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Contributed by Joseph Lopez, President, APFCB

Membership: The APFCB membership comprises ordinary and 14 corporate members with one affiliate member.

2009-2010 Travelling Lectureship: Dr Samuel Vasikaran of Perth, Australia the Travelling Lecturer has offered the following topics for this Lectureship:

• bone markers and osteoporosis
• eGFR and markers of renal disease
• interpretative commentary of laboratory results.

Dr Vasikaran delivered the Travelling Lecture in November 2009 at the ACBI annual conference in Kochi, India. For 2010, lectures have been planned for delivery in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Indonesia, Singapore and Korea (at the 12th APCCB).

2011-2012 Traveling Lectureship:Dr Angela Wang, a nephrologist from Hong Kong has accepted an invitation to be the APFCB Traveling Lecturer on the topic, "New Inflammatory makers in CKD".

IFCC Visiting Lectureship:The 2008-2009 Visiting Lecturer to the APFCB region, Professor Mauro Panteghini, brought his Lectureship to a close with lectures in Chengdu and Beijing in Mainland China, in November.

APFCB-Beckman Coulter Educational Symposium:Professor Gunther Weiss of Innsbruck, Austria, visited Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City to speak on the topic, "Diagnostic Challenges in Chronic Anaemia's", between June 22-27.

Interpretative Comments Educational Program Report, 2009: Five case reports were circulated. A 3-person review panel assessed the responses. The programme had 46 registrants and a response rate was about 50%. These analyses of results will be undertaken in 2010.

The IFCC-APFCB-ACBSL Workshop on Laboratory Quality was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in April. A one-day workshop on the interpretative commentary of laboratory results was conducted in conjunction with the QA workshop.

The 3rd Asian Project on Reference Intervals Project organised by Professor Kiyoshi Ichihara, the APFCB Scientific Committee Chair and involving Japan, the APFCB and the IFCC that was initiated in 2008 continued into 2009. A total of more than 3400 individuals from Japan and 9 cities in Asia-Pacific region took part in the study. The analyses of the samples were completed at the end of July. A meeting of project participants to present preliminary results was held in Osaka on 25th September. Publications from the project are expected in 2010.

Membership: PAMET (Philippines) was admitted as a member of the IFCC in November 2009.

APFCB-AACB Scholarship: One scholarship was awarded from the APFCB's Philanthropic Fund to Dr H V Singh from India for the attendance of the Australasian ACB's Annual Scientific Meeting.

APFCB Publications:  The 2008 issue of the APFCB News was published and distributed within and outside the APFCB region.

There following scientific publications in 2009 emerged from the APFCB's projects:

1. Shiesh S-C, Hsiao-Mei Wiedmeyer, Kao Jau-Tsuen, Vasikaran SD, Lopez JB and the Laboratory Management Committee for the Asian-Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry. Proficiency Testing of HbA1c: A 4-year experience in Asian and Pacific Region. Clin Chem 2009; 55: 1876-80.
2. Vasikaran SD, Lai LC, Sethi S, Lopez JB, Sikaris KA. Quality of interpretative commenting on common clinical chemistry results in the Asia-Pacific region. Clin Chem Lab Med 2009; 47: 963-70.

Laboratory Automation Meeting: The AACC-APFCB-Malaysian ACB Workshop on Laboratory Automation was held in Kuala Lumpur on 22nd and 23rd October. The meeting had 6 corporate sponsors and about more than 150 participants.

12th Asian-Pacific Congress of Clinical Biochemistry (12th APCCB), Seoul, Korea, 3-8 Oct 2010: Preparations for the congress are well in progress. Corporate sponsorship is within expectation and the scientific programme was almost completed by the end of the year. The APFCB will host the following scientific sessions that will be organized by Professor Kiyoshi Ichihara:    

1. A 120-minute symposium on the "The Asian Project for Joint Derivation of Reference Intervals and Exploration of Diagnostic Evidence for Laboratory Medicine".
2. Co-host a 4 hour workshop entitled, "Educational Course: Multivariate analyses for laboratory scientists".

The IFCC will host the following symposia as part of the main scientific programme:

1. IFCC CPD: Electronic Communication and Distance Learning
2. IFCC SD: Standardization Activities in Endocrinology
3. IFCC EMD: Predictive Medicine: A New Goal For Laboratory Medicine

IFCC-APFCB Draft Agreement: The draft of an agreement between the APFCB and IFCC was actively discussed before being forwarded to the IFCC for its consideration.

APFCB Strategic Plan:  Following a suggestion made at the Council Meeting held in Beijing in October 2007, a Task Force was formed to draw up a Strategic Plan for the APFCB with the President as the Chair. The Task Force will hold its first meeting in Perth, Australia, on 30th January 2010.

APFCB Corporate Members provided the following sponsorships during the year 2009:

IFCC Grant: As in previous years, the APFCB received a grant of CHF10, 000 from the IFCC for its activities. 

Management: The AFPCB is domiciled in Singapore and its office in Singapore handles the management of its financial and regulatory affairs. Despite the increasing level of activity, the APFCB's finances remain healthy. The start of financial year was changed from 1st August to 1st January to coincide the financial year with the start of the annual activity cycle.