This Dark Daily Extra is a sponsored article.
A conference session that brings together an academic chair of pathology, a global director of commercial development, and two chief medical officers is bound to get attention when the topic is AI use in pathology.
That was the case during the 2026 Executive War College on Diagnostics, Clinical Laboratory, and Pathology Management, during which an 8:30 a.m. session by benefactor sponsor Leica Biosystems got overcrowded due to limited space and attendee demand.
Leica recorded a full video of the session, titled, “Winning Strategies in the Next Decade in Pathology: Enterprise‑Wide Operational Readiness, AI‑Powered Digital Workflows, and Predictive AI‑Driven CDx.” Now that video is available free for all on Leica’s education portal at this link: https://www.leicabiosystems.com/us/knowledge-pathway/winning-strategies-in-the-next-decade-in-pathology-key-takeaways-from-executive/
Dark Daily encourages any attendees of the Executive War College who did not get into the room for Leica’s session—as well as anyone else interested in pathology’s next steps with AI—to check out the video.
Strong speaker lineup sparked attendee interest
Dark Daily’s hand-written notes in a conference pocket guide stated the scene succinctly outside of the Leica session room: “Lots of people.” A big part of the draw was this expert-driven speaker lineup:
- Anil Parwani, MD, PhD, MBA, chair of the Department of Pathology at The Ohio State University
- Mohamed Salama, MD, chief medical officer at diagnostics and testing company Sonic Healthcare USA
- Derek Welch, MD, president and chief medical officer at pathology services firm PathGroup
- Mark Frushone, global director of commercial development for digital pathology at Leica Biosystems
At the Executive War College, Salama said that currently, AI is transforming pathology’s day-to-day efficiency. However, more substantial innovations are ahead.
“Even in our practice, we really have seen multiple and numerous workflow-related efficiencies. That’s already established,” Salama noted. “Diagnostic accuracy and standardization? That’s coming next.”
ROI of artificial intelligence in pathology has many aspects
The panel also spent time dissecting various aspects of ROI when it comes to AI-powered pathology.
For example, Parwani noted that freeing up pathologists from routine tasks such as annotations is an immediate benefit of the technology.
But Salama noted that more sophisticated use cases also exist. He explained that AI in tandem with digital pathology can improve downstream clinical revenue by driving new value in areas such as companion diagnostics, clinical trial enrollment, and more informed use of molecular testing.
The Executive War College will return to New Orleans on April 26-28, 2027.
