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Why do digital pathology projects get harder once the real workflow starts?

In this USCAP 2026 conversation, I talk with Robert Moody from Hamamatsu and Jake Eden from Agilent about what the conference theme, MAKING CONNECTIONS, looks like in actual digital pathology implementation. This was not just a conversation about products. It was a conversation about workflow. We talked about why consistent staining matters before scanning, why strong partnerships need a shared vision, and why labs increasingly want a simpler point of contact as they move into digital pathology.

One point I really liked is that the value of a partnership is no longer just in combining components. It is in reducing complexity for the lab. Robert and Jake explain how vendors increasingly act as guides during digital transformation, helping customers navigate technical decisions, implementation steps, and the many stakeholders involved beyond pathology itself. That includes IT, information security, legal, finance, and lab operations.

Another key theme is that no two deployments look the same. Some labs are centralized. Some are hub-and-spoke. Some outsource parts of the workflow. That is why future-proofing came up so strongly in this episode. Jake talks about keeping options open with open, agnostic workflows, and Robert makes the practical point that the most expensive thing you can do is the same implementation twice.

Key highlights

• [00:22] Why this episode moves from high-level partnerships to what they look like in the lab
• [02:33] Why staining consistency matters for successful digital workflows
• [03:14] Shared vision, relationships, and why partnerships start with people
• [05:29] The idea of a single point of contact to reduce complexity for labs
• [08:32] Why vendors have become digital pathology guides
• [10:03] Why every deployment is unique
• [14:22] Future-proofing and choosing open, agnostic workflows
• [15:46] Why doing the same implementation twice is the expensive mistake to avoid

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