The Daily Scan

USCAP and Aperio Launch Digital Archive of the Juan Rosai Collection of Surgical Pathology Seminars

Hi everyone; I try not to be a trumpet for Aperio's Marketing team, but this is big news: USCAP and Aperio Launch Digital Archive of the Juan Rosai Collection of Surgical Pathology Seminars.

The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP), the global leader in the transmission of knowledge in the field of pathology for more than a century, andAperio, the global leader in providing digital pathology solutions that improve patient care, will be showcasing the digital launch of the Dr. Juan Rosai Collection of Surgical Pathology Seminars at the 100th USCAP Annual Meeting, to be held February 26 – March 4, 2011, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX. (Booth 114 has been reserved for viewing of the collection.) 

Dr. Juan Rosai, a world-renowned expert and consultant in surgical pathology, has donated his extensive glass slide seminar series collection inherited from the late Lauren V. Ackerman, MD for the world to view. The complete collection consists of almost 20,000 cases originally presented at more than 1,400 pathology seminars, and comprises digital slide images of the original slides, clinical history, and diagnostic summaries, along with present day commentary by Rosai and other experts. At this time, seminars are continuously being added to the site, with the full collection to be accessible within the coming months. 

The collection is online at http://rosaicollection.org/, please check it out!

This is an amazing project and we are so proud to be working with Dr. Rosai and USCAP to bring this invaluable information to the public web.  We look forward to seeing you at the USCAP conference, please feel free to visit the Aperio booth or the special booth 114 set aside for the collection.

Aperio Launches “Discover Your Path” Program

Sorry for echoing an Aperio press release, but I've been working on this program myself and it is near and dear to my heart: Aperio Launches “Discover Your Path” Program.

“Discover Your Path” is the industry’s first quantitative assessment methodology to provide each hospital with a specific path toward full adoption of digital pathology in its workflow. Using a guided, personalized assessment, each healthcare organization is able to objectively rank applications by immediate value. This yields a customized implementation profile that identifies one or more uses today, and a path to full adoption in the future.

Digital pathology can best be leveraged today through select patient care activities, which vary by institution. For many hospitals, prospective and retrospective clinical uses such as intra-operative consultation, archival, external consultation and quality assurance provide the most immediate value in improving patient care.

“Discover Your Path” is available at CAP ‘10 in Aperio booth #211, where company representatives are offering complimentary individual consultations.

Jared Schwartz named CAP Pathologist of the Year

It is with great pride and joy that I note Aperio's Chief Medical Officer Jared Schwartz was named College of American Pathologists' 2010 Pathologist of the Year!

Dr. Schwartz received the award, the College of American Pathologists' highest honor, in recognition for his strong leadership of the College during his term as president from 2007 to 2009, as well as his tireless contributions to the CAP over the years by serving as a member and chair of numerous committees and councils, including the International, Compensation, Finance, Strategic Planning, and National Meeting Planning Committees and the Council on Scientific Affairs.

How excellent!  Congratulations Jared!!

Aperio Contributes to DICOM Standard for Whole Slide Imaging

Aperio, the global leader in providing digital pathology solutions to improve patient care, was involved closely in work efforts related to the expansion of the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine’s (DICOM) medical image exchange standard Supplement 145, Whole-Slide Microscopic Images. The supplement supports the large multi-resolution images used in digital pathology.

Aperio has consistently supported efforts to create standards for digital pathology, and was a founding member of DICOM Working Group 26 which created Supplement 145. Aperio intends to support the new standard and work with other medical imaging vendors to foster compatibility between systems.

HealthImaging reports that Digital pathology added to DICOM standards.

Aperio's SecondSlide® Digital Slide Sharing Service Exceeds 3,000 Users

Today Aperio press released that SecondSlide has exceeded 3,000 users, how awesome is that!  This service allows anyone anywhere to send digital slides to everyone, free!  It is fast, secure, and easy.  If you haven't tried SecondSlide, please do so!

Cheers...

Aperio is hiring Product People!

I don't like to post too much Aperio-centric stuff on this blog, but here's something that might be interesting to both of us: Aperio is expanding its product team and we are looking for some key product managers and business analysts.  We presently have the following new positions open:

Product Manager, Life Science
Product Manager, Image Analysis
Business Analyst, Healthcare Solutions
Business Analyst, Life Science

If you or anyone you know is interested in any of these positions, please send an email to jobs@aperio.com.  Thanks!

