211: USCAP2026-What Real Life Lab Partnership Looks Like in Digital Pathology with Hamamatsu & Agilent Technologies

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 

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;13;04

Aleks

Welcome my trailblazers. And the other day at the USCAP and another interview at the USCAP, and I have fantastic guests again. One guest joined me for the previous interview. Robert Moody from Hamamatsu. How are you today, Robert?

00;00;13;11 - 00;00;14;18

Robert

I'm well, thank you.

00;00;14;20 - 00;00;21;09

Aleks

And I have a next another guest from Agilent. Jake. Ethan. Hi. Hi, Jake. How are you today?

00;00;21;10 - 00;00;22;18

Jake

Hey. Good. Thank you.

00;00;22;20 - 00;00;48;18

Aleks

So nice that you have join me today because the, topic of the conference is connections. And, Agilent and Hamamatsu have a partnership. So in the previous interview, we talked about why are partnerships important? Kind of more high level, how it happens. Why now? It's more important than before. Or like my why now? It's happening more than before.

00;00;48;21 - 00;01;10;01

Aleks

But I would love to learn how it is like in the lab, day to day in practice. But before we dive into it, let's start with you. Robert, couple of words. What kind of expert you are? That how that are at Hamamatsu for the trailblazers who don't know you yet? Sure.

00;01;10;04 - 00;01;24;03

Robert

Yeah. My name is Robert Moody, and I've been in the digital pathology world with various different organizations for about 15 years. Closer to 20, maybe. And I currently manage partnerships for Hamamatsu Digital Pathology in North America.

00;01;24;05 - 00;01;25;21

Aleks

Thank you so much, Jake.

00;01;25;23 - 00;01;32;27

Jake

I'm a global product manager for digital pathology Agilent. So really working across our partnerships with Hamamatsu and others in the space.

00;01;33;00 - 00;02;02;01

Aleks

Amazing. So good to have you here. So, let's start with Hamamatsu Representative Robert. What is valuable, for the practical aspect of partnerships and, just one step back. Hamamatsu and make scanners. Agilent makes staining stainless. Anything else that you guys provide for the digital pathology workflow at Agilent?

00;02;02;04 - 00;02;04;24

Jake

We have other partners across software as well.

00;02;04;26 - 00;02;07;04

Aleks

But like, your core expertise is.

00;02;07;05 - 00;02;11;18

Jake

Is really in, core pathology. So, advanced staining.

00;02;11;21 - 00;02;33;05

Aleks

So, yeah, sustaining. We have scanning and staining. So obviously without staining, there is nothing to be scanned. So when it comes to scanning from Hamamatsu perspective, what is important in a partner company or in the partner part of the workflow before it gets scanned?

00;02;33;07 - 00;02;52;05

Robert

It it really takes two things. There's a commercial side of things, and there's a technical side. Commercially, Agilent is a a very large global organization, that makes very high quality products. And so that's always a criteria. We we would look to the the other thing is that they make, their staining is very consistent.

00;02;52;07 - 00;02;58;08

Robert

Consistency is really important. And I think it's really what drives, successful workflows.

00;02;58;10 - 00;03;14;22

Aleks

Okay. Consistency. High quality products. Obviously being global helps because if you want to deploy digital pathology globally, Jake, what does Agilent like what does matter for you.

00;03;14;22 - 00;03;45;07

Jake

Across the workflow in the digital pathology workflow? When it comes to partnerships across digital pathology, I think it's really important to have a shared vision. And so that was really kind of at the inception of the relationship with Hamamatsu. It was a shared vision to deliver better answers to our customers and ultimately their patients. Beyond that, I think the important thing is just, I'd say that on the personal level, just building the relationships with the actual people between the organizations so that we're both contributing towards the value that's really created for the customers.

00;03;45;10 - 00;04;14;28

Aleks

I think this is important, to highlight. And we mentioned that in the previous episode, in the previous interview that, it used to start on paper. Now, actually, it starts with people, with the people who are implementing, from both ends, from both or from, like, various parts of the digital pathology workflow. So, this is super important.

00;04;15;01 - 00;04;44;26

Aleks

I want to know, how do you coordinate that? Like, okay, you already, found a partner, has high quality product, has good people. Everybody is excited. You have you've shared the vision, but now it has to happen. How does it happen? Like, is there, like, a sandbox to make it happen? Or is it with a customer, like, where do you start?

00;04;44;28 - 00;04;45;17

Jake

To start this one?

00;04;45;20 - 00;05;03;14

Robert

I can't. It it starts with really having everybody in the organizations that work together care. So you have to care about what you're delivering. And then it's really about the teamwork. It's hard work. I'm not going to lie, I spend more time with you and your team than I do with my colleagues. And I think that's important.

