Dr. Jessica Gifford, Ph.D., FCACB (Clinical Biochemist, Alberta Precision Laboratories; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary) Improving an Access to Care Gap: Implementing high-sensitivity troponin in suburban and rural laboratories in Alberta At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Discuss the current landscape of troponin testing in Alberta.
2. Discuss instrumentation options for high-sensitivity troponin testing in small(er) suburban/rural laboratories.
3. Discuss availability of rule-in/out algorithms for these tests.
4. Discuss challenges faced during the implementation of high-sensitivity troponin assays in suburban/rural laboratories.
5. Discuss future directions for high-sensitivity troponin testing in Alberta.

Dr. Anna Fuezery, Ph.D., DABCC, FCACB (Clinical Biochemist, Alberta Precision Laboratories; Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Alberta) Emergency Medical Services for Rural Albertans At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Provide an overview of emergency medical services (EMS), including service delivery models utilized in urban and rural areas.
2. Describe EMS service delivery models available to rural residentsof Alberta, including the role of point-of-care testing (POCT) inthese models.
3. Discuss the challenges associated with POCT in EMS care delivery, along with strategies that may be put in place to mitigate these challenges.

Dr. Ashley Newbigging, Ph.D (Clinical Biochemistry Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alberta) Ex vivo hemolysis: A case demonstrating mechanically-induced hemolysis from kinked hemodialysis lines At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Describe biochemical and hematological changes due to in vivo hemolytic processes and how they would differ from an in vitro hemolytic process.
2. Describe how kinked hemodialysis blood lines cause “ex vivo” hemolysis using a case report as an example.
3. Outline a pathway for laboratories to identify and mange specimens from kinked hemodialysis lines.

Dr. Cody Lewis, Ph.D (Clinical Biochemistry Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary) Deriving provincial reference thyroid hormone intervals and reflex testing from “big data” At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Review the thyroid hormone axis.
2. Explain how big data can be used to derive reference intervals for thyroid hormones.
3. Describe the role/value of reflexing testing in screening patients suspected of hypo- or hyperthyroidism.

Dr. Michael Reid, Ph.D (Clinical Biochemistry Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary) Overview of Procalcitonin Testing in the Clinical Laboratory At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Describe the structure and synthesis of procalcitonin.
2. Explain the clinical uses of procalcitonin.
3. Discuss the current literature on the impact of procalcitonin testing.
4. Explain the positive and negative aspects of testing for procalcitonin in the clinical lab.

Dr. Roger Strasser, MD (Professor of Rural Health at the Te Huataki Waiora School of Health, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand) CSCC Travelling Lecture, sponsored by Bio-Rad: The Future of Rural Health Care in Post-Pandemic Canada At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

1. Describe the challenges and opportunities of Rural Health Care in Canada.
2. Present Canadian and global examples of innovations in Rural Health.
3. Outline opportunities for improving access to and quality of health care for Rural Canadians.