By Victoria Higgins, PhD, FCACB
What happens when chemistry, transfusion medicine, microbiology, and hematopathology stop working in silos — and start working together? Attendees of Wednesday’s interactive session, “Breaking down silos: transfusion medicine, microbiology, and hematopathology intersections with clinical chemistry,” will get a first-hand look at the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration.
“As individuals become more specialized in their niche areas, it is common to become siloed (physically and culturally),” says Anna Merrill, PhD, DABCC, a clinical chemist and speaker at the session, which was developed in collaboration with the ADLM Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians Core Committee. “Gaining some basic understanding of how different laboratories approach a clinical scenario can help make connections between findings from the various silos and improve collaboration,” she says.
In this session, a clinical chemist and two pathologists with training in multiple areas will model an interdisciplinary approach to patient care. Each real-world case will begin from a clinical chemist’s perspective, followed by diagnostic and therapeutic insights from the pathologists.
Through case-based discussions, interactive polling, and small group activities, attendees will explore how laboratory professionals across specialties can work together effectively, identify common barriers to collaboration, and share successful strategies from their own experiences.
Merrill will offer a clinical chemist’s perspective on multidisciplinary patient care. “Collaboration may encourage new insights about unexpected results or laboratory challenges that are uncommon in one area but may be easily explained by another,” she says. Staying curious and connected as a clinical chemist can foster lasting satisfaction and success. She credits her own motivation for seeking out cross-disciplinary collaboration to the learners she mentors. “They often share with me how exhilarating and rewarding it is to follow a patient and their specimens across the many disciplines they rotate through,” Merrill says.
Mark Girton, MD, a hematopathologist and chemist, provides insight into cases that demonstrate the diagnostic value of collaboration — such as the investigation of microcytic anemia. In one case, Girton will show an unusual hematopathology diagnosis that would not have been possible without coordinated input from multiple specialties. His commentary will underscore how hematologic interpretation depends on having a broad understanding of the clinical and laboratory context.
The team will also tackle transfusion medicine and clinical microbiology cases with pathologist Meredith Parsons, MD. This will include the diagnostic work-up for an infection in the central nervous system and a management case requiring coordination across departments to build a test menu supporting transfusion needs at a new hospital.
“Even two laboratories that seem completely unrelated often share unexpected common ground,” Parsons says. “For example, knowing a particular patient receives regular RBC exchanges for sickle cell disease raises the risk for transfusion-associated Babesia, which can be identified on a blood smear.”
The session goes beyond sharing expertise — it aims to foster a collaborative lab culture. Understanding other disciplines allows clinical chemists to teach more effectively, contribute to quality improvement initiatives, and provide more comprehensive consultations.
What are actionable ways for clinical chemists to expand their expertise today? They can connect with cross-trained colleagues, join interdisciplinary educational activities, and attend conferences that cover diverse areas of laboratory medicine. Training programs can also help by offering late-stage rotations in other specialties and encouraging participation in inter-disciplinary projects and educational events.
The speakers hope attendees will leave the session not only with new knowledge, but also with new energy to connect across disciplines and improve clinical service, research, and educational efforts at their own institutions. “[You will] never be too experienced to benefit from the insights of colleagues and other disciplines,” says Merrill. “A willingness to be curious and vulnerable goes a long way in facilitating cross-discipline collaboration.”
