With AI-driven pathology rapidly advancing, we launched The 2025 Laboratory Leadership Report to better understand what’s top of mind for today’s pathology leaders—and where they’re headed next. Some findings from our survey of 360 senior laboratory professionals stood out immediately, like ongoing staffing shortages and the growing influence of AI. Others were more subtle. A closer look at these quieter signals, however, reveals deeper shifts already reshaping how laboratories operate and where they deliver value.
Ahead of our upcoming webinar, where I’ll be speaking with three practitioners from the field—Dr. Derek Welch of PathGroup, Dr. Brian Rubin of Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. Bilal Ahmad of Spectrum Healthcare Partners—I want to highlight three takeaways from the report that haven’t dominated the conversation yet but speak volumes about how the role of the laboratory is evolving.
1. Pathology Data Has A Place In The Precision Medicine Paradigm
When asked what word or phrase comes to mind when they think about precision medicine, respondents to The 2025 Laboratory Leadership Report overwhelmingly pointed to “data-driven.”
But dig a little more, and an important nuance emerges: only 12% of respondents primarily associated precision medicine with molecular data. That low figure suggests laboratory professionals aren’t limiting their focus to genomics and the like. Instead, they’re embracing a broader view—one that also includes pathology data.
This is an encouraging finding, especially given how much molecular data has dominated the precision medicine conversation to date. Each pathology image contains billions of pixels, offering one of the most detailed and direct views of diseases like cancer. Thanks to recent advances in AI, it’s now possible to tap into that data unlike ever before, revealing insights that can drive more personalized and effective treatment decisions. For pathology to play a foundational role in precision medicine, recognizing the impact of its data is an essential first step.
2. Laboratories See New Opportunities to Collaborate with Pharma
Another transformative signal in the report is that nearly 25% of respondents cited growing collaboration with pharmaceutical companies as a key benefit of precision medicine. This points to a significant opportunity for laboratories to expand their role beyond traditional diagnostic work and become bigger players in the drug development ecosystem.
Pharmaceutical companies face increasing pressure to deliver targeted therapies faster, despite persistent challenges in accessing high-quality pathology data and eligible patients. As our CEO David West shared at the recent Executive War College, digital laboratories are uniquely positioned to help close these gaps. By providing de-identified, structured datasets to support biomarker discovery and AI model development—and by serving as recruitment sites for clinical trials—they can deliver substantial value while unlocking new revenue streams in the process. Not to mention, the impact of pathology data in the precision medicine paradigm becomes even clearer.
3. Digital Pathology Is Moving Up on the C-Level Agenda
For years, digital pathology’s benefits have been closely tied to productivity and efficiency gains. A clear example: by allowing cases to be shared with a click, digitization eliminates the time and cost of couriering slides. The 2025 Laboratory Leadership Report reveals that respondents increasingly view digital pathology as a driver of clinical and economic value as well, echoing broader sentiments we hear during our conversations with the laboratory community.
In addition to spotlighting new revenue opportunities through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, respondents also pointed to clinical benefits like more accurate diagnoses and improved patient outcomes. This trifecta of value—operational, economic, and clinical—is likely a key reason why we see digital pathology gaining traction at the C-level. No longer just an infrastructure upgrade, it’s emerging as a strategic investment aligned with broader institutional goals.
Pathology’s Precision Medicine Era is Here
These may not have been the loudest findings in the report, but they’re no less significant. Together, they point to a fundamental shift: the pathology laboratory is quickly emerging as a strategic contributor to drug development and precision medicine—providing the foundation modern healthcare depends on to improve patient care.
Today’s Clinical Lab will host our upcoming webinar, “Survey Insights on Pathology’s Transformation to AI and Precision Medicine from Laboratory Leadership,” on July 16. Register to attend here.
