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Country Ambassadors are senior scientists who connect ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ members across the globe, building relationships with key institutions, facilitating partnerships and responding to the needs of the local scientific community. There are currently 90 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Country Ambassadors all over the world. 

Country Ambassadors are appointed for an initial 3-year term, with the possibility of a second 3-year term (up to 6 years total). Average time commitment is 3-5 hours per month.

 

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Young Ambassadors are dynamic early career leaders who represent ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in their local scientific communities, facilitating networking, professional development and collaboration to strengthen science globally. This prestigious volunteer position is open to students and early career scientists in the United States and around the world who are interested in working with ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Young Ambassadors are appointed for an initial 1-year term, with the possibility of a 2-year extension (up to 3 years total). Average time commitment is 3-5 hours per month.

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Student and Postdoctoral Chapters are for students and postdocs interested in microbiology at their local university. Chapters host several events throughout the year, such as career panels, visits to microbiology companies, judging science fairs, etc. to promote ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥'s mission of advancing the microbial sciences. Each chapter must have an ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ member to serve as a faculty advisor.

is an online community for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ members to network with other microbial scientists from around the world.

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ is looking for 10+ volunteers to serve as community champions in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Connect. Community champions will post discussions online related to scientific areas of interest, respond to member comments, upload content and participate in conversations posted by other members.

Commitment

• Contributors will need to commit to be active in the role for a period of at least 6 months.
• Expect to spend approximately 1-2 hours per week on the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Connect platform.

Responsibilities and Expectations

• Post between 1-2 discussions a per week in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Connect and respond to member comments or questions within 24 hours.
• Contribute content ideas and topics that generate conversations.
• Maintain communication with ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Connect Community Manager and participate in brainstorming sessions.

Eligibility

• Individuals are required to have excellent grammar skills and be able to use proper “netiquette.”
• Experience using social media platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Must be an ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ member.

 Application Process

• Interested members must submit the first.
• Potential candidates will be asked to confirm their availability before starting.
• Selected candidates will be expected to start contributing no later than 2 weeks after receiving the approval notification.

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ is facilitating staff and member attendance at school educator conferences across the United States with the hopes of promoting clinical and public health microbiology careers. ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ is looking for members to pair up with ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ staff at these conferences. 

Commitment and Expectations

• This volunteer option is minimal commitment. Those who are local to the conference(s) chosen each year will be invited to attend 1-2 days of the conference as an exhibitor/attendee. Local volunteers include those within the same state, or within a 3-hour drive, of the conference.
• If invited, that volunteer will be reimbursed for mileage/travel, per diem and their hotel stay (if needed). 

Eligibility

• Must live in the U.S.
• Must be an .
• Must work in the clinical or public health microbiology field (any level) or have in-depth knowledge of careers in this field. 

The ClinMicroNet (CMN) listserv was started in 1995 and is sponsored by the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥). The listserv is comprised only of doctoral-level diagnostic microbiology laboratory directors and postdoctoral residents in approved training programs leading to a microbiology laboratory leadership position. The listserv bylaws do not accommodate colleagues in laboratory management who are not doctoral-level directors, nor do they accommodate academic colleagues who are not diagnostic laboratory directors. Additionally, colleagues from the commercial industry are not allowed to join this listserv, to maintain the freedom the members need to be candid about the products they use and debate the pros and cons of specific products.  

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• 3 years (renewable indefinitely).
• 2-4 hours per month.

Roles and Responsibilities 

The role of the moderator is to encourage and ensure transparent and open communication among colleagues without fear of commercial industry interference or negative influence or reprisal from any member or organization.

• Responds to subscription requests and approves/declines accordingly.
  • Ensures applicants fulfill all criteria for membership. Be strict about approvals.
  • Individuals working for an industry that provides commercial products to diagnostic microbiology labs cannot join the listserv nor can emails be forwarded to them.
• Responds to approval requests for emails withheld (due to message size restrictions).
  • Allowable message size with Simplelists is 20MB.
  • Moderator can view the message before approving.
  • Note that requests for posting non-ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ activities on the listserv (e.g., non-ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ meeting announcements) should be forwarded to the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ CPHM office at clinmicro@asmusa.org.
• Ensures compliance with the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ listserv guidelines and rules of etiquette—Listserv Guidelines (bylaws).
  • For bylaws to be changed, an advisory group of 3 CMN members will be chosen by the listserv moderator(s) to work with the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ CPHM Director to arrive at an acceptable change. 
  • Changes in bylaws will be published to the members of CMN upon completion.
• Maintains a database of ClinMicroNet members, their affiliations and their email addresses. 
• Serves as the listserv liaison to ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, when needed, and engages the ClinMicroNet IT oversight person at ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ to help resolve listserv communication issues.
• Encourages member participation on the listserv. CMN members want to see all responses, so the moderator(s) may need to remind users to respond through the listserv and not by personal email.

