{"id":97989,"date":"2023-04-04T13:16:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=97989"},"modified":"2023-04-05T07:29:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T12:29:02","slug":"dr-swanson-named-to-pathology-leadership-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/04\/04\/dr-swanson-named-to-pathology-leadership-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Swanson named to new pathology digital leadership role"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Ben Swanson, MD, PhD, describes himself as a \u201ctech geek.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Swanson, an associate professor in the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology, said he always has been something of an early adopter, alert not only to new technologies but to their possibilities and implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s part of what makes him a great fit for his newest role: the department\u2019s new director of pathology informatics and digital innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Swanson exemplifies the spirit of academic health care delivery with his passion for innovation and a deep commitment to translational research,\u201d said Joseph Khoury, MD, chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology. \u201cIn this new role, Ben will join other outstanding leaders in health care informatics in our department. Through this team, we aim to deepen our service to the community through outstanding laboratory and pathology diagnostics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Khoury\u2019s vision includes optimization of the medical informatics infrastructure for pathology and clinical laboratories, enhancement of personalized medicine and biomarker testing platforms, and incorporation of artificial intelligence tools to enhance diagnostic accuracy and speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Swanson describes his new role as three-pronged: to evaluate the department\u2019s laboratory information system, to speed the transformation of pathology at UNMC into a digital format, and eventually to create a digital pathology fellowship at UNMC. (Dr. Swanson is the director of the existing gastrointestinal and liver pathology fellowship.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitization is \u201cthe biggest area of change that currently is occurring, not only within our department, but in pathology as a field,\u201d Dr. Swanson said. \u201cWe already have digital scanners on our campus and do some digital pathology. But we are looking to expand it to encompass more and more of our clinical practice as well as research endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advantages are many, Dr. Swanson said, pointing out that the move to digital imaging is analogous to what happened in the field of radiology several decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEventually, it will be every pathologist\u2019s choice to use a computer or a microscope,\u201d he said. \u201cThere may be advantages and disadvantages both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the big advantages in going digital is that the widening field of artificial intelligence has developed into areas useful to pathologists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is a big push within our field,\u201d Dr. Swanson said. \u201cThere are now proprietary computer programs that can help pathologists screen images and photos to find cancer faster and more efficiently. That\u2019s one of the many reasons to use digital pathology. It can better interface with computer programs that can help us do our jobs better and deliver better patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitization also could increase and streamline opportunities for collaboration, not only between pathologists but between pathology and other disciplines. In his role as part of the team leading the university\u2019s paraffin and frozen tissue banks, Dr. Swanson said he can see great advantage for researchers as well as clinicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, changes won\u2019t occur overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of my colleagues said it\u2019s like laying the train tracks for big things to move down later \u2013 big amounts of data, large complex calculations, alterations to the department\u2019s workflow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, Dr. Swanson is evaluating the department\u2019s current system, including the computer program that pathologists use to enter diagnoses or anatomic pathology, how it talks to Epic, the medical center’s institutional electronic medical record system, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPathology and laboratory medicine touches every corner of the health care field,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of diagnoses depend on pathology and decision making. A lot of the things that are considered gold standards are the laboratory tests that we do. So that’s aim number one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Swanson\u2019s third long-term goal is to develop a pathology informatics fellowship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPathology informatics involves collecting and examining large sets of data that are usually performed in the clinical laboratory or anatomic pathology \u2013 and then using these large, complex sets of data to improve patient care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Swanson said that digitization and artificial intelligence are no substitute for the knowledge and experience of pathologists, whether at UNMC or beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese simply are tools,\u201d he said. \u201cLike anything else we\u2019ve developed, we can use them to do our jobs better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Swanson, MD, PhD, is the director of pathology informatics and digital innovation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":97990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"51414,59841,37303,68872,47011,58798","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","author_override-john-keenan-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Swanson named to new pathology digital leadership 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