From the President
Anthony Anderson, D.H.Sc, ELD(ABB)

Hello Everyone,

Let’s begin with a SAVE THE DATE for AAB/CRB New Orleans at the Sheraton New Orleans May 16th to 18th. Jean Popwell and her committee have planned an excellent meeting. I would like to encourage a great turnout to this meeting. Your leadership team selected New Orleans to change things up from the typical Florida/Vegas. It is a bit more costly and I want to rally our members to make a presence of support to keep things fresh in the CRB.

It has been a busy fall since our last newsletter last summer. We had our 2018 ASRM meeting in Denver where artificial intelligence was all the buzz. And the debate of what to do with mosaic embryos still remains a dilemma for the laboratory professionals.

Your CRB committee has been actively involved in Ohio State Senator Joe Schiavoni’s bill in regulating fertility clinics in light of the two tank incidents experienced last year. Fortunately, they have been open to our insight and have been influential in many revisions, detailed in Liesl’s newletter excerpt. To date, this bill is still in the works and likely will be the template for other states. It is important that you stay informed as policy and laws are proposed and passed.

I had the fortunate opportunity as president of CRB to attend the AAB National Board of Directors Meeting. This was an enlightening experience as many things were discussed - from the CLIAC meeting on November 7th and 8th to the budget for the next couple of years. Hence, your dues and attendance to the CRB meeting in May play a key role in the AAB/CRB budget. Prior to that meeting ABB, as well as other individuals and regulatory institutions, submitted comments to the CLIAC board for qualifications for the HCLD certifications. These comments can be viewed at this link https://www.cdc.gov/cliac/upcoming-meeting.html. We discussed a few of these comments at the National AAB meeting, but many more are found on the CLIAC site from the link above.

I hope to get one more newsletter out before my term ends, but it has been a great learning experiences thus far.

Anthony Anderson, D.H.Sc, ELD(ABB)
CRB President