Annual Report 2020 Highlights of the Year
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International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Advancing excellence in laboratory medicine for better healthcare worldwide www.ifcc.org Annual Report 2020 Highlights of the Year • New Task Forces formed: - IFCC Task Force on COVID-19 - Task Force on Global Newborn Screening (TF-NBS) - Joint Task Force of IFCC and International Society of Newborn Screening (ISNS) - Task Force on Global Lab Quality (TF-GLQ) - Task Force on Global eLearning/eAcademy (TF-GEL) • IFCC live webinars – 2020 Series - https://eacademy.ifcc.org/events/ifcc-live-webinar- series/ Topics: - COVID-19 Guidelines on Molecular, Serological, and Biochemical/Serological Testing - Advancing Internal and External Quality Assurance on a Global Scale - Expanding Newborn Screening Globally, Reducing Infant Mortality Through Early Diagnosis - Value and Impact of Laboratory Medicine in Patient Care: Developing the Evidence • IFCC-AACC Pearls, translation in Spanish https://eacademy.ifcc.org/topics/c%C3%A1psulas-de-la-medicina-de-laboratorio-pearls/ • e-Academy, open educational resources - http://eacademy.ifcc.org/ • IFCC Flow Cytometry Course - March 9th -13th, 2020, Geneva (CH) - https://www.ifcc.org/media/478143/winter-school- immuno-flyer-2020.pdf • C-CMBC Courses - January 29th-31st 2020, Kuala Lumpur (MY) - 1st C-CMBC Advanced Course in Molecular Diagnostics - March 1st-7th, 2020, La Paz (BO) – The C-CMBC Beginner’s Course in Molecular Diagnostics -https://www.ifcc.org/media/478701/c-cmbc-course-bolivia_2020.pdf • DQCLM Workshop - January 10th-11th 2020, Lahore (PK) - Pakistan - IFCC Developing Quality Competence in Medical Laboratories (DQCML) - https://www.ifcc.org/media/478309/dqcml-workshop_ pakistan_amann_thomas_2020.pdf • IFCC Expert Database - http://www.ifcc.org/ifcc-education-division/experts/ • Implement cooperation and agreements with IFCC Regional Federations and International Organizations Yearly programmes on hold due to COVID-19 pandemic: • IFCC VLP programme supported by Abbott - http://www.ifcc.org/ifcc-education-division/ emd-special-projects/ • Roche/IFCC Travel Scholarships • IFCC Professional Scientific Programmes (PSEP/PMEP) • IFCC FEN - Foundation for Emerging Nations - http://www.ifccfoundation.org/ • IFCC Distinguished Awards 2020, selected and announced, presentation ceremony postponed. 2 Index Message from IFCC President _____________________________________________________ 4 Executive Board __________________________________________________________________ 5 Treasurer Report _________________________________________________________________ 6 Corporate Members _____________________________________________________________ 12 Committee on Congresses and Conferences (C-CC) _______________________________ 14 Scientific Division (SD) ___________________________________________________________ 18 Education and Management Division (EMD) _______________________________________ 45 Communications and Publications Division (CPD) __________________________________ 59 Emerging Technologies Division (ETD) ____________________________________________ 67 Task Forces _____________________________________________________________________ 71 FEN - Foundation for Emerging Nations ___________________________________________ 79 Federations _____________________________________________________________________ 80 • AFCB - Arab Federation of Clinical Biology ______________________________________ 80 • AFCC - African Federation of Clinical Chemistry__________________________________ 83 • APFCB - Asia-Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and Laboratory Medicine ___________________________________ 84 • COLABIOCLI - Latin-American Confederation of Clinical Biochemistry ______________ 88 • EFLM – European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine ________ 93 • NAFCC - North American Federation Of Clinical Chemistry & Laboratory Medicine __ 100 Full Member Societies __________________________________________________________ 101 Affiliate Member Societies ______________________________________________________ 140 3 Message from the President of IFCC With the initiation of our new strategic plan for 2020-2023, the IFCC has made significant progress towards “advancing excellence in laboratory medicine for better healthcare worldwide”. In 2020, we engaged in global activities and employed innovative approaches to achieve our goals of impacting healthcare delivery and patient outcomes, contributing to global lab quality, becoming the largest provider of free distance learning in the field of laboratory medicine, and aiding in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This past year, four new Taskforces were established to ensure the success of our strategic plan. First, the