The next IFCC webinar: “Ethics and Sustainability in Diagnostic Medicine” – will be held on 3 September, 2025.
Sustainability in diagnostic medicine is deeply connected to ethical principles such as beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Clinical and research laboratories consume considerable resources and generate waste that contributes to ecological changes adversely affecting human health. This highlights the ethical obligation of laboratories to minimize their ecological footprint and promote sustainable practices.
This webinar, an initiative of the IFCC Task Force on Ethics, will focus on the integration of ethics and sustainability into laboratory medicine. Experts will present perspectives ranging from daily laboratory workflows to broader initiatives across research, clinical pathology, and anatomical pathology. Through presentations and a panel discussion, participants will gain an understanding of how laboratories contribute to the environmental burden of healthcare and the importance of acting responsibly considering their societal impact.
This webinar comprises three presentations of 20 min each followed by 20 min of panel discussion at the end.
Chair: Dr. Joe Wiencek
Talk 1 – “Why Resource Stewardship in Delivering Health Care is an Ethical Matter” – Dr. Ilyssa O. Gordon
Talk 2 – “The carbon footprint of surgical pathology labs: where do we stand?” – Dr. Alexis Trecourt
Talk 3 – “Sustainable Science and Medicine: Making Laboratories More Equitable and More Sustainable” – Ms. Star Scott
Target audience:
- Laboratory directors and managers
- Pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals
- Healthcare sustainability officers and policymakers
- Medical educators and trainees interested in sustainable healthcare
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this presentation, participants should be able to:
- Explain the foundational reasoning why healthcare professionals must be mindful of our utilization of resources.
- Cite the different methodologies used to calculate a carbon footprint, and the main emission items in the surgical pathology laboratory.
- Describe the far-reaching impacts of supply chains based on a case study about a commonly used laboratory consumable.
Register here.
