Region II
ASCLS members who belong to Region II come from the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. We are proud of the contributions made to the profession by our members who have served on countless committees, commissions, ASCLS Board of Directors and officers, including past ASMT/ASCLS Presidents and the current Executive Director and Executive Husband.
Within Region II there are societies with large membership rosters and societies with very small membership rosters so there are a variety of ways that these societies organize themselves to "conduct business" and provide services to their members. Pennsylvania, the largest society in Region II, has a member elected board of directors; it is also divided into 9 chapters, each with its own chapter president. Virginia is divided into 8 districts, similar to the boundaries of the congressional districts, each of which has a district representative that is a non-voting member of the board of directors. Virginia uses this concept to offer CE events tailored for the local areas using input from the district reps. These two societies, as well the other larger societies have several board meetings throughout the year.
On the other hand, the smaller societies, like Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia have monthly meetings which have a business portion as well as some form of CE. Some of these monthly meetings are dinner or dessert meetings. Another innovation within Region II, which is used by several societies is either a centralized mailing address and/or an 800 number to assist with inquiries about membership, CE activities, society business, etc. Since CE is the biggest focus for each constituent society, each has their own unique way of offering continuing education to their members and non-members as well. Most of the region's societies hold joint meetings/seminars with other organizations like AMT, CLMA, AACC, AABB and even the local Histo and Cyto Tech organizations. Some societies employ the use of paid meeting managers to handle hotel negotiations, exhibitor registrations and concerns as well as handling meeting registration for their Annual Meetings.
Although each society provides activities for students, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have active student forums. These student forums usually have both fall and spring seminars for their students, complete with student bowls, paper presentations, or other competitions among the students.
As with all the other societies represented within ASCLS, those of Region II are struggling with the impact of healthcare trends, downsizing, cutbacks, cross-training, managed care, decentralization of lab services, medical necessity and the list goes on and on. Region II sees the impact of these healthcare issues on members' ability and/or willingness to volunteer or get involved in the leadership of their society. Several societies are "recycling" their board members and officers on a regular basis. It is these dedicated individuals that the region is most proud of.
The members of Region II look toward the national leadership to help them meet the challenges of these, and many other, healthcare issues not only through our region's input but also through the continued updates, advice and suggestions provided by the ASCLS office. The members of Region II look forward to continued involvment in Team ASCLS.