How did your career lead you to your current position?
I discovered a passion for research during my undergraduate years and time in the molecular biology department at Princeton, where I studied genes involved in the cell cycle in a model yeast system. My journey in science continued as an MD and PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Harvard, where I developed a deep interest in oncology. This interest led me to the field of pathology – a specialty that beautifully marries research with medical practice.
After completing pathology residency and cytopathology fellowship training in California, divided between Stanford and UCLA Medical Centers, I joined a practice on California’s Central Coast. Here, I worked as a pathologist in a setting that combined both outpatient laboratory testing and coverage of multiple community hospitals up and down the Central Coast. The experience of driving between hospitals to read cases and perform intraoperative frozen section assessments, sometimes multiple times a day, had a profound impact on my subsequent work in digital pathology, highlighting the incredible value and efficiencies created by the digitization of slides.
During my time in private practice, I also had the opportunity to spearhead the introduction of molecular testing in the laboratory, leveraging my molecular biology expertise into practical diagnostic applications for patients in this region.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed working as a pathologist and interfacing with oncologists, surgeons, and other clinicians, I found that I really missed the intellectual challenge of innovation and research at that point in my career. Serendipity intervened, and I happened to meet the founder of a start-up in the emerging field of digital pathology. That chance meeting inspired me to make the jump to industry. I joined the founder’s small team at BioImagene in 2008, and have worked in industry ever since.
I have had the great opportunity to witness first-hand the evolution of precision medicine over the course of my career in industry. I am now in the exciting position of developing the next generation of innovative diagnostic technologies to support the selection of cancer patients for cutting edge therapies like antibody-drug conjugates and multi-specific antibodies.
What have been some of your career highlights?
One was being part of the pioneering team at BioImagene behind one of the first digital pathology systems. BioImagene had a unique approach at that time – developing digital pathology applications for clinical use as opposed to research support. I was very proud to lead a group that achieved multiple FDA clearances for image analysis algorithms that assisted pathologists in the scoring and interpretation of breast cancer immunohistochemistry assays for markers like HER2.
A second career highlight was my contribution to the development and scaling of a novel molecular diagnostic test for the evaluation of thyroid nodules at Veracyte. That test has since helped tens of thousands of patients with thyroid nodules avoid costly and invasive surgeries. As Medical and Laboratory Director, I oversaw the testing of patient thyroid nodule samples, which expanded from a handful of cases per week to over 50,000 cases per year.
What has been the biggest challenge in your career, and how did you overcome it?
Navigating the tough decisions between pursuing different promising technologies or projects has been a recurring challenge. I’ve learned that even within large organizations, resources are finite, and not every great idea can be pursued. Accepting this reality and learning to prioritize efforts and focus effectively on the critical few has been a key factor in my success.
What’s your favorite aspect of your work?
Collaborating with incredibly talented teams is a daily source of motivation for me. The exchange of ideas with brilliant, innovative minds to solve complex problems is highly rewarding. Having the ability to work in this environment – with the ultimate goal of helping patients with the diagnostic products that we're developing – is my favorite part of my work.
What’s the hardest part of your work?
Remaining patient through the product development process can be challenging. It can take much longer than anticipated to see a product through from conception to market, and it requires perseverance and commitment.
Once the technology has been shown to be feasible, we go through many subsequent iterative steps to ensure it is robust, consistent, accurate, and reproducible. Next we embark on the painstaking work to take products through regulatory approval processes. Given that our tests are being used to inform critical decisions on patient care, such as choice of cancer treatment, we insist on the highest levels of quality, reliability, and accuracy in our diagnostics.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
I’m really excited about working with Danaher and seeing the innovative products that we have developed and launched running in labs around the world – driving important treatment decisions and helping patients. I find it extremely motivating to know that our precision oncology diagnostics are being used to select the optimal treatment for cancer patients to ensure the best possible outcomes.
How would you describe your leadership style?
It’s important to me to lead by example. I also believe in empowering my team to spread their wings, grow into their roles, and develop their own ability to lead – while also coaching and guiding them as required.
I am, however, aware that people’s response to coaching can vary greatly, depending on the individual. Some thrive with very little oversight and others feel empowered by structured coaching and mentoring. Ultimately, I personalize my leadership style for each member of my team in the context of giving them the room to grow.
How do you maintain continued self-development as a leader?
Self-development is something that I’m continually thinking about in my role. I pay close attention to the leaders around me, taking note of how they go about their work, how they lead, and how people around them respond. I monitor what is working well and not so well for them, their successes and challenges. Then, I try to incorporate elements of their best practices and techniques into my own leadership style.
I’m also very open to feedback. I actively seek it – not only from the people I’m working for, but from those working with me in cross-functional capacities – and subsequently try to incorporate these learnings into improving my performance.
Finally, I think it’s important to have a sounding board. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with coaches at different points in my career and have benefitted from having access to their wisdom and experience in guiding my development and enhancing my leadership skills.
What advice would you give to early-career pathologists who might want to follow in your footsteps?
I would emphasize that there are tremendous opportunities available that extend far beyond traditional medical practice. If an early-career pathologist is driven to explore diagnostics, biotech, biopharma, medical devices, healthcare tech, or other fields in healthcare, I would strongly recommend that they network with professionals in these areas and talk to them about their roles and journeys in industry.
They should figure out where they can marry their unique skills and passions with the right industry niche or opportunity, recognizing what makes them an attractive candidate to open doors. This strategy worked very well for me as I leveraged my expertise in pathology and background in research to land my first opportunity in digital pathology.
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