Prof. Ana-Maria Šimundić, PhD, EuSpLM, is the President of the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital in Zagreb and the Head of the Department of Medical Laboratory Diagnostics. She is a former member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and the former President of the European Federation of Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) and the Croatian Society for Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (HDMBLM). She was a Chair of the Pre-Analytical Working Group (EFLM WG-PRE), the EFLM Syllabus (EFLM TG-ESC) and the Working Group on Hemolysis, Icterus and Lipemia (EFLM Task and Finish Group: Hemolysis, Icterus and Lipemia (HIL) interference). Today, she is an expert/consultant to the EFLM Pre-Analytics Working Group. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the Biochemia Medica Journal and a member of the Editorial Board of several journals. She is the author of more than 170 scientific papers, 25 chapters in various manuals and books and so far, she was an invited speaker at more than 90 domestic and international scientific and professional conferences.
Prof. Šimundić will give a lecture entitled “There is a leader in every specialist in laboratory medicine. Let's wake him up!”
Abstract: A leader is a person that inspires us and shows us the way. A leader is someone we tend to follow voluntarily.
Specialists in laboratory medicine are team leaders. We lead laboratories, our younger colleagues and team members, students and residents, scientific projects etc.
To be good leaders, besides our knowledge, competence and skills in laboratory medicine, we are also required to have a number of soft skills to help us positively interact with our employees and their team members. Being in a leadership position requires good leadership skills and being a good leader means to excel in many of them, if not all. These skills enable leaders to effectively communicate, manage time, set goals, think strategically, read, write and present their ideas clearly, make decisions, delegate tasks, manage stress, change and crisis and many other.
Although some would argue that leaders are born, not made, the truth is that leadership skills can be learned and developed. Leadership is a practicable, learnable skill, like sports, piano playing or any other skill.
Leadership is a personal development which starts with us and our decision. To start that journey, everyone must analyse his/her own strengths and weaknesses and identify room for improvement. It is not easy, and it takes time, requires focus and commitment, lot of practice, hard work and personal sacrifice. But, it is not impossible. There are a number of techniques, tools and resources, which may facilitate this endeavour. Great leaders never stop learning.
This lecture will provide an overview of some most important skills of a leader, show why are they important and how these skills can be obtained and improved.
Professor Sverre Sandberg is director of the Norwegian Quality Improvement of Laboratory examinations (NOKLUS) and the Norwegian Porphyria Centre (NAPOS)
He has been Chair of the Committee on Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine in IFCC, president of the European Organization for External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM), president of the European Federation of Clinical chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, EFLM and board member of IFCC. He is currently the president of the European Porphyria Network Association (EPNET) and chair of the council of ICHCLR. He is chair of the TG of the biological variation database. He has written more than 430 papers in peer reviewed journals, has written book-chapters and given lectures in porphyria, evidence-based laboratory medicine, quality improvement of point of care instruments, biological variation, analytical performance specifications.
Prof. Sandberg will give a lecture entitled „Is external quality control (EQA) useful?“
Abstract: External Quality Assurance (EQA) is used for three main purposes: (1) to inform a laboratory of its results compared to other laboratories using the same in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) medical devices (IVD-MDs) (2) to inform a laboratory of the suitability of its results in regular use vs medical requirements, and (3) to inform IVD manufacturers and the laboratory community regarding the metrological traceability of their measurement procedures (MP) with the goal to obtain equivalent results for clinical samples among different MPs. In all the three cases, to use a common target value for the participating IVD-MDs, the control material used must be commutable with clinical samples when measured by the IVD-MDs participating in the group. EQA is most useful when the laboratories´ results can be compared with a true value. It is therefore better to have few surveys, but of high quality than many surveys which often will be of poor quality. The national EQA provider must educate the participants and the Accreditation body in how to evaluate EQA reports. The accreditation body must not only ask for “actions” when the results are outside the specifications given, but also evaluate if the EQA program is fit for purpose. EQA programs with patient medians can be a supplement to ordinary EQA programs and even replace some if they don’t have a suitable control material. EQA programs with patient medians can monitor equivalence between measurement procedures.
Croatian scientist and astronomer
Korado Korlević is one of the leading Croatian astronomers and founder of the Višnjan Observatory, which in early 2019 has overtaken NASA to become the most successful observatory in exploring asteroids. He strongly advocates fundamental social changes with the aim for a more prosperous and righteous future, and continuously works for the benefit of the local community and beyond. He is also the initiator of many educational programs in Croatia in the field of astronomy. He graduated from The Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Rijeka. His interest in astronomy and collision of Earth with asteroids and comets resulted in many activities related to exploring small bodies of the solar system and finally led to discovery of the first asteroids and comets in Croatia.
Korado discovered more than 1400 asteroids, and participated in the discovery of two comets. Since 1993, he has been working as the director of the Science and Education Centre at the Višnjan Observatory. Besides teaching, he also published numerous scientific papers.
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