Digital Pathology Blog

The public health events of the past few years changed our society as most of us knew it. Downtown commercial office space in our cities remains widely available. Even the sprawling suburban campuses around those large cities designed to entice workers to work closer to home for work-life balance are now being sold at a fraction of what those properties were valued at just several years ago. As a railfan, I know that ridership on commuter trains remains significantly below pre-March 2020 levels.

From baby boomers to millennials, folks are working remotely. This is not entirely new to some verticals, but for many industries and markets, it is. A 4-day office work week with a remote Friday or Monday was well-established in the past. After 9/11, many large companies with operations in large urban areas established virtual private networks should the need for them arise in our future. Insurance, retail, sales and marketing, financial houses, consultants and the like had many of the necessary components in place in March 2020 for this transition.

I have been attending tumor boards on a weekly basis in some capacity or another for over 20 years, since starting my pathology residency. Prior to then, I observed as a medical student on a regular basis. Even if I was on a rotation, like family practice or pediatrics or OB/Gyn, if I had the time, I would try to attend one of the many tumor boards on the hospital campus. I kept the schedule in my PalmPilot Personal Digital Assistant at that time.

Tumor boards are a critical component in the development of a patient's comprehensive treatment plan, and pathology participation in these discussions is vital. However, the traditional process required to prepare pathology data and images can be laborious and time consuming.