FormaPath Founder & CEO Alex Bodell joined a panel on Automation, Robotics, and the Future Lab Workforce at this year's Executive War College in New Orleans.
The session brought together lab leaders and technologists to examine the emerging technologies reshaping diagnostics, from robotic specimen handling and total lab automation to AI-assisted image analysis and digital pathology workflows. Panelists looked past the hype at what these tools actually change on the bench: which tasks are genuinely being automated, where the bottlenecks move next, and what it all means for hiring, training, and retaining staff in a field already facing a persistent shortage of qualified pathologists and medical technologists.
Alex brought FormaPath's perspective on building software for real lab environments, and on designing systems that augment expert judgment rather than attempt to replace it.
Executive War College draws senior leaders from clinical labs, hospital systems, and pathology groups across the country for two days of sessions on lab operations, strategy, and management.