Connecting Digital Pathology: Global Connectathon Results and the Road Ahead

This session brings together the digital pathology community to review progress in interoperability and discuss priorities for the years ahead. The session will provide background and updates on Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Digital Pathology Workflow–Image Acquisition (DPIA) profile. Results and lessons learned from the 2026 Global Digital Pathology Connectathon will inform discussion of current capabilities, remaining challenges, and potential next steps for advancing standards-based integration in clinical practice.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the complementary roles of DICOM and IHE DPIA in digital pathology interoperability, including recent developments.
2. Discuss results and lessons learned from the 2026 Global Digital Pathology Connectathon, including demonstrated capabilities and remaining gaps.
3. Identify priorities and opportunities for collaboration, interoperability testing, and clinical adoption in the coming year.