Theranos Whistleblowers and Experts on Artificial Intelligence and Genomic Sequencing Draw Nearly 17,000 Attendees to the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting

CHICAGO, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AACC welcomed thousands of medical professionals and healthcare leaders to the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo from July 24-28. The meeting featured groundbreaking diagnostic advances that will solve challenging patient health problems, and affirmed just how essential laboratory medicine professionals are to patient safety and care.

As of Wednesday, July 27, nearly 17,000 laboratory medicine professionals had registered for the meeting—a clear sign that meeting attendance has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. More attendees are expected today, the last day of the meeting.

A major highlight of the conference program was an in-depth discussion with Theranos whistleblowers Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz about their efforts to reveal Theranos' fraud and protect patients. The session offered a vivid lesson in the standards of ethics and accountability at work within the profession.

Attendees also had the chance to see five plenary talks presented by life sciences pioneers.

In the opening keynote, Dr. Lucila Ohno-Machado discussed performance measures that may help clinicians select precision medicine artificial intelligence models for routine use.

Monday's plenary speaker, Dr. George Church—winner of AACC's 2022 Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Award—focused on combining machine learning with multiplexing and how this is the key to unlocking the treasure chest of genomic technologies.

In Tuesday's plenary, Dr. Alysson Muotri explored brain organoids, which have been used to model the neurotropic effects of SARS-CoV-2 and provide insight into organogenesis and neurotoxicology.

On Wednesday, Dr. Thomas Lee described a three-component model for building trust between patients and the healthcare workforce.

In today's closing keynote, Dr. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin presented on the development and application of direct mass spectrometry techniques used in clinical microbiology labs, clinical pathology labs, and the operating room.

As part of AACC's Disruptive Technology Award competition, biotech innovators presented novel technologies that could help more patients get accurate diagnoses. Nanopath won with its solid-state biosensing platform, which provides clinically actionable genetic information in less than 15 minutes and could greatly improve routine women's health screening at the point of care.

The 2022 AACC Clinical Lab Expo also featured 781 exhibitors and covered 246,700 net square feet. This dynamic exhibit featured cutting-edge tests from all laboratory medicine disciplines, including COVID-19 testing, artificial intelligence, mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, point of care, and automation.

"We are thrilled to see the laboratory medicine and in vitro diagnostic community back in full force at the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting," said AACC CEO Mark J. Golden. "Laboratory medicine professionals have had a challenging two-plus years providing the testing that is crucial to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and this meeting has been a vital opportunity for them to share lessons learned from this experience. It has also given our attendees the chance to look beyond the pandemic and prepare the field for the future. This year's AACC Annual Scientific Meeting showcased inspiring advances, and I am excited to see what next year's meeting will bring."

The 2023 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo will be held in Anaheim, California from July 23-27, 2023. 

About the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo
The AACC Annual Scientific Meeting offers 5 days packed with opportunities to learn about exciting science from July 24-28. Plenary sessions will explore artificial intelligence-based clinical prediction models, advances in multiplex technologies, human brain organogenesis, building trust between the public and healthcare experts, and direct mass spectrometry techniques.

At the AACC Clinical Lab Expo, more than 750 exhibitors will fill the show floor of the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago with displays of the latest diagnostic technology, including but not limited to COVID-19 testing, artificial intelligence, mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, point-of-care, and automation.

About AACC
Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 70,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.aacc.org.

Christine DeLong
AACC
Senior Manager, Communications & PR
(p) 202.835.8722
[email protected]

Molly Polen
AACC
Senior Director, Communications & PR
(p) 202.420.7612
(c) 703.598.0472
[email protected] 

SOURCE AACC