dr. Alison Woodworth (top left), AACC Academy President; Dr. Shannon Haymond (top right), AACC President-elect; Dr. Yusheng Zhu (bottom left), AACC Academy President-elect; Dr. Gyorgy Abel, Past President of AACC Academy (bottom right)

The annual banquet was chaired by Dr. Xin Yi, NACCCA President of 2022. In the meeting, we first reviewed NACCCA's professional activities since 2020, including the COVID-19 Seminar hosted by Dr. Jing Cao in April 2020, " Message from the Frontline: Laboratory tests in COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment", inviting frontline laboratorians from U.S. and China to share valuable experiences on laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19. Also, NACCCA President of 1985, Dr. Daniel Chan, was invited to look back at the 40 years of the NACCCA’s history. Dr. Young Wang then shared activities in 2021, including the virtual conference hosted by NACCCA and Antpedia, as well as the Zhongshan Mass Spectrometry Workshop co-hosted with Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University. In addition, NACCCA also cooperated with CAIVD (China In Vitro Diagnostic Association) to review and introduce COVID-19 diagnostic tests from China. During the pandemic, NACCCA still actively maintained professional exchanges with the Chinese laboratory medicine community and IVD industry.

Left: Dr. Jing Cao, NACCCA 2020 President; Right: Dr. Young Wang, NACCCA 2021 President

Afterwards, Dr. Xin Yi introduced NACCCA's recent activities, including the new website and the newly launched Trends in Lab Medicine, which introduces outstanding research and clinical work from Chinese scholars, as well as monthly professional webinars to facilitate exchanges in the clinical laboratory and in vitro diagnostic fields.

Dr. Xin Yi, NACCCA 2022 President

Trends in Lab Medicine, edited by the NACCCA Education Committee

Webinars organized by NACCCA Scientific Development Committee

With the support of the Clinicalms.com.cn, NACCCA plans to award clinical mass spectrometry research grants for 5 consecutive years from 2022 onwards to encourage and support research projects of mass spectrometry in clinical application. The award 2022 was received by Dr. Yayuan Zhao, a PGY3 resident physician at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, for his study of "Metabolomics Profiles in Methotrexate Treated Juvenile Arthritis". After that, Dr. He Sarina Yang presented Annual Travel Award to this year’s recipients.

Left: Dr. He Sarina Yang, NACCCA President of 2023; Right: Dr. Jack L. Wu, winner of the 2022 Travel Awards

Travel Award Winners:

Danting Liu, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Jack L.Wu, PhD, MLS(ASCP), Mayo Clinical Laboratory

Song Lu, PhD, Pennsylvania State University

In recognition of outstanding work in the field of clinical translational research, the NACCCA 2022 Outstanding Research Award was awarded to Dr. Jialing Zhang from Hong Kong Baptist University. Dr. Zhang was unable to attend but greeted everyone through the video (below).

The NACCCA 2022 Service Award and the Past President Award were received by Dr. Yu Jada Zhang from University of Massachusetts and Dr. Young Wang, founder of Wanda Henry LLC, respectively.

Dr. Zhicheng Jin, NACCCA Board member presented the award to Dr. Young Wang

To thank NACCCA past presidents’ continuous support and leadership to the association and NACCCA board, this year's Mentor Award was awarded to Dr. Yan Victoria Zhang, Professor of University of Rochester and NACCCA 2015 President.

Dr. Victoria Zhang spoke at the banquet

To recognize the leading role of international clinical laboratory experts and their contributions to promote communication in the laboratory medicine field internationally, NACCCA presented the “Leadership in International Collaboration Award” to Dr. Baishen Pan, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Past Chair of the Chinese Society of Laboratory Medicine. Although Dr. Pan was not able to attend the meeting, a video was sent from him to greet the participants (below).

NACCCA's development over the years is inseparable from the guidance of many senior members, who not only set a role model but also generously provided support and help to junior members. Therefore, the NACCCA Board presented the 2022 Distinguished Contribution to Education Award to Dr. Qinghe Meng, Professor at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, NACCCA President of 2011.

Dr. He Sarina Yang presented the award to Dr. Qinghe Meng

The last but not the least, NACCCA Board presented the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Steven H. Wong, NACCCA President of 1985, AACC president of 2014, Emeritus professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine, for his special contributions to education, research, clinical, and professional promotion in the field of laboratory medicine.

Dr. Steven H Wong spoke at the banquet

Over the years, NACCCA has continued to grow with the support of new and old members, and has contributed significantly to the field of laboratory medicine in professional training, development, and professional exchange internationally. Under the leadership of the incoming President, Dr. He Sarina Yang, NACCCA will also continue to uphold its mission and create a professional community for members to learn and collaborate.

Banquet photos:

Written by: Xin Yi, PhD

Photographed by Xun Pei, MScA, MS, MB

We want to thank the generous support from these companies on hosting the banquet: Shenzhen AoneBio, Waters, ThermoFisher Scientific, Clinicalms.com.cn, Shanghai Skyway.