Meeting Committee

I am so excited to write this newsletter blurb – a task I normally dread. But I am introducing the fantastic conference that we are finalizing for May 12 through May 14 at the beautiful Red Rock Resort on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The conference will kick off with two essential half-day workshops on Wednesday May 11, 2016. The first workshop “Quality Manual Essentials” will be led by Drs. David and Sharon Mortimer. The Mortimer’s have a wealth of knowledge of quality management in the IVF world. They have co-authored a number of books related to this topic and are widely published in our field. We are thrilled to have this timely topic as the kick off for our 2016 program: “Cornerstone of Excellence: Building the Best ART Program”.

The second workshop is entitled “Risk Management Live.” This workshop will be led by Lisa Rinehart, BSN, JD. This interactive workshop is designed to re-enact real life scenarios and scrutinize the details that led to the occurrence. Lisa brings a wealth of knowledge from her nursing background and legal background. She is a risk manager for several ART programs as well as an expert witness. Audience participation is a must in the interactive workshop.

Our program “Cornerstone of Excellence: Building the Best ART Program” is designed to enhance knowledge and provide tools for quality in ART. We anticipate a fully interactive program with audience participation. We have an experienced faculty of seven that are experts in their fields and great educators. You may see some familiar faces, like Dr. Brian Levine who will engage us with his novel methodology for sperm morphology assessment and Dr. Bruce Shapiro who will present his data on “Freezing All” as well as ways to convince your patients that eSET is the best plan. We also have some new faces, like Dr. Brad Stroud who will educate us on the proper handling of frozen gametes and the consequences of mishandling them and Dr. John Rinehart who will help us understand how big data can be of a benefit to us. The symposium will be enhanced by our key note speaker, Sten Westgard, of the Westgard Rules. Sten will help us understand and apply the concepts of Westgard Rules to our laboratory quality control and we look forward to his presentation. For a full listing of the symposium topics and speakers, please visit www.aab.org.

Abstracts are currently being accepted for both oral and poster presentations. The abstract deadline is MARCH 18, 2016. Two abstracts will receive an award – the best clinical abstract and the best scientific abstract.

We are also hosting the ever popular round tables at lunch. If you would like to present a round table, please email me at: CChapman@teamrmi.com. There are a few spots left! These intimate discussions have proven to be very educational.

Again this year, there is a scholarship program for attendees at the conference. Please visit www.aab.org/CRB for details. Please plan on attending this excellent conference. I am going to register right now!!! For registration information, abstract submission forms and details, please visit: www.aab.org.