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The Association for Clinical Biochemistry (ACB) was founded in 1953 and is one of the oldest such Associations in the world.
Its creation owes much to the influence of Professor Earl J King who was Professor of Chemical Pathology at the Postgraduate Medical School in the University of London between 1942 and 1962. King is particularly known for his work in clinical enzymology and colorimetric methods. Although he had no medical qualifications he was endowed with a Honorary MD degree.
His influence within the Biochemical Society saw clinical papers filling their meeting programme and as chairman of the clinical biochemistry section he saw the inclusion of the topic at the 1st Congress of Biochemistry held in Cambridge in 1949. This was the first time that clinical biochemistry appeared in its own right at an international meeting. In 1951 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) set up a commission with King as its president. On 24th July 1952 the Commission decided to set up the International Association of Clinical Biochemists and this in its turn (July, 1953) became the IFCC.
Because of his involvement in these international affairs King was able to ensure that when the ACB was formed as a national society it immediately fitted in with the international pattern of clinical biochemistry being developed.
The final step in the formation of the Association was taken on Saturday, 28th March 1953 at the Hammersmith Hospital, London when 75 people signed a resolution that �an Association of Clinical Biochemists be now founded�.
The British Medical Journal reported the birth of the Association in its 18th April 1953 edition, that it would be �both scientific and professional in the scope of its activities� and that it would work �in the rapidly expanding field of clinical biochemistry, where pathology, clinical medicine and biochemistry overlap�.
Since then the Association, having undergone a name change in 2005 has never lost sight of its aims which are that of a professional body dedicated to the practice and promotion of clinical science and its application to medicine to benefit patient care.
Since that 1953 founding resolution, the 75 signatories have grown significantly and in 2007 the Association counted its membership total at 2239 including 201 members from overseas. These members come from all professional groups engaged in the direct service provision of healthcare and diagnostics as well as those engaged in academic and teaching environments and colleagues in the diagnostics industry.
The direction and policies of the Association are overseen by its Council whose membership comprises elected Officers and Members and representatives of the Associations Standing Committees and Regional organisations. The Council and its Executive Officers liaise with the Department of Health and the National Health Service Executive together with a wide range of professional bodies and other interested parties in the UK, Europe and Internationally.
The Association is a long-standing member body of the Science Council and has recently been awarded licensing status for Chartered Scientists and now recognises 179 of its members with this standing.
The current five Standing Committees of Council together with its Executive are responsible for progressing the various activities of the Association in science, clinical practice, training, education, publications and organising meetings as well as professional, workforce and corporate affairs. The Association has its own offices in central London which serves as a meeting place for committees and members and has been ably led since it was established by Dr Graham Groom.
As one of the Standing Committees of Council, the Scientific Committee is tasked with responding on behalf of the Association to all matters of scientific relevance to the practice of Clinical Biochemistry. It liaises with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and provides input on the development of national guidelines which reflects the professional standards and interests of the Association. Through awarding scientific scholarships it enables members to progress relevant projects with the aim of training in R&D.
The Scientific Committee commissions and oversees the production and approval of guidelines and scientific work and works closely with Publications Committee, another Standing Committee of the ACB Council, in this.
The Association has a significant track record in publications. The official journal of the ACB is the internationally acclaimed, Annals of Clinical Biochemistry. This is edited in collaboration with de Nederlands Vereniging voor Klinische Chemie and the Japan Society of Clinical Chemistry. Members receive copies of the journal as well as ACB News which is a monthly communication forum for the membership on current issues. In addition members also receive a personal copy of any monographs published under the banner of Venture Publications.
Lab Tests Online originally developed by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry is a unique product designed to provide patients with information about their tests. Through generous funding from the Health Foundation the Association has been able to licence this product from AACC and has created a site tailored to the UK public (www.labtestsonline.org.uk)
Education and training issues are a major concern for the Association. The Education Committee ensures that all clinical biochemist trainees in the NHS receive appropriate training on approved courses of study and monitors in-service training through a network of Regional Tutors. It supports the promotion and delivery of training at all stages of a clinical biochemist careers through a co-ordinated programme of courses and also monitors and co-ordinates manpower planning.
The annual national meeting of the Association is known as Focus and it falls to the National Meetings Committee to ensure that this is realised on an annual basis. It is where many of the awards of the Association are presented. These awards, often generously supported by Corporate members recognise the work of experts in the field of laboratory medicine internationally and the work of individual members nationally. The local organising committee charged with the organization of the meeting incorporates these award lectures into the Focus programme where they often serve as a channel into symposia on related topics.
Whilst Focus is certainly recognised as the national meeting of the Association it is now one of a number of high profile scientific meetings sponsored by the Association, occasionally in collaboration with other professional associations, which are held throughout the year. Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FILM) has rapidly become the premier forum for future service provision of laboratory medicine whilst a popular regular forum on automation is held in Amsterdam under the joint auspices of the ACB, AACC and Dutch association (NVKC).
The Federation of Clinical Scientists was one of the original Standing Committees of the Association in the guise of the Regulating Committee. It became the Federation in 1997 and continues to represent the employment interests of clinical biochemists and other healthcare scientists as a Trade Union recognised by the NHS. In recent years the Federation has been heavily involved in the negotiation of revised terms and conditions for staff in the NHS and their continuing professional development through a nationally agreed knowledge and skills framework agreement.
The Association celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003 and began a review of its organisational structure which culminated in a proposal to this years AGM which seeks to make the Association�s structures more connected and strategically responsive.
In an age of electronic communication it is not surprising that the website of the ACB provides much more information about the Association. The link to the site is www.ACB.org.uk and we encourage you, our friends, colleagues and associates, to visit us there and explore what we do in more detail.
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