[Update: I am always amazed to see how fast stuff gets picked up on the Internet.  We just posted these openings on our website, and already they've been echoed far and wide, such as this posting on Startuphire.com.  Aperio isn't a startup anymore but we're happy to have our opportunities widely publicized :) ]

Aperio Awarded Patent for High Performance Viewing of Digital Slides

Please forgive a little horn-blowing, but I have to note this press release with pride: Aperio Awarded Patent for High Performance Viewing of Digital Slides:

Aperio Technologies, Inc., (Aperio), a global leader in digital pathology for the healthcare and life sciences industry, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company patent No. 7,738,688 entitled, “System and Method for Viewing Virtual Slides.”

The field of digital pathology is enabled by converting glass microscope slides into digital whole- slide images that can be viewed, managed, and analyzed. A key feature of any digital pathology system is the ability to view digital slides remotely, across local and wide area networks. The ‘688 patent describes novel techniques for processing and displaying digital slide images stored on a server, which facilitate rapid viewing of digital slides. This technology also enables real-time panning and continuous and rapid zooming of very large digital slide images without loss of image fidelity, as well as simultaneous collaborative viewing of digital slides and associated data.

Viewing digital slides across a network is of course a basic capability of digital pathology, at the core of many of the value propositions for the technology, and we've worked long and hard on the underlying software to make our viewing experience as fast and seamless as possible.  It is great to add this patent on our techniques to Aperio's portfolio...

Sylvia Asa Announced as Pathology Visions Keynote Speaker

SYLVIA ASA, MD, PhD, ANNOUNCED AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER Pathology Visions is pleased to announce Sylvia Asa, MD, PhD, as the 2010 Keynote Speaker. Dr. Asa is the Pathologist-in-Chief and Medical Director of the Laboratory Medicine Program at the University Health Network. As head of the largest pathology department in Canada, Dr. Asa has made innovative changes to the practice of the discipline. To read more about Dr. Asa, click here. PATHOLOGY VISIONS ABSTRACT DEADLINE - ONE WEEK LEFT! The deadline to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations is June 15! To submit your abstract, click here. Poster presenters will be given a two-day display opportunity. Outstanding posters will be eligible to receive complimentary conference registration. As a presenter, you can share your experiences and discuss potential uses for digital pathology in the future. Submission topics include: Business Case/Reimbursements Cytology Diagnostic Pathology Disease-Specific Drug Development Education Frozen Sections Hematopathology Image Analysis Immunohistochemistry (IHC) Informatics IT Personalized Medicine Research Applications Telepathology Toxicologic Pathology Validating Algorithms To submit your abstract, click here. ABOUT PATHOLOGY VISIONS Pathology Visions is the annual meeting of the Digital Pathology Association, held October 24-27, 2010, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina on the beautiful San Diego bay. Enjoy thought-provoking discussions on digital pathology applications and enrich your conference experience through the following: Exciting presentations on new applications Peer-to-peer discussions on digital pathology Hands-on workshops Scientific poster sessions Digital pathology demonstrations Networking events ABOUT THE DIGITAL PATHOLOGY ASSOCIATION (DPA) The mission of the DPA is to facilitate awareness of digital pathology applications in healthcare. Members are encouraged to share best practices and promote the use of the technology among colleagues in order to demonstrate efficiencies, awareness, and its ultimate benefits to patient care. To learn more or apply for membership, visit www.digitalpathologyassociation.org.   For more information, visit www.pathologyvisions.com

Jared N. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., Joins Aperio as Chief Medical Officer

Just wanted you to know; Aperio has appointed Dr. Jared Schwartz as Aperio’s Chief Medical Officer:

Jared N. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., Joins Aperio as Chief Medical Officer

We’re very pleased; many of you know Jared; he’s an experienced and influential pathologist and we’re delighted to have him join us.  As Aperio CEO Dirk Soenksen noted in the press release:

We believe the clinical market is poised for rapid growth, and look forward to working together with Dr. Schwartz to develop and execute strategies for improving laboratory workflow and to identify opportunities for new image analysis tools.

It is going to be great for us to have such an experienced pathologist on staff.

Aperio receives Australia-wide coverage as Victorian Biobank ScanScope network commissioned

Aperio received nation wide TV coverage as the state health minister, Daniel Andrews, officially opened the Southern Health hospitals' new ScanScope XT as part of the Victorian Biobank ScanScope network, which is now fully commissioned. The minister referred to the Aperio technology as the "way forward" and one which his government was expecting to further embrace in the future.