Jason Park, MD, PhD, FCAP, DABCC, is the Robin M. Jacoby, PhD Professor of Biomedical Science and a professor in the department of pathology with an adjunct appointment in the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is also the clinical director of the advanced diagnostics laboratory at Children’s Health, Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Park has been an active laboratory medicine community member since 2004 with more than 250 publications and 14 patents to his name.
Park is also currently the editor-in-chief for the journal Clinical Chemistry, widely considered the preeminent journal of laboratory medicine, published by the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM, formerly AACC).
We recently spoke to Park about trends in the field, where it’s heading in the future, and what young clinical laboratorians should keep in mind as they progress in their careers.
Can you tell us about your goals and why you went into laboratory medicine?
Back in the ‘90s, I was in my thesis laboratory in graduate school, and that laboratory had spun out a cancer biomarkers company. From that point in time, I became very interested in biomarkers, diagnostic technologies, and in the commercialization and clinical use of those technologies. I was fortunate that I was able to continue that type of work during my pathology residency.
While there, I met a mentor and a friend who became very influential to me: Larry Kricka, DPhil, FADLM, FRSC, former president of the association and an international leader in clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics. Notably, he had not one or two but multiple successes in commercializing his inventions in analytical technology. Through Larry, I was introduced to ADLM, and I really learned, not just about discoveries and research, but also about the importance of being part of organizations and collaborations. It’s thanks to him that I developed this love for the discovery and development of diagnostic technologies.
As the editor in chief of Clinical Chemistry, what do you see as the 5-year goal for the journal?
The journal will continue its leadership as the preeminent journal in laboratory medicine and will also continue as a forum for all aspects of laboratory medicine. Over the last 20 years, the journal has come to focus not just on clinical chemistry, but also on other areas of the clinical laboratory, such as mass spectrometry and molecular diagnostics. It has also covered a wide range of diseases — everything from cancer to clinical microbiology. Over the next 5 years, the journal will continue to grow in these areas, and we are actively working on establishing the journal’s role as a leading publication in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence.
As you scan the laboratory medicine field, what new trends do you see emerging?
Over the past decade and certainly the past year, not just in the professional realm but in all parts of society, we have recognized that AI will be significant. In laboratory medicine, this significance will permeate every aspect of our practice — everything from education to professional training to quality control to scientific publication. We’ve seen such a rapid rate of adoption of AI that I’m really uncertain what the next 3 years will be like. But I’m certain that they will be different, and I’m certain that over the course of the next years and next decade AI will be central to radical change in all areas of medicine, not just laboratory medicine.
Speaking of AI, what do you think of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, and what do you expect their immediate and long-term impact to be?
LLMs are probably the best example of how AI can become rapidly implemented once it’s shown to be useful. Over the course of the last year, everyone noticed that LLMs such as ChatGPT were rapidly adopted. Anyone who has family members or close contact with people in school, anyone from middle school through university and graduate school, they know this type of technology was used within months of it being deployed. These technologies have demonstrated their usefulness as everything from study aids to writing tools. They became adopted at such speed that educators and students have not yet fully adapted to this type of change.
I think that specifically in the professional environment over the past year, we have seen LLMs make a dramatic impact on how research studies are designed, how discoveries are made, and how publications are assembled or written. ChatGPT and other LLMs are the forerunners of many more technologies that will come out over the next 5 years.
Is there space in the field for a more concerted international approach to laboratory medicine?
I’ll look at this from the journal and society perspective. As we know, ADLM is an international organization that has long been part of education and collaboration not only within the United States community, but also the international community. Clinical Chemistry, a journal of ADLM, has been part of that international outreach and collaboration.
By identifying how practices may differ in different countries and different regions of the world, we can find best practices and then achieve those best practices through things such as standardization and harmonization.
In your opinion, what can the laboratory medicine community do nationally and internationally to best prepare for the next epidemic in order to prevent a global pandemic?
From the journal’s perspective, I was fortunate to be part of the journal when Nader Rifai, PhD, was editor in chief in the late days of 2019 going into 2020. Rifai did a number of important things in terms of identifying that this was a significant crisis, even in the early days of December 2019, and decided that as a journal, our role should be to disseminate information rapidly. This was important and successful because, if we look at those early publications in Clinical Chemistry on COVID-19 from January 2020, those studies were widely cited, not just in scientific publications by other journals but also in the general news media.
The journal as a scientific voice has the ability to identify topics of growing importance, such as regional epidemics, and to publish research and expert commentaries on those epidemics. The journal can also widely disseminate that information, so that people are aware of what is going on. The dream would be to mitigate the next global pandemic by rapidly communicating critical information reviewed by experts.
What hurdles do you see facing laboratory medicine in the next 5 to 10 years?
New technologies in proteomics, genomics and AI are all going to lead to rapid change in the role clinical laboratories play in healthcare systems throughout the world. A major challenge for the laboratory medicine profession will be to maintain relevance in this period of change. During any period of rapid technological change in history, there has been an emergence of new disciplines and new jobs. On the flip side, there are career disciplines that become obsolete during those times of change. Laboratorians need to embrace and adopt new technologies in order to maintain expertise, relevance, and for our field to continue to thrive.
If you could magically make something happen in the laboratory medicine field, what would you like to see?
In an ideal world, we would provide excellent patient-centered care without financial or regulatory burdens. Unfortunately, the reality is that to provide excellent clinical care, we need to be adept at the financial and regulatory demands of providing a clinical service.
Based on your success, what information would you pass along to early career laboratory medicine professionals?
I think that one of the many strengths of laboratory medicine as a career is that it can be a very long and enjoyable one – a career can last decades. Given this long career trajectory, which hopefully many of us will have, it’s helpful to identify and work towards both short-term and long-term goals. Having this combination of goals that can be achieved over varying periods of time can lead to different types of professional experiences and different rewards. Short-term goals could be things like achieving something personally in terms of a publication or implementing a change within the workplace. A long-term goal could be preparing to lead a work group or a society as an officer and then becoming involved with things like scientific journals.
Another important thing I’ve recognized over the last couple of years through my career and through watching the careers of my colleagues is that it’s important to be open to changing career directions. As opportunities emerge, or unanticipated life events happen, it’s important to be open to changing and redefining personal success and goals. It’s important not to be so fixed on those goals that you can’t adapt. There are always new ways of finding personal success, especially in laboratory medicine.
Jen A. Miller is a freelance journalist who lives in Audubon, New Jersey. +Twitter: @byJenAMiller