The National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) serves the public by accrediting programs that prepare competent professionals in the clinical laboratory sciences. A key component of NAACLS’ mission is peer evaluation, and achieving this mission depends on the commitment and professional expertise of a wide variety of volunteers. The NAACLS Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor that NAACLS confers upon volunteers who have made extraordinary contributions to NAACLS and its mission. NAACLS created the Distinguished Service Award to express profound gratitude for the tireless service and immeasurable dedication these often “unsung” volunteers contributed.

NAACLS awards the Distinguished Service Award annually and is seeking nominations for the 2026 recipient of this award. While you can find the qualifications for this recognition below, don’t let the details dissuade you. The nomination process is less about stats and more about interactions. We want to hear first-hand accounts of nominees that exceeded expectations in practice, the kind of details that can’t be captured in a spreadsheet. Have you been the partner of someone on a review that you believe has represented NAACLS on the highest level? As a program director, did you have a site visitor who went out of their way to make the accreditation process more accessible? Did you serve on a review committee or on the board with someone who epitomized service to the NAACLS mission? If so, we want to hear from you.

Previous award winners include:

• 2023 – Shauna Anderson-Young
• 2024 – Cecile Sanders
• 2025 – Terry Taff

. The qualifications for this recognition are as follows:

• Individuals who are or have been volunteers and not salaried by the sponsoring/participating organizations.
• Individuals who provide(d) extraordinary service to NAACLS and its mission through a wide variety of volunteer activities. Examples of such activities include but are not limited to service as a self-study reviewer, site visitor, review committee and Board of Directors member, and participation on Board-appointed task forces.
• Individuals who have not served on the Board of Directors or Review Committees in the last three years. The list below includes individuals who have served within the last three years and are ineligible:

We encourage you to share this post on social media or email to those who you think may not be subscribed to the NAACLS News. We want as many nominations as possible! To nominate an individual, please fill out this survey – https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7549853/Distinguished-Service-Nomination-Formopens in a new tab

If you wish to review the questions asked in the nomination process, please click here. These questions are provided as a courtesy, please submit all nominations through the link above.

All nominations will be kept for consideration for three years. All nominations must be received by January 1^st, 2026.