by Dr. Abdul Abid, University of Virginia Health System

 

Digital Pathology (DP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the next frontier in the evolution of pathology. I became acquainted with Digital Pathology during my interview trail for residency in 2017, however, my first real introduction was in 2019 when Dr. Marilyn Bui (then President of Digital Pathology Association) gave an informative and educational presentation on Digital Pathology and DPA. I signed up to be a DPA member right away. I was fortunate to get exposed to DP during my residency training at the University of Texas Medical Branch. I was also fortunate to be involved in the process of implementation of a DP workflow at the institution. During the process, I observed what were things that worked best at different stages of the implementation and what were some areas that needed improvement. While studying for AP/CP boards, I used various DP resources including Digital Anatomic Pathology Academy (DAPA), to familiarize myself with navigating digital slides and how to approach cases digitally. I used digital slides to learn, to educate, to present at multidisciplinary conferences and to keep interesting teaching cases for myself. I was honored to be selected as a DAPA fellow in 2023 and attended PathVisions in Orlando during October 2023. It was a unique experience being among fellow DP and AI enthusiasts from across the world. I learned about various uses of DP/AI and contemporary challenges being faced by the DP/AI community. I felt welcomed among the DPA community and took lifelong lessons with me from the conference. I liked it so much, I may even go back the next year.

 

Abdul Abid 2023

 

Disclaimer: In seeking to foster discourse on a wide array of ideas, the Digital Pathology Association believes that it is important to share a range of prominent industry viewpoints. This article does not necessarily express the viewpoints of the DPA; however, we view this as a valuable point with which to facilitate discussion.