The North Carolina Biomedical Association's 36th Annual Symposium will be held on Wednesday, September 3rd through Friday, September 5th at the Embassy Suites Resort & Conference Center, Concord, NC -- with a Golf Tournament preceding the event on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.

Glenn Scales, CBET-E, the current President of the NCBA, and former Patient Safety Specialist in the Department of Clinical Engineering at the Duke University Health System (now retired), talked to HCBN about the Symposium.

HCBN: What are the highlights people should look for at this year's event?
GS: The primary attraction of every NCBA Symposium are the educational tracks, without a doubt. This year there are 6 main tracks, Imaging, Safety & Regulatory, Leadership/ Professional Development, General Biomed, Advanced Biomed, and Information Technology. Within each track there are 4 to 6 half-day classes, or a total of 30 classes in all, so everyone can find plenty of subjects that interest them.

Our Golf Tournament on Tuesday is also another main attraction, and our signature Annual Pig Pickin' -- which happens Wednesday evening -- is always great fun and great eats for all. And by the way, admission to the Pig Pickin' comes free with your registration fee.

HCBN: Speaking of registration, what are the fees?
GS: We've always tried to keep the cost low, and our attendees get lunch and refreshments included, so it's a pretty good deal. It's $100 for one day, $150 for 2 days, and $200 for all 3 days. And you don't have to reside in North Carolina to attend. We get biomeds from all over the Southeast, and they're all welcome. We expect 250-300 attendees this year.

HCBN: We understand the NCBA is establishing a 'membership for life' policy, please tell us about it.
GS: Correct. Starting this year, attending the NCBA Symposium establishes your membership in the NCBA for life. We are in the process of changing our by-laws to make membership free to all qualified applicants and membership can be established by Symposium attendance or making a separate membership application. Annual memberships previously required an annual fee, which will become free for life once the by-laws amendments are approved, as expected, at the Symposium Business Meeting.

HCBN: Any special events or speakers?
GS: We have a number of highly-qualified speakers. Some names that should ring a bell are, Binseng Wang, VP of Quality and Regulatory Compliance from ARAMARK Clinical Technology Services; Jim Welch, VP, Clinical Engineering & Patient Safety from Sotera Wireless; and Alan Lipschultz, the President of HealthCare Technology Consulting.

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