Host David Ritter, MA is joined by Lotte Mulder, PhD and Kamran Mirza, MD, PhD, FASCP to discuss their new book, Mia the Marvelous Lab Explorer. The adventure follows Mia, a superhero and scientist, who uses laboratory science to explain why a friend has fallen ill with leukemia. The book targets children ages 5 to 9 years and balances striking entertaining and engaging tone with explaining scientific concepts accurately to a younger audience. Their conversation of the book expands into strategies for fostering engagement in laboratory science across age groups, how children’s literature can highlight the role of the lab to parents as well as younger readers, and how the format of a children's book fits into the undeclared student to laboratory professional pipeline ASCP is working to create. 

Additionally, there is currently a fundraiser underway to donate 1,000 copies of the book to pediatricians' offices, libraries, and schools under the hashtag #MissionMarvelous. If you would like to contribute to the fundraiser, you can do so here: miathemarvelous.com.  The fundraiser runs through February 16, 2026.

Interim CEO of ASCP and host Dr. Ali Brown sits down with Dr. Eric Konnick and Michelle Campbell, MLS(ASCP) to discuss lessons learned from the latest efforts to place laboratory developed tests under FDA oversight. For listeners unfamiliar with LDTs, they begin by establishing what LDTs are and what their value to the lab and patient safety are before debunking common misunderstandings cited by patient advocacy groups regarding their accuracy, validity, and the transparency with which they’re developed. They go on to define what FDA oversight would mean for laboratories in terms of cost, time, and labor, contextualizing these added costs in ongoing workforce shortages in the lab. 

They close their conversation by spotlighting which efforts ASCP and similar organizations made to advocate for the lab were most successful, and describe alternative strategies for updating laboratory regulations, such as modernizing CLIA. 

Host Constantine “Aki” Kanakis, MD is joined by Brittany Teeter and Sean to provide lessons learned and real-world takeaways from the world of laboratory management. This episode offers a glimpse into what seasoned lab managers learned across the course of their careers and provides concrete takeaways for lab managers at any stage of their careers on preparing for inspections, creating staff buy in for workflow updates, and relating the success of the lab to a hospital’s financial outcome when interfacing with C-suite executives. Their conversation offers fresh perspective on how to approach meeting regulatory standards as opportunities for improvement rather than mere hurdles to clear.  

In this episode, their discussion covers disaster preparedness, addressing both how labs can prepare proactively for the foreseeable and how to reactively respond to the unforeseeable. They provide tips on everything from preparing for novel infectious outbreaks to stocking enough extension cords and flashlights in the event of power outages. They include valuable anecdotes about times thing went wrong in their lab, and what they did to react in a state of crisis.   

In this episode of Inside the Lab, host Constantine Kanakis is joined by former ASCP president and Director of Transfusion Medicine at VCU Dr. Kimberly Sanford to discuss topics in transfusion medicine. This one-on-one conversation between two transfusion experts covers a wide variety of contemporary issues in transfusion medicine, including best practices in apheresis, logistical issues associated with pre-hospital transfusion services, and strategies for addressing blood shortages. Their conversation also touches on how to compassionately discuss problems with so-called “vaccine-negative blood” with patients in the context of recent legislation regarding this, and how transfusion experts can best ration limited blood supplies during periods of scarcity.

In this episode of Inside the Lab, ASCP CMO and CEO Dr. Ali Brown is joined by Drs. Nicole Jackson and Greg Davis to discuss current topics in forensic pathology. In their fascinating and wide ranging discussion, they highlight the often overlooked role of forensic pathologists in offering empathy, care, and advice to the grieving relatives of their deceased patients, the need for expanded autopsy requirements in medical school rotations, and the utility of forensic training to anyone who needs to understand anatomy. 

Listeners will come away from this episode with an appreciation of the emotional intelligence required to work as a forensic pathologist, as well as the deeply rewarding interpersonal interactions that forensic pathologists can have through autopsy pathology. They will also appreciate the difficulties that workforce shortages pose for the practice of medicine generally. Listeners will also become aware of strategies for attracting the next generation of forensic pathologists in a field critical to medical practice.

Host Kelly Swails interviews Dr. Brad Brimhall and genetic counselor Megan Maxwell from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio to discuss challenges with and strategies for the diagnosis of rare diseases. Their discussion covers topics like the advantages of proactively using genetic testing to identify gene markers at the outset of care, the possibilities of artificial intelligence in identifying markers of rare diseases, and the role of pathologists in a multi-disciplinary care team - as well as the need for adequate communication and a holistic approach within that care team. Collectively, our guests describe how these insights can be used to shorten a patient's "diagnostic odyssey."

In this special episode of Inside the Lab, producer and host David Ritter does a dive into the history of efforts to integrate AI into the practice of healthcare. He’s joined by MD/PhD candidate Rahim Hirani, who discusses the history of efforts to automate diagnostic decision making in healthcare all the way back to the 1950s, and how these efforts were qualitatively different from current tools like large language models. Then, he’s joined by Dr. Melody Nelson from the  who discusses contemporary issues with applying modern AI tools in the context of the practice of pathology.

Inside the Lab is joined by experts Drs. Hannah Wang from the Cleveland Clinic and Rodney Rohde from Texas State University to discuss emerging respiratory viruses. Their discussion begins with lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and an overview of what technologies have emerged since. They go on to discuss the virology and surveillance strategies for H5N1 and RSV, as well as vaccine hesitancy and its impact in the treatment of measles. 

In this episode of Inside the Lab, Dr. Ali Brown sits down with guests Sean Tucker, MLS(ASCP)CM and Laura Severs, MHA, MLS(ASCP)CM to discuss their predictions for what 2025 holds for laboratory professionals. Topics discussed include:

• How workforce trends will continue in the near future and what strategies may work for addressing them;
• What to expect with automation and what pros and cons automation holds for laboratorians; 
• What challenges, risks, and benefits cybersecurity holds for laboratory professionals, particular as digital pathology becomes more prevalent;
• What's coming with AI and what it means for the practice of laboratory medicine. 

In this episode of Inside the Lab, guests Jane Dickerson, PhD and Elise Occhipinti, MD join host Kelly Swails to discuss the creation and maintenance of laboratory test stewardship programs. Topics covered include: 

• How and why your organization should set up a stewardship program
• Involving stakeholders in the process 
• The essential components of a success program
• Metrics and key performance indicators to track
• Resources, guidelines, and toolkits for those looking to create their own program