A novel leadership fellowship in digital pathology

Sir,

We would like to make your readership aware of the appointment of the first Leadership and Management Fellow in Digital Pathology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, United Kingdom, in the hope it may prompt other institutions to consider offering similar opportunities in diagnostic pathology departments.

This innovative, and to our knowledge, unique post is part of Health Education England's Future Leaders fellowship scheme, which is designed to allow junior doctors to gain practical and academic experience in clincial leadership, enhance skills and competences that are essential for future medical leaders, and develop and deliver management-driven projects specific to the needs of contemporary healthcare systems.

Dr. Bethany Williams, a senior histopathology trainee, is taking 18 months out of clinical practice to work on a number of digital pathology projects, with a focus of pragmatic adoption of digital workflows, patient safety and pathologist education. Her principal responsibility is the development and delivery of a whole-slide imaging primary diagnosis project at St. James’ University Hospital, Leeds, in addition to the collaborative development of a digital pathology validation protocol with the Diagnostic Department at Linköping, Sweden. These projects are pursued alongside research endeavors (including a recently published systematic review of glass: digital concordance, and an analysis of glass: digital discordances in press), growing international networks, attending and presenting at the National and International Digital Pathology Meetings (Nordic Digital Pathology Symposium 2015, Pathology Informatics 2016) (See Figure 1), and completing a formal postgraduate qualification in leadership and management.

Figure 1.

Dr. Bethany Williams, presenting at PI2016

Besides offering an individual excellent career and personal development opportunities, the fellowship represents an opportunity to engage young pathologists with digital pathology, and the issues surrounding its adoption, and embed positive attitudes to technology adoption and assessment within departments. Building on the success of the current digital pathology fellowship, we have secured funding for a second digital pathology fellowship specifically designed for a biomedical scientist within our laboratory, to promote a multidisciplinary, multi-professional approach to digital pathology.

The successful adoption and development of digital pathology within routine diagnostic laboratories is dependent on providing sufficient training and opportunities to demonstrate leadership to today's junior clinicians and technicians. We believe that posts in the spirit of our fellowship would prove of great benefit to departments at the forefront of digital research and education. Bethany and the fellowship supervisor, Dr. Darren Treanor, would be happy for anyone interested in the scheme to contact them to discuss further.

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Financial Support and Sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest.