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Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dartmouth Health and Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Controversial opinion? We have seen how decades of progressive subspecialization and increasing health care costs in the United States have led to a fragmented system with overall poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy than other high-income countries. I think that pathologists are well-equipped to study and understand health in addition to disease, and we should be a significant part of the movement empowering people to take charge of their health. There are an increasing number of tools available to the general public, like metrics derived from everyday wearable devices such as smartphones and watches, to direct-to-consumer lab testing. Pathologists can play a central role in making sure that high-quality tools are accessible and accurate, helping to navigate the murky waters of direct-to-consumer marketing and regulation of testing outside the laboratory. Our expertise in big data and informatics is also key to make sense of these disparate streams of information and make them actionable. To me, the connections are less obvious for anatomic pathology than clinical pathology, and I'm actively thinking about how to leverage my skills and experience towards more active health promotion.

Inspiring leader? Andrew Huberman, a neurobiologist at Stanford and science/health podcaster, has a palpable love for science, foraging for information, and sharing knowledge with others. In a time where public mistrust of science has been growing, Huberman has made science more accessible and relevant for a broad audience. I am inspired by his style of deep research, bringing content experts to the table, and clear, respectful communication. He is open to being wrong and subsequently correcting his errors, traits so necessary in science and life in general.

Greening the lab? I like to bike to work when possible, and my device tells me I'm saving 3.05 kg O2. This makes me feel good, mostly because it gets my heart pumping and provides time outdoors in the sunshine. While small steps like this can certainly add up to make an impact, we need to develop rational, measurable plans and goals to make our laboratories "greener." 

I see the best first step as conducting an energy survey, i.e. understanding the scope of the problem. At many laboratories, there may be a way to partner up to do this. Here at Dartmouth, partnering with the Dartmouth College Office of Sustainability would be a great opportunity. 

Some areas that stand out as possible areas of focus include the use of hoods as a potentially significant source of energy expenditure and our production of medical waste/microplastics. For the latter, collaboration among different laboratories and bringing our collective bargaining power to bear with industry will be necessary to create needed changes.