As president of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, I am pleased to share some highlights of key initiatives underway in our Society.
The mission of ASLMS is to promote excellence in patient care by advancing biomedical application of lasers and other energy based technologies worldwide. Our recent annual conference in Boston certainly exemplified this mission. We had over 230 accepted abstracts in 15 categories. For the first time at our Annual Conference, there was a special focus on advances in energy-based devices for women’s health and the response to this was very positive.
The 2017 conference team is busy planning for the conference in San Diego next April 5th through the 9th. The program will feature the important core educational topics, and will also include new sessions on hair restoration, onychomycosis, leg veins, and innovative approaches for diagnosing and treating skin cancer. Also new in 2017 will be a special collaborative session, From the Lab to the Clinic, featuring paired clinical and scientific specialists discussing hot topics.
Programming for our early career members continues to be a focus of the society and to this end, the 2017 conference will feature a new session, Clinical Pearls to Get You Started in Your Career. Luminary pearls will also be incorporated in the Early Career Abstract session and in 2017 top abstracts from the Early Career session will be presented in one of the larger venues.
The ASLMS is dedicated to dissemination and receiving education from colleagues all over the world and encourages submission of abstracts from all. We welcome international members to attend the annual conference and are implementing methods for our international colleagues to participate in all aspects of the meeting. Our partnerships with international societies are expanding and we are involving industry partners in these international outreach efforts.
There are even more new features and events coming to the 2017 conference. Stay tuned for details in future communications.
Finally, we are very excited about the launch of our new website and association management system. ASLMS, as a cutting edge society, has undergone a digital transformation. The site has been reorganized so information and resources are easy to find. Members will have easy access to their accounts and streamlined transaction processing. If you haven’t had a chance to do so, please spend some time on the new site and be sure to update your profile. This information will feed into our improved member directory and physician locator service, two features that will be of great value to you!
If you are not a member of ASLMS yet, please explore the site and learn more about our organization. You can join the society online via the Join link. Feel free to contact the wonderful staff in our home office if you have any questions.
We can’t wait to see you in San Diego!