Recently, UHN’s President and CEO Dr. Peter Pisters got an in-depth tour of some of the clinical laboratory space within the Laboratory Medicine Program at the University Health Network.
Led by members of the Laboratory Medicine Program’s senior team, including Dr. Runjan Chetty, Brad Davis, Tom Clancy, Michele Henry, Laurie Mason and Dr. Suzanne Kamel-Reid, Peter visited some of our anatomic pathology and molecular genetics lab areas on the 11th floor of Toronto General Hospital.
At the top of the tour, Peter spoke with LMP’s Sarah James and Peter Faure, two of our Pathology Assistant’s, and heard about the strong relationship between our PA team and the pathologists, including the clinical value of surgical pathology and autopsy, as well as the continuing education, knowledge sharing and other team-led initiatives undertaken by the group.
The tour moved along into histology and immunohistochemistry, and Laurie spoke to Peter about our volumes and complexity, and how the pathologists and technical staff work together for the patients, and the value this close collaboration adds to our program.
As the group moved along through flow cytometry and bone marrow, Laurie and Michele spoke to Peter about our role in laboratory partnerships throughout the province, across Canada and with our partnerships in Qatar and Kuwait. The group mentioned how our volumes and case loads allow LMP to perform certain tests that other laboratories might not be able to perform on their own due to differences in volume, so our size and scope allows us to serve as leaders in the world of lab medicine and forge and grow those partnerships.
One particular area of interest on the tour was our molecular genetics area. Dr. Kamel-Reid walked Peter through the department, mentioning the hard work of all the team members and how busy everyone is, but also stressing the valuable, detailed and complex information that this area of the lab generates for patients and clinicians in order to help them make more informed decisions around care and treatment.
Rounding out the tour, the group stopped by the Electron Microscopy area of LMP and spoke to Peter of the strong, ongoing partnership with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. As our partnership continues to grow, along with our ongoing relationship with Lakeridge Health and our partner sites in Northern Ontario, more initiatives such as Electron Microscopy, digital pathology, and continuing education can be expected.
A common theme throughout the tour was the value of the laboratory professional to patient care, as well as our focus on advancing personalized medicine in the clinical laboratory. Our team was able to demonstrate examples of positive partnership projects, the investments we’ve made in technology and digital pathology, the strong connections between lab areas, such as molecular with the rest of AP, and the role of LMP in having a global impact in the world of laboratory medicine.
The tour only included the 11th floor of TGH, but more tours for all the other areas of laboratory medicine are already being planned. We want to make sure Peter gets a chance to see all aspects of LMP and learn more about the value laboratory professionals in all disciplines play in patient care and how we all work together to provide a robust, comprehensive and complete diagnosis for the patient.
The Pathology Report 
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