President's Message

Welcome to the New Mexico State Society web page. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a blessed holiday season and hope all of you have a joyous new year. We are very grateful for the people who have through their professionalism kept us safe and healthy, especially during this time of the year, when we are faced with the flu, covid and RSV. Everyone please safe and use protection as needed.

We did not have a fall meeting due to concern for the safety and welfare of our members. We did conduct a virtual Board meeting and selected meeting dates for next year. The spring meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 15, 2023, and the fall meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 21, 2023. Both meetings are scheduled to be held at Pima Medical Institute at 4400 Cutler Ave NE in Albuquerque. This is at the corner of San Mateo and Interstate 40.

The Annual Meeting was held in July in Arizona. It was a good time to renew our friendships and make new ones. There were over 400 people in attendance. I invite everyone to make attending a national meeting on their bucket list. It is an experience you will not forget. Elections were held and the board selected the following people as officers: Kenneth Hawker as President; Marty Hinkel as Vice President; Fran Oran as Secretary and Harry Narine as Treasurer. Congratulations to all of them. Congratulations also go out to our own JoJo Naval. He was selected as the final Editor of the Year and first place in the journal category.

The 2023 Annual Meeting is scheduled for July 24 – 28, 2023, at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott in Norfolk, Virginia. Registration details will be made known via an email, when available. The Annual Meeting for 2024 is scheduled for the Central District.

The MT discipline will be transitioning to Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS). The AMT Board endorsed the unification of the laboratory profession through nomenclature standardization. One of the key reasons is to unify the profession and provide one common voice for advocacy.

A reminder that annual dues will be going up next year. The MT (MLS), MLT and MDT will be $110.00; the CLC will be $105.00; the RMA, RPT, RDA, PCT, CMAS and CMLA will be $75.00, and the AHI will be $45.00. This is to help offset the increased cost of doing business.

I would like to thank the Pima Medical Institute and its instructor Lisa Gabaldon for assisting in putting our meetings together. It is with her help that we obtained a location to hold our state meetings. Thank you very much.

I look forward to hearing from each one of you about what you would like to see in upcoming meetings and any input to improve our website. Hope to meet you next year.

Virgil E. Marchand, RMA (AMT)
President NMSSAMT