Malak Althgafi

About Malak Althgafi

Why Pathology Needs a Front Row Seat in Modern Medicine

For too long, pathology has been treated as a discipline that operates behind the scenes – essential but invisible. But if we are serious about personalized medicine, health equity, and faster, smarter care, pathology cannot remain in the background. It has to lead.

I have spent much of my career working to bring pathology into the spotlight – not for recognition, but because that is where real impact happens. I built the first all-female genomic pathology research team in the Middle East. It was about more than gender equity (though that mattered); it was about showing that pathology could be innovative, bold, and relevant in regions often excluded from the global conversation.

As a pathologist-scientist, I established one of the region’s first molecular pathology platforms, enabling access to advanced therapeutics that would otherwise have been unavailable. I was the lead investigator introducing Nivolumab for patients with CMMRD, a rare inherited cancer syndrome, and I led one of the first-ever uses of Larotrectinib as a first-line therapy for infantile high-grade gliomas with NTRK fusions. These weren’t just clinical milestones; they were deliberate efforts to demonstrate that pathology can and should drive therapeutic innovation.

I also led the publication of the first open-reference genome from an Arab population, built on FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Representation matters, and Arab populations have long been underrepresented in genomic studies. Making this data open-source was not just a technical choice – it was an ethical one.

Beyond research, I have worked to embed pathology into broader systems of care and policy. As a commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Personalized Medicine, I contribute to frameworks that place pathology at the center of global healthcare. At Emory’s Center for Empathetic AI, I have helped develop multimodal AI models for brain tumors that use only H&E slides and radiology imaging – making molecular-level diagnostics accessible in underserved communities without expensive sequencing.

I have also co-founded startups in digital pathology and genomics because I believe we must create the tools we wish existed – especially when existing systems are too slow to adapt.

Now, as one of the few female pathology chairs in the United States, I remain focused on pushing boundaries: integrating pathology into value-based care, strengthening educational pipelines, mentoring the next generation, and expanding our reach through digital and molecular platforms.

My influence style has always been through storytelling. I encourage colleagues to share the stories behind the slides. Pathologists do so much for patients – but unless we tell those stories, no one will ever know.