Background: The Office of Collaborative Pathology (OCP) was created as a centralized point of contact for interactions with industry and academic partners. The role of OCP is to coordinate legal, administrative, operational and financial aspects required for a successful collaborative relationship. These partnerships further our research and diagnostic mission.

Methods: A multidisciplinary core team was assembled with expertise from key areas, including a medical director, operations director, legal and regulatory director, anatomic pathology advisor, clinical pathology advisor, and representatives from clinical centers of excellence (pathology divisions). Roles and responsibilities were defined, and an operational hierarchy was created to guide intake, evaluation, and routing of incoming projects through relevant institutional offices. Workflows were established for agreements, protocol review, institutional review board (IRB) submissions, budgeting, and progress tracking.

Results: The OCP provides a workflow enabling: (1) negotiations and coordination of non-disclosure agreements, master service agreements, material transfer agreements, and data use agreements with institutional legal departments, (2) IRB guidance and preparation, (3) review of clinical protocols/scope of works, (4) budget development, and (5) milestone?based invoicing. Median turnaround times for phases of our process include NDAs 1.4 months, project/budget discussions 3.4 months, approval by institutional legal offices 2.97 months (Figure). Since late 2024, our office has supported 11 industry sponsored partnerships that will provide an estimated $1.3 million in revenue. Additional projects are undergoing contract negotiations and active discussions are underway with more than 20 companies.

Conclusion: The OCP model demonstrates that centralized coordination can significantly enhance efficiency, support innovation, and strengthen strategic partnerships between industry and academia in pathology.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand how we established this office within our institution.
2. Understand the benefit of a centralized point of contact for building partnerships.
3. Understand how to contact and interface with the Office of Collaborative Pathology at UPMC.