Diagnostics Dialogues

The number of Americans living with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) continues to grow at an exponential rate. Currently, more than 6 million Americans have AD, and that number is expected to double by 2050. But recent research findings are beginning to show the important role diagnostics may play in the next era of AD. New diagnostic innovations could unleash a future of effective therapies, treatments, and improved outcomes for patients who suffer from this disease.
In this episode, host Dr Pat Alagia, senior medical director for Women’s and Reproductive Health at Quest Diagnostics, welcomes Dr Michael K. Racke to discuss:
The current tools and methods available to physicians when diagnosing AD
The important role of blood-based biomarkers in AD and the high impact this new testing solution can have on early diagnosis, as well as management of the disease
Encouraging new treatments and diagnostic pathways for AD aiming to slow disease progression and improve quality of life
Multilayered interventions to help prevent or delay risk of AD including a healthy diet, exercise, and cognitive stimulation
 
About our guests
Dr Michael K. Racke is Medical Director for Neurology at Quest Diagnostics. He is a leader in the field of neurology and neuroimmunology with special expertise in multiple sclerosis.  
After receiving his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Dr Racke completed a medical internship and neurology residency at Emory University School of Medicine, followed by a neuroimmunology fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  
Dr Racke’s research focuses on developing novel tests for neurologic disorders, including monitoring therapeutic responses in diseases such as multiple sclerosis. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reviews on the pathogenesis of neuroimmunology diseases. He has over 3 decades of leadership experience in academia and clinical practice and continues to serve on several national professional society committees.   
Dr Racke is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and American Association of Immunologists.  
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Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves 1 in 3 adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 47,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives.
More information is available at www.QuestDiagnostics.com

In today’s healthcare environment, laboratory leaders are required to provide the highest quality services to support improved patient outcomes. To succeed, they must implement scalable medical, analytical, and operational strategies, all while driving and balancing fiscal excellence and responsibility.
In this episode, host Dr Pat Alagia, senior medical director for Women’s and Reproductive Health at Quest Diagnostics welcomes Dr Patrick Mason and Tammy Germini to discuss:
Laboratory state-of-the-art programs and processes designed to improve quality, efficiency, and significant cost improvement outcomes
Requirements within the lab to help to achieve the successful convergence between medicine and operations, resulting in scalability of the highest performing tests
The overall value of laboratory medicine in modern healthcare
 
About our guests
Patrick Mason, MD, PhD, is regional medical director of the Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute in Chantilly, VA.
Dr Mason received his undergraduate, a PhD in Biochemistry, and Doctor of Medicine training at Virginia Commonwealth University. He completed his pediatric residency and endocrinology fellowship at Emory University. Dr Mason remained on the Emory faculty for several years until moving to Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children in 2001. While at Inova, he held a variety of positions, including staff pediatric endocrinologist and director of pediatric research. He held positions as assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at both Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia and was appointed as special volunteer faculty at Development Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Development, and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr Mason joined the Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute in March 2011 and served as the medical director of endocrinology until April 2015 when he became the medical director of the Chantilly laboratory.
 
Tammy Germini, MBA, MT(ASCP), is the executive director of operations for health systems at Quest Diagnostics where she oversees the implementation of key strategies aimed to balance operational excellence and financial responsibility.
After earning a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, she attended the Moses H. Cone School of Medical Technology and was certified by the Board of Certification of the American Society for Clinical Pathology in July 1995. She received her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Scranton in August 2017.
Tammy worked for Spectrum Laboratory Network for 15 years as a medical technologist, supervisor, and remote site manager. She then progressed in her career to Geisinger Medical Center where she led the laboratory for 11 years as the director of laboratory excellence and operations director for clinical pathology. Her tenure at Geisinger included oversight of the operations and financial performance for 6 nonprofit hospital laboratories, including the core laboratory for a large health system producing more than 10 million tests per year. Some of her key achievements include participation in the design and transition to a new 115,000 square foot state-of-the-art laboratory building in 2015, successful mergers/acquisitions of 5 hospital laboratories, and successful consolidation of operations into a core lab model.
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Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves 1 in 3 adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 47,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives.
More information is available at www.QuestDiagnostics.com

