Association for Molecular Pathology                       
Newsletter                                                                    
February 2010, Volume 16, Number 1 

AMP and the International Molecular Diagnostics Community

By Mark E. Sobel, MD, PhD Executive Officer e-mail: mesobel@asip.org

A guiding principle of the AMP Organizing Committee in 1995 was that AMP should represent the international community of molecular diagnosticians.  While we have been successful in attracting members from 39 countries (see the accompanying Table for details as of January 2010), the majority of AMP membership resides in the United States (94 %).  When I attend meetings around the world, I always encourage the molecular pathology community to join AMP and stress its global approach and I remind the audience that the “A” in AMP stands for “Association,” and not “American.”  Indeed, we have launched several programs to reach out to the international community, including a special reduced membership rate for individuals in HINARI countries, a mechanism by which non-U.S. molecular diagnostics organizations can affiliate with AMP, and the recently announced International Membership Grants Program (see www.amp.org/intmembershipgrants.htm).  

Nonetheless, we currently devote the vast majority of our resources to issues relevant primarily to our U.S. members.  This is particularly true for our advocacy efforts, carried out mostly through the Professional Relations Committee.  AMP truly desires to represent the international community and to assist members in all countries to meet the challenges they face in practicing molecular pathology.  We have made some admirable strides; however, we have not done nearly enough.  The AMP leadership needs to be better informed about the specific problems that our members encounter in their own geographical region. 

We are grateful that Rami Mahfouz, Patrik Vitazka, and Lei Po (Chris) Wong have volunteered to gather information regarding the needs of molecular diagnostics professionals outside of the U.S. and to make recommendations regarding how AMP can “step up to the plate” on a global scale. If you live outside of the U.S. and are willing to help establish a much greater level of AMP assistance, worldwide, I urge you to contact Rami Mahfouz (rm11@aub.edu.lb), Patrik Vitazka (patrik_vitazka@merck.com), Chris Wong (asmwong@juno.com) or the AMP office (amp@amp.org).