00;05;03;14 - 00;05;06;02

Robert

Right. There has to be commitment.

00;05;06;05 - 00;05;09;19

Aleks

And can you say where are you doing that.

00;05;09;21 - 00;05;25;20

Robert

Yeah indeed. I mean labs all across the US are really where I'm focused. I know Jake works a lot in Europe as well, but yeah we have a number of different customers that we go and visit together to make sure that the things are running well and how we can duplicate that, and how we can learn to make things better the next time around.

00;05;25;23 - 00;05;29;25

Aleks

So basically both teams come and make it work.

00;05;29;27 - 00;05;49;18

Jake

Absolutely. So I think we go from division where we, you know, agree to to work together. And then you know we agree on the endpoint as well. What do we really want to be able to deliver to our customers? Ultimately, for us, I think that's a single point of contact. And digital pathology is it's removing the complexity, reducing this burden that's really placed on customers.

00;05;49;18 - 00;05;58;08

Jake

I think at the moment. And then working backwards from there, how do we make it happen? What processes do we need to get in place? What kind of touch points are there along the way?

00;05;58;10 - 00;06;33;11

Aleks

So how does that happen, if you like, when a single point of contact, which you have not only two companies, it may be more partners. Is it like single point of contact per company? Is it like one person across the company is responsible for, solution at the customers. Like go as detail as you can. I know you cannot say everything, but like for a trailblazer that is looking into, into deploying digital pathology in the lab, they don't have infrastructure yet.

00;06;33;11 - 00;06;37;25

Aleks

They're just starting like, how will it look for them?

00;06;37;27 - 00;06;57;06

Jake

So Agilent has been in the space of pathology for quite a while. We have zero touch within staining. So I think building on that relationship that we already have with the customers. So they're already used to coming to Agilent. Based around that, we've really built this relationship with Hamamatsu in the background so that we can continue to be their point of contact.

00;06;57;09 - 00;07;15;25

Jake

Because we work so closely with Hamamatsu, we can bring them in at the right times when it's appropriate. So bringing in their expert team, and throughout sales to consult the customer to understand what their needs are really on a deep technical level. And then, you know, throughout the that kind of implementation process with the customer as well.

00;07;15;27 - 00;07;26;23

Robert

I mean that's right. Agilent is the point of contact. And I and others at Hamamatsu support Agilent is as agents of Agilent really to make sure that the customer gets what they need.

00;07;26;26 - 00;08;01;09

Aleks

And that obviously makes sense from the order of the workflow. You scan first and then you do whatever you want to do. With the, with the slides and digital pathology, you're going to be scanning them and then they're going to be visualizing them and doing all the other things. So question or like more of an observation because, you become the guide for the customer right now, in how to make this work the best.

00;08;01;10 - 00;08;31;27

Aleks

How did this evolve the that. Because in the previous, episode in the previous, previous, podcast, we talked. Okay. Several, labs did it at scale. We, like, all joined to learn the lessons, but, we know that in science, in healthcare, in medicine, by spreading these lessons, if not always that straightforward, and not everybody publishes everything.

00;08;32;03 - 00;08;58;21

Aleks

And also, if it's published, not everybody is, reading these publications. So, what I'm seeing right now and what I love is that the vendors are becoming digital pathology guides for, the, for the customers, for the labs, for the researchers. Tell me about how it's changed since you started working and how how does it feel to be this guide?

00;08;58;28 - 00;09;13;20

Aleks

Because, obviously, you also have product solutions, but you have the knowledge and a Robert, you mentioned that you were working for various organization for 20 years in digital pathology. So tell me a little bit about that situation.

00;09;13;27 - 00;09;32;29

Robert

Sure. I think your original question was how did this evolve to us being guides with partnerships? And I think it's out of necessity. This was a survival. And what we've realized is the value that we bring through Agilent is more than just the sum total of the different components that they offer in the digital space.

00;09;33;02 - 00;09;52;26

Robert

It's it's the guidance, the consultancy that we become to the customer. Most people go through a digital transformation once we get to we get to the fun of doing it over and over and over again. And so we have unique opportunity to learn and refine. And so that's really where the value comes from when working with a partner like Agilent is that they've done this multiple times.

00;09;52;28 - 00;10;00;20

Robert

And they can tell you how to accomplish your goals without you having to make some some guesses.

00;10;00;22 - 00;10;03;20

Aleks

And I assume it doesn't look the same for every lab.

00;10;03;22 - 00;10;24;11

Robert

No one size does not fit all. Unfortunately no. Yeah. I would love for that to be the case. And it would, you know, would be a single product that we would just. But no, integrations are different because labs are different. They're different geographically sometimes. Right. We have hub and spoke models where you have a central lab and or central digitization.

00;10;24;11 - 00;10;49;07

Robert

And then they have labs that are, drawn out. But sometimes it's really just the way that they're working within, the pathology group. Sometimes it's not even the hospital itself that's doing its own labs. It's outsourced. And so it's how you deliver that digital to the hospital from the reference lab is sometimes different. And then, of course, everybody has it, even if they all use similar, lab systems.

00;10;49;07 - 00;10;58;07

Robert

Every, every deployment is unique. And so none of these, none of these deployments is exactly the same, but we've learned from each one of them to make that next one easier.

00;10;58;09 - 00;11;28;19

Aleks

This is amazing. And this highlights also another aspect of connections. It's not just connections between partners. Intercompany connections like we talked yesterday in the last episode that, headquarters of Hamamatsu is in Japan. And, the most deployments of digital pathology are probably in the US, Europe. So there is, also this global aspect of being connected.

00;11;28;21 - 00;11;54;17

Aleks

But also with your lab customers, with your clients and, a pretty connected, partnership that is like three way partnership that has to be not actually it is four way or more way because your clients, clients or the people who your client server are also part of the equation. So, very timely for the topic of us have connections.

00;11;54;20 - 00;12;21;09

Aleks

So I'm super happy that you guys connected. Not this year. You already mentioned and the video that we did two years ago. I'm going to link to this video. We're at the US Cup in Baltimore. There was a display where, Hamamatsu and Agilent, were a part of the workflow. Part of the workflow together. So.

00;12;21;11 - 00;12;25;00

Aleks

Is it difficult to coordinate between us?

00;12;25;01 - 00;12;30;08

Robert

Not really. We're talking about connections. And so I'll tell you some of what we've become very.

00;12;30;08 - 00;12;32;00

Aleks

Difficult at the beginning.

00;12;32;02 - 00;12;55;29

Robert

Difficult? No. Every company has their own culture in their own language. And so I don't think that was difficult to overcome. But there was there was learnings. But I think the connections that can be difficult are if we've learned how to help as consultants, help our customers navigate through the connections within their own organizations. You've got info security, I.T., legal, finance, web.

00;12;55;29 - 00;13;05;01

Robert

And so understanding how one is going to respond to this differently than the other is a big part of the value that we bring.

00;13;05;04 - 00;13;30;27

Aleks

Yeah. And this is an important point as well that I want to highlight that digital pathology, was never like one department show even though it's called pathology. Right. So it's going to sit in the pathology department and that's where it's going to be used. But it's gonna be the engineers that it infosec all the databases and, and a lot more than that in an organization.

00;13;31;00 - 00;13;57;28

Aleks

So to connect that and to have all these people at the table from the very beginning, including people in the lab, including the staining component. Jake, before we wrap up and I ask you about the takeaways, I want to ask you, for example, because you have, labs that are not yet thinking about digital, but probably from your experience, you know, at some point they will be or there is going to be a necessity for that.

00;13;57;28 - 00;14;22;14

Aleks

Like is is there anything you guys like guide them on to be digital? You ready when they are ready. Is there any anything like that or is it just like awareness asking these questions like do you have these conversations before, the labs ask you about a partner for digital pathology with you?

00;14;22;16 - 00;14;43;23

Jake

Yeah. I mean, I couldn't distill it down to any one thing. But I think the, the biggest recommendation would be, I think think of it in a future proof way. Right. You don't want to be limited. You want to keep your options open moving forward as well. And so like selecting, you know, ideally partnerships with us, but yeah, any products that will allow them that choice in the future.

00;14;43;23 - 00;14;50;26

Jake

Right. Looking for the open agnostic workflows as opposed to something that's really going to restrict where they can go, over time.

00;14;50;28 - 00;15;23;08

Aleks

I think this is crucial because and not everybody is going to be ready to go digital at the same time. Right. But it is coming. It is being adopted more and more. It has tremendous benefits. And like not having to say no. And then like when they say yes, change everything, but rather they're saying, not yet, but let's be ready for when we, when we're ready, we have the means.

00;15;23;08 - 00;15;46;20

Aleks

We we need it. We we must do it. So that's also like leaving this part, open to connect when the readiness is there is super important and important takeaways for the digital pathology trailblazers. From the interview and, for the conference, maybe some, like.

00;15;46;22 - 00;16;04;19

Robert

Well, for digital pathology, I want to echo what Jake said and how important it is to futureproof things. We've seen a number of other accounts that we've worked with have decided to take sort of small, phase wise approaches, and they didn't build in the ability to scale. And so you end up having to do it over. And then most expensive thing you can do is the same thing twice.

00;16;04;21 - 00;16;10;10

Robert

And so a lot of what we do is try to guide people away from making that list.

00;16;10;13 - 00;16;20;04

Aleks

That is amazing Jake. Any