In 2007, ASCT will again be holding our annual contest for students to present interesting cases at the Annual Meeting April 27-29, 2007 in San Antonio, TX. This is a wonderful way to foster professionalism and introduce our students to the type of continuing education we hope they will take advantage of throughout their careers. The deadline for entry will be early February so please begin thinking about submissions now. This year we will choose student presenters by the end of February so they will have time to work on financial and travel arrangements.

As part of our ongoing effort to promote education in the field of cytotechnology, we invite all currently enrolled students to present an interesting case. The case presentations are scheduled for Saturday, April 28th at 8:30am.

Each case presentation should be no longer than eight minutes in length, and the student should include images depicting cytological features and images of histology confirmation whenever possible. The presentation format is as follows:

• Clinical history
• Specimen information (body site, collection method, preparation method, special procedures)
• Cytological features
• Cytologic diagnosis (including differentials if appropriate)
• Histologic diagnosis (if possible)
• Discussion including reasons for choosing the case presented

Additional comments during the presentation are welcome, such as acknowledgments of fellow students or faculty. The lecture room will be equipped with a computer projector, a 35mm slide projector, a single projection screen, a laser pointer and microphone. Information from the student's submission form will be used when introducing the student. Interested students should complete and submit the attached form no later than March 1, 2006. Because of time constraints, we can have only 10 student presentations. Please mail to:

Susan Stowell, Cytotechnology
SUNY Upstate Medical University
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210

We will present the ASCT Warren R. Lang Student Award to the students with the best papers ($150 for first place, $100 for second place, and $50 for third place). Both content and presentation will be considered when determining the awards. Each student participant will receive a certificate of recognition awarded by the President of the ASCT, Kalyani Naik. He or she will also be acknowledged in the ASCT newsletter, the Voice, and may have the presentation considered for publication on the ASCT website.

Last year we were able to take power point files from the cases which were not chosen for an oral presentation and show them as a continuous loop at the meeting. There is a choice for presentation preference on the enclosed submission form. We hope that most students will submit their case for oral presentation, but only 10 can be chosen because of time limits.

This will be an excellent opportunity for students to showcase their talents and meet and interact with other students and cytotechnologists. Regardless of submission for presentation, the meeting will be very useful for students. The program is online at www.asct.com and has both lectures and microscope workshops on basic cytology as well as presentations geared specifically to students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sue by telephone at (315) 464-6900 or email at stowells@upstate.edu

Sincerely,

Sue Stowell, SCT (ASCP), CMIAC Indra Balachandrian Ph.D., SCT (ASCP), CMIAC
ASCT Education Committee Co-Chairs
 

Please click here for a printable copy of this letter for posting

and click here for the Student Submission Form