Health systems and laboratory diagnostics leaders are exploring new strategies and solutions to help enhance patient and population health and to deliver value to their organizations.  
In this episode, Dr Pat Alagia and Mike Lukas discuss: 
The clinical, operational, and business complexities health systems currently face 
How strong laboratory partnerships can create sustainable healthcare delivery organizations  
Important attributes of a strong partnership between laboratory diagnostics companies and health systems, and what these entities should expect from each other  
About our guest
Mike Lukas is the vice president and general manager for Health Systems at Quest Diagnostics, the nation’s leader in the rapidly evolving diagnostic information services market. 
In his current role, Mike oversees a team of professionals who design, contract, and execute lab services agreements across the country within the hospital segment. He has led this effort since it launched in 2013. Mike joined Quest Diagnostics in 2007 as vice president of finance.
Prior to coming to Quest Diagnostics, Mike was at General Motors for 17 years, where he held a wide range of progressively expanding responsibilities including assistant treasurer, treasurer of GM’s European Operations, director of business development, and manager of investor relations.  
Mike graduated from the University of Notre Dame with an MBA in finance and Saint Meinrad College with a BA in history. Mike makes his home in northern New Jersey with his wife and 3 children.
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Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves 1 in 3 adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 47,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives.
More information is available at www.QuestDiagnostics.com
 
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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to drastically disrupt the healthcare industry. At the same time, it has shone a light on the most pressing issues within its ecosystem, setting in motion the beginning of a new era of crucial changes and innovation.  
In this session, Dr Alagia and Dr Wohlgemuth discuss:
The key role played by Quest in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
How Quest is applying its COVID-19 learnings to accelerate change across the healthcare industry
The unique ways in which the effectiveness of the healthcare system has and can be further improved through a consumer-centric care approach, a strategy enforced at Quest
Innovation around implementation science and strategic population health solutions available to engage consumers across all healthcare entities
About our guest
Jay G. Wohlgemuth, MD, is senior vice president, R&D, medical and chief medical officer for Quest Diagnostics. Based at Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute in San Juan Capistrano, California, Dr Wohlgemuth is responsible for Research & Development, Medical Affairs, and Medical/Lab Quality. In addition, he is responsible for improving outcomes for employees who use our health benefits.
Dr Wohlgemuth has many years of experience in medical diagnostics and research and development. He rejoined Quest in 2016 from HealthTap, a health information start-up, where he served as senior vice president and chief healthcare officer. Prior to that, he was senior vice president, R&D, medical and chief scientific officer with Quest. Dr Wohlgemuth originally joined us in 2009 from Genentech, where he was director, clinical diagnostics, ITGR (immunology, tissue growth and repair) and global development team leader for ocrulizumab. He also served as vice president, R&D for VIA Pharmaceuticals and as chief medical officer for the molecular diagnostics company XDx, a company he co-founded. Dr Wohlgemuth also served as vice president, R&D for XDx. For his work at XDx, he was awarded Technology Pioneer 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He serves on the board of directors for the Personalized Medicine Coalition, Diagnostic Labs of Oklahoma, and The Anne and Henry Zarrow Charitable Foundation.
Dr Wohlgemuth earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard College and his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also served a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine.
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Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves 1 in 3 adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 47,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives.
More information is available at www.QuestDiagnostics.com

Diagnostics is the thread that connects the entire healthcare ecosystem and patient care continuum. And the laboratory generates an immense amount of data that can help enable improvements in both patient and hospital health. By better leveraging laboratory analytics, health systems and clinicians can identify, stratify, and prioritize patient populations to improve their health and the overall quality of care.
In this session, Dr Waheed and Dr Hilborne discuss:
System-level strategies that can deliver meaningful, credible data to clinicians to align goals and drive meaningful, collaborative discussions across your health systems
Change management approaches that can bring together physicians, patients, laboratorians, and other key stakeholders to drive effective test utilization strategies and reduce physician burnout
Ways to approach and exercise leadership around the concept of lab stewardship within the overall delivery of care, as well as practice of pathology and laboratory medicine
Opportunities to leverage Quest’s vast patient-centric data set to inform standard of care expectations, risk stratification, and healthy equity improvements
 
Rehan Waheed, MD
Senior Medical Director & Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Healthcare Analytics Solutions, Quest Diagnostics
Dr Rehan Waheed joined Quest Diagnostics in 2021 as Senior Medical Director & Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Healthcare Analytics Solutions. In this leadership role at the critical intersection of medicine, informatics, and business, he oversees clinical expertise for Quest’s healthcare analytics solutions while also championing important initiatives to advance analytics in public health. Dr Waheed is an advocate for action, leverages knowledge from other industries and is a proponent of value-based, patient-centered healthcare leveraging health information technology.
Prior to joining Quest, Dr Waheed was a Director at Cerner Corporation leading efforts in the federal sector. Other past roles include Sr. Director in the Department of Integration & Transformation (DoIT) at The MetroHealth System, Sr. Consultant for Better Health Partnership, and Medical Officer at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, he has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Informatics Certificate and Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Certificate from CWRU Weatherhead School of Management. He continues to teach as an adjunct faculty at Baldwin Wallace and guest lecturer for other universities.
Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA
Senior National Medical Director, Quest Diagnostics 
Dr Hilborne is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Senior National Medical Director for Quest Diagnostics; and a Health Services Researcher at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. Dr Hilborne served as a member of the ASCP Board of Directors for 18 years, was president from 2007-2008 and, for nine years, was a member of the Board of Governors for ASCP’s Board of Certification. He chairs the ASCP Effective Test Utilization Subcommittee and is a member of the Commissions on Membership and Public Policy. For the past eight years, Dr Hilborne has been a member of Venice Family Clinic’s Medical Practice Committee. 