Eligibility Criteria

• Must be a contributing or premium ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ member.
• Must be a clinical or public health diagnostic laboratory director.
• Must have no formal affiliation with a commercial product manufacturer.
• Must be an active participant of the CMN listserv.
• Applicants must reside in the U.S.

Apply by Sept. 30

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥’s CPHM leaders are introducing a designation program aimed at recognizing laboratories that demonstrate diagnostic excellence and promoting the field of clinical/public health microbiology. The working group will establish criteria and maintenance requirements for the designation. ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ is looking for 3-5 members.

Project Details

Initial Framework

• Rationale: 70% of diagnoses rely on laboratory data, but clinical laboratories are often overlooked in hospital quality process measures or as key components to operational success if not associated with monetary penalties (the laboratory gets called upon to help avoid losses, but does not get rewarded for the wins).
• Use Choosing Wisely and IDSA/ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Utilization Guide as a roadmap to develop standards.
• Include quality measures and metrics in the framework, rather than prescriptive practices—inclusive, not exclusive standards

Why now? How is this different? What is the opportunity?

• Primary goal: To promote ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, the field and gain visibility within and outside of individual systems (the laboratory should toot it's own horn).
• Focuses on the utilization of resources and not resources alone (not who has the most/best technology), clinical microbiologist consultative services and the value of clinical microbiology to patient care. 
• Establish ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ COE laboratories as leaders in diagnostic utilization and stewardship before the opportunity is lost to other societies.
• Could eventually be expanded to include public health and laboratories in other regions of the world and align with ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Health initiative.
• Dovetails with the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence program while highlighting the unique focus of diagnostic utilization and stewardship. 
• Opportunity to fill in the gap that the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) designation does not cover (many labs are CAP-accredited, not accredited by The Joint Commission).

Eligibility

Open to ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ members in good standing with doctoral-level or bench-level experience in a clinical microbiology laboratory. Experience with quality improvement process development is a plus.

Commitment

• This is an ad hoc group.
• The group will meet virtually monthly (with the potential to move to bi-monthly).

 

ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ provides 3 representatives to sit on the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Credentialing (BOC) Exam Committee to conjointly develop the M(ASCP) Medical Lab Scientist (MLS) exam. ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ is seeking an active member to fill this position, as one member’s term ends.

Eligibility

Open to ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ members in good standing with doctoral level experience in a clinical microbiology laboratory and board certification (ABMM, ABP or other). Experience with education and teaching medical laboratory scientists is a plus.

Commitment 

• Two consecutive 3-year terms.
• One 2-day annual in-person meeting in Chicago and occasional 1- to 2-hour virtual meetings, depending on the exam cycle.

Member Role

The committee/work group is responsible for practice analyses, item development and evaluation and maintenance of item banks.

• Maintain item banks that are appropriate measures of knowledge and skills for various laboratory professionals.
• Utilize practice analysis data to determine content of item banks.
• Participate in the development and maintenance of item banks by:
  • Developing and reviewing content guidelines / topic outlines based on current practice data.
  • Developing new items, including images as assigned by the committee chair and BOC staff.
  • Reviewing item performance, proofreading and selecting new items for inclusion in the examination item banks.
  • Monitoring the content, task and cognitive skill distributions of items within the examination item banks.
  • Monitoring the content quality and difficulty of each item.
  • Setting the standard against which examinees are measured.
  • Reviewing the statistical performance of each item to ascertain the quality of the content and structure of the item.
• Develop and review the examination eligibility requirements, examination content guidelines/topic outlines and reading lists for possible revision.
• Participate in all committee/work group meetings, conference calls and activities.