Former Chief of Pathology at Kaiser Permanente brings 30+ years of pathology and laboratory management experience to company’s executive team
PHILADELPHIA – October 7, 2020 – Proscia®, a leading provider of digital and computational pathology solutions, has named pathology and laboratory management veteran Dr. Monica Santamaria-Fries to its executive team. In her role as Digital Transformation Officer, Dr. Santamaria-Fries will draw on her experience to guide diagnostic laboratories in the transition to digital pathology amid a rising demand for adoption.
Dr. Santamaria-Fries joins Proscia following a 30+ year career with The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG), which serves more than 4.5 million patients in Northern California. She was the Chief of Pathology at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Santa Clara, CA, where she supervised clinical and business operations for over 15 years. In addition to working as a practicing pathologist, Dr. Santamaria-Fries held appointments as Clinical Laboratory Director and, most recently, as Assistant Chair for the Regional TPMG Pathology Department, guiding strategy and operations for a group of over 125 pathologists geographically distributed across 20 facilities in Northern California.
At Proscia, Dr. Santamaria-Fries will act as the change agent for diagnostic laboratories making the transformation to digital pathology, ensuring that they are prepared to rapidly capitalize on its growing potential with an approach that evolves with their needs. She will play a critical role in all stages of the digital journey, from strategy and requirements definition through implementation. In addition, Dr. Santamaria-Fries will work closely with Proscia’s commercial, regulatory, scientific, and technology teams to shape the company’s product roadmap and communicate clinical evidence.
“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Santamaria-Fries to our leadership team,” said David West, Proscia’s CEO. “Her extensive pathology and laboratory management expertise combined with a deep appreciation of digital and computational pathology will help Proscia to continue its strong growth in the clinical market and enable us to meet the expectations of our customers as we drive further adoption.”
Adoption of digital pathology among hospital networks and diagnostics laboratories is undergoing rapid growth, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current standard of care for diagnosing cancer centers around pathologists and microscopes in physical laboratory spaces. Catalyzed by the global health emergency, healthcare is seeing the adoption of new technologies as telemedicine and digital approaches become the new norm. Digital pathology, which captures high resolution images of specimen, enables remote case review as well as the application of AI to help overcome the manual and subjective nature of traditional pathology.
“As a passionate pathologist and laboratorian, I am excited to help Proscia transform diagnostic medicine,” said Dr. Monica Santamaria-Fries. “Digital pathology adoption has never been more critical than it is today. I look forward to playing a key role in pushing the industry forward to increasingly drive impactful clinical and operational benefits for leading laboratories around the world.”
The addition of Dr. Santamaria-Fries is Proscia’s latest announcement in its continued quest to accelerate digital pathology adoption in clinical practice. In April, the company announced that its Concentriq® Dx digital pathology platform is now available for remote use in clinical practice in the United States during the COVID-19 public health emergency in response to guidance from the FDA. Together with University Medical Center Utrecht, the company recently established a Center of Excellence for advancing the use of computational pathology in clinical practice. Additionally, Proscia received MDSAP certification, a rigorous validation of its practices for delivering high-quality medical devices.
Dr. Santamaria-Fries will be presenting at Pathology Visions 2020 hosted by the Digital Pathology Association. Registered attendees can view her on-demand presentation, “Hanging Up Our Microscopes: Improving the Pathologist Experience with Digital Solutions,” and attend a live Q&A on Wednesday, October 28th at 3:50PM ET.
About Proscia
Proscia is a software company that is changing the way the world practices pathology to transform cancer research and diagnosis. With the company’s Concentriq digital pathology platform and pipeline of AI-powered applications, laboratories are leveraging new kinds of data to accelerate discoveries and improve patient outcomes. Proscia’s team of technologists, scientists, and pathologists is bringing a fresh approach to an outdated industry, helping the world to keep pace with the increasing demand for pathology services and fulfill the promise of precision diagnostics. For more information, visit proscia.com.