IFCC Taskforce on Global Newborn Screening was initiated to address the lack of newborn screening programs in developing countries by initiating and supporting such programs in these regions worldwide. This Taskforce is currently designing pilot programmes in several countries, with the goal of eventually expanding further. Ultimately, these programs will provide early diagnosis and enable treatment of newborns with various genetic metabolic disorders, who otherwise would be unable to access these essential services. The IFCC Taskforce on Global Lab Quality was also established in 2020 to assist clinical laboratories in improving internal quality control and external quality assurance (IQC and EQA), directly improving global lab quality. This group has begun to plan an international IQC and EQA programs, providing these free to developing countries as well as deploying training and consulting teams for onsite IQC. The creation of a global reference interval consortium is also underway, to support the IFCC’s efforts in achieving evidence-based regional and global harmonization of reference intervals. To further the IFCC’s goal of becoming the largest global contributor of free distance learning in the field of laboratory medicine, the IFCC Taskforce on Global eLearning/eAcademy was established. In Fall 2020, this group organized and held a live monthly webinar series. The Fall 2020 series was an extremely successful and truly international event, with each webinar garnering an audience of 2500–3500 attendees for a total of over 10,000 participants in the series from more than 100 counties around the world. A new monthly series began in January 2021 and will continue throughout the year, with leading experts presenting on an array of laboratory medicine topics. Last but not least, the first Taskforce established in 2020 was the IFCC Taskforce on COVID-19 to summarize, critically review, and disseminate the most up-to-date, evidence-based information about the novel coronavirus as well as provide recommendations regarding test implementation. This included the formation of the IFCC Information Guide on COVID-19, an online document used to share key information and resources with laboratory professionals around the world, which has since been updated on a biweekly basis. In October 2020, this group also published interim guidelines based on available evidence, providing practical recommendations to laboratories on molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2 infection, serological testing for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, as well as biochemical and hematological monitoring of COVID-19 patients. Based on these guidelines, the Taskforce provided a successful webinar as part of the Fall 2020 series and also assisted in the planning of the IFCC Global Conference on COVID-19, which took place in February 2021. 4 Reflecting on 2020, I would like to thank all the Taskforce members for their diligent work as well as all our members who remain engaged and focused on advancing the field of laboratory medicine. This past year posed unique challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to our efforts, the IFCC made invaluable strides towards our vision, and I know we are all eager to continue this momentum into 2021. Prof. Khosrow Adeli EXECUTIVE BOARD (EB) The IFCC Executive Board was not able to meet in person during 2020 but were very active, with monthly virtual meetings throughout the year, and the minutes were posted on the IFCC Website. While challenged by significant time zone differences and unpredictable internet service, the EB members were very productive in developing and implementing the new strategic plan for 2020-2023, as well managing the ongoing business of the IFCC. The activities and achievements of the IFCC Committees, Working Groups and Task Forces, and the IFCC Members are presented in this report, and it is an impressive amount of work, performed by volunteers around the world, many of whom were also very busy providing essential services during this pandemic. The IFCC membership, as of December 31, 2020, included 94 Full Members, 17 Affiliate Members and 47 Corporate Members. During 2020, two Full Member Societies joined: Myanmar Medical Technologist Association (MMTA) and Iraqi Society for Molecular Biology and Genetics (ISMBG); and two Affiliate Member Societies joined: Sociedad Andaluza de Análisis Clínicos y Medicina de Laboratorio (SANAC) – Spain, and Order of the Biochemists, Biologists, Chemists in Romanian Health System (OBBCSSR) – Romania. We also welcomed six new Corporate Members: Tosoh, Wuhan Life Original Biotech Joint Stock – Szybio, Megalab, LumiraDx, Shenzhen YHLO Biotech and Instrumentation Laboratory. 2020 was the third year of my term as Secretary of the IFCC Executive Board and I would like to thank all the