LabMind – Details, episodes & analysis

After seven years and almost 100 episodes of LabMind recorded, Dr. Brian Jackson, former medical director at ARUP Laboratories and faculty with the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, has moved into a new clinical laboratory leadership position at the University of Maryland—leaving the podcast mic behind for a clinical challenge he always knew he wanted to take in his career. During Dr. Jackson’s final episode, he shares his thoughts on a variety of topics, including the state of U.S. healthcare and the contributions of pathology, while also reflecting on his time hosting this podcast. 

Related Information:

• LabMind - An Interview With Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg (Part I): Founding and the Early Shaping of ARUP https://arup.utah.edu/education/podcasts/labmindEp2.php

• LabMind - An Interview With Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg (Part II): Scaling ARUP into a Mature Company https://arup.utah.edu/education/podcasts/labmindEp3.php

• LabMind - An Interview With Lab Superheroes: Stories of Ingenuity, Creativity, and Grit (Part II) https://arup.utah.edu/education/podcasts/labmindEp50.php

• LabMind - An Interview With Rick Panning: How Laboratories Can Reduce the Total Cost of Care https://arup.utah.edu/education/podcasts/labmindEp36.php

In 2016, Dr. Shaiba Ansari-Ali, a rheumatologist with Northwestern Medicine, experienced a near-fatal stroke that was followed by a misdiagnosed case of sepsis. In this interview, she explains how her positivity and tenacity were key to her successful rehabilitation and recovery, and she illustrates how this experience has made her a better physician despite her physical limitations.

Related Information:

• YouTube Series: “Mansplaining Medicine” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkpqin9U2WgT423DqJo2guQwould) 
• Book: “When the Doctor Has a Stroke: (How I recovered, and you can too)” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LNLCLF9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_G68R6WEVAJEPMFJFY2CP?skipTwisterOG=1)

Many people in the healthcare profession know that clinical laboratories are under more rigorous regulatory scrutiny than just about any other area of medicine. What they may not know is that the New York State Department of Health (NY DOH) was the pioneer in laboratory regulation, starting long before the implementation of either the FDA Medical Device Amendments or the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988. In this interview, Beverly Rauch, MS, director of the NY DOH’s Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (NY CLEP), describes its process for granting permits, inspecting laboratories, and approving assays, and what the new FDA LDT rule might mean for the program.

In this age of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning, laboratory professionals might think they need to be experts in sophisticated new technology to glean insights from laboratory data. But as ARUP’s medical director of operational informatics Dr. Jenna Rychert points out in this interview, data analysis doesn’t always have to be complicated to provide meaningful value.
Related Information: Laboratory-Developed Tests Account for a Small Minority of Tests Ordered in an Academic Hospital System [hyperlinked to: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37265129/ 

Anatomic pathology is on the verge of its biggest technologic shift in over a century. Making a smooth transition will require leadership to pay as much attention to the human impact as to the technology itself. In this discussion, Dr. Suzanne Dintzis from the University of Washington explains why hospital and department leaders will need to partner with front-line laboratory professionals and pathologists who perform the day-to-day work. 

As of September 2024, there remains enormous uncertainty about the FDA’s final rule on laboratory-developed tests (LDTs). Will it hold up in court? Which tests are subject to which requirements? How can laboratories best prepare? In this interview, Dr. Jonathan Genzen, ARUP’s chief medical officer and senior director of governmental affairs, responds to questions sent in by members of the laboratory community. 

Related Information: 

• ARUP Resources on the FDA’s Final Rule on Laboratory-Developed Tests (https://www.aruplab.com/fda-ldt-final-rule)
• ARUP Webinar--The FDA’s Final Rule on LDTs: What You Need To Know (https://youtu.be/nGQ3sRfWkBg)
• ARUP Files Declaration to Support Lawsuit Challenging the FDA's Rule to Regulate Lab-Developed Tests (https://www.aruplab.com/news/05-30-2024/arup-files-declaration-support-lawsuit-challenging-fdas-rule) 
• FDA email address for questions on the final rule: (ldtfinalrule@fda.hhs.gov)

Fixing American healthcare will require more than mere tweaks around the edges. Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Boston-based Lown Institute, believes that it will require a return to medicine’s humanist roots. In this interview he describes some of the ways in which many healthcare organizations prioritize revenue and profit over patients and communities. He also explains why he remains optimistic that Hippocratic principles will ultimately prevail. 

Related Information: 

• Lown Institute (https://lowninstitute.org/)
• 2024 Top Hospitals: America’s Most Socially Responsible Hospitals (https://lownhospitalsindex.org/the-most-socially-responsible-hospitals-in-the-u-s-2024/)
• 2023 Shkreli Awards: The Lown Institute’s Top Ten List of the Worst Examples of Profiteering and Dysfunction in Healthcare (https://lowninstitute.org/projects/2023-shkreli-awards/)

Clinical laboratories offer great careers, but lack of awareness and other barriers can prevent excellent candidates from pursuing laboratory science professions. In this interview, Isak Schmidley, MLS(ASCP), explains how he first stumbled across medical laboratory science while attending community college in his early teens and then persevered past age stereotypes to land his first hospital laboratory job at the impressive age of 16. He shares advice for laboratory leaders on what his generation expects from employers and tips on how to recruit the next generation. 

Most hereditary cancers, including those associated with BRCA1 mutations and Lynch syndrome, can be prevented through a combination of genetic testing, surveillance, and surgery. Yet only a small minority of eligible individuals currently receive this lifesaving intervention. In this interview, Dr. Brian Shirts, director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics at the University of Washington, discusses a new nonprofit organization that uses family connections to identify individuals at high risk for hereditary cancers and other adult-onset hereditary diseases. 
connectmyvariant.org 
#connectmyvariant 

Due to genetic variation, patients metabolize and respond to medications in vastly different ways, so why do most drug therapy regimens continue to be one-size-fits-all? In this interview, Dr. Yuan Ji, ARUP’s section chief of Molecular Genetics and Genomics, discusses how currently available genetic tests can be used to improve both the safety and effectiveness of pharmacotherapy.

Related Content:
Current Clinical Pharmacogenomic Testing: How Do Clinical Laboratories Stay on Top of Changes to Technologies, Professional Guidelines, and Regulations?   https://arup.utah.edu/education/ji-pharmtest-2024.php