The convergence of the opioid epidemic and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created new healthcare challenges. Health systems, from a system- and individual clinician-level, are more important than ever in the pursuit of addressing the epidemic within the pandemic.
In this session, Dr Gudin discusses:
Recently-published data by Quest that demonstrates decreased drug testing overall, with increased positivity for high-risk drugs and dangerous drug combinations 
Tools and practices for clinicians to assess and stratify patients for potential prescription drug abuse
System-level strategies that employ an integrated care delivery approach, including leveraging community and diagnostics partnerships, to support impacted patient populations
Jeffrey Gudin, MD; Executive Director, Medical Affairs, Drug Monitoring & Toxicology
Dr Gudin is an active speaker and advisor whose clinical and research interests include postoperative pain management; opioid abuse, and potential solutions; and increasing clinical awareness of pain assessment and risk management. Board-certified in pain management, addiction medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine, Dr Gudin is also a medical acupuncturist. He serves as co-Editor-at-Large for Practical Pain Management.

This episode features Dr Michael Racke discussing the evolution of treating neurologic disease to detect disease early and focus on prevention.  In this session, Dr Racke discusses:
How diagnostics and treatment has evolved for multiple sclerosis
Treating patients at the first incidence of neurologic disease for optimal outcomes
How health systems can address the needs of patients with complex neurologic conditions to minimize the human and economic toll of disease
Michael Racke MD Bio:
 
Dr Michael K. Racke is Medical Director for Neurology at Quest Diagnostics. Dr Racke is a leader in the field of neurology and neuroimmunology. Dr Racke is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reviews spanning the pathogenesis of neuroimmunologic diseases. He continues to serve on several national professional society committees.

 
This episode features Yuri Fesko MD, with clinical pathways to help guide diagnosis and treatment in oncology. In this session, Dr Fesko discusses:
How clinical pathways can make an impact for hospitals to improve oncology outcomes
The critical importance of collaboration for pathologists and oncologists
The future of oncology care in integrated health systems
Yuri Fesko MD Bio:
Dr Yuri Fesko serves as the Executive Medical Director of Medical Affairs at Quest Diagnostics, and the Chief Clinical Officer for Oncology Strategic Collaboration at Quest. Born and raised in New York City, Dr Fesko trained at Case Western Reserve University, and completed his fellowship at University Hospitals of Cleveland. After his fellowship, Dr Fesko served as the Chief of Community Oncology for Wake County through Duke University Health System.An experienced oncologist and medical business leader, he is currently responsible for strategic clinical development at Quest across multiple functional areas including Regulatory FDA, HEOR, and R&D.

Today’s podcast features Dr Nicholaos Bellos with strategies that are helping some health systems best operate in today's healthcare environment. In this session, Dr Bellos discusses:
The ease of viral transmission and what health systems can do to mitigate risk
Diagnostic solutions, guidelines, and best practices to ensure safety for the front line
The future of health systems in the post-pandemic landscape
Nicholaos Bellos MD Bio:
Board-certified in internal medicine and infectious disease, Dr Nicholaos Bellos brings both deep clinical knowledge and executive leadership experience to the discussion. Drawing from his passion for advancing positive outcomes for patients, his expertise includes delivering evidence-based, measurable healthcare solutions that contain costs, reduce hospital length-of-stay and readmissions, and cut down on hospital-acquired drug-resistant infections. Dr Bellos maintains a private clinical practice of over 20 years, as well as serving as national medical director, extended care services at Quest Diagnostics. Previously, he was associate vice president of medical operations and performance management and innovation at Tenet Health.

When we asked Dr. Alagia his goals for this podcast, he told us, "I think the podcast project gives our doctors and our scientists at Quest a voice. It connects us with the outside community. We work with a lot of folks who live in the laboratories, who live in the hospitals, who do great work here. It's essential work. Everything starts with the lab. We can't treat a patient without laboratorians and all the work that they do. We wanted to make sure that people understood how number one, important they are, but how powerful their intellects are in terms of contributing to patient care. Without them, everything stops." 
He then added, "One of the things that's important for us to talk about is care, science, and community. When people hear that it's not just the testing and the analytics and everything else that we do and the insights that we provide, but really at the core of everything we do is patient care, and that's what our north star is. That's what drives us."
We are glad to welcome you to Diagnostics Dialogues from Quest Diagnostics. Be sure to subcribe.