As we start off the new year, we at CLP are taking a look forward to what 2009 is likely to bring to the clinical laboratory community and what we can do to bring you the news that is most important during a time that the state of the economy challenges us all with limited resources. As always, however, delivering the highest-quality health care possible is a goal that cannot be compromised. We will do our best to bring you news of how to enhance productivity, accuracy, and efficiency in your laboratories.

Part of our efforts will be dedicated to our online coverage and electronic communications. Ascend Media recognizes that, although valuable, print publications are only one among many information sources available to the professionals we serve. In the past year, we have revamped both our Web site and our e-newsletter, CLPrime, to be more user-friendly and informative.

If you are reading this online then you are already visiting our website. Here you can find daily news updates posted each morning, in addition to all of the feature material printed in the magazine, comments from our Expert Insight on topics including lab information systems and water purification, as well as archives of CLPrime. You also can sign up to receive CLPrime, which issues midweek and carries the top stories affecting the industry, including events surrounding relevant policy issues, new product releases, industry collaborations and appointments, and news emerging from R&D in both academic and industry labs that point toward the diagnostic tests of the future.

In 2009, we’re looking to expand our online offerings to include podcasts and Webinars, so bookmark the site and stay tuned. In this day of rapid development and change, we all need to take advantage of the speed electronic communications afford, and at CLP, we are dedicated to keeping you competitive in your industry by keeping you informed.

As the only publication in the clinical lab space devoted to product news, CLP aims to bring you the most comprehensive and valuable coverage possible of newly released and existing products. In 2008, we initiated our Technology Guides—easy-to-read survey-format features that allow you to contrast and compare offerings across a range of vendors. Since these Guides have been a hit with readers, we are expanding them in 2009 to a Guide each month. This month, we cover cardiac point of care. Look in future months for CLP’s Guide to blood gas analyzers, HIV testing, middleware, and other relevant categories.

As always, we welcome your feedback. Contact me any time at or (858) 793-9533. And please continue to send news releases to us at .

Best regards, and Happy New Year.

Suzanne Clancy, PhD
editor, CLP

(858) 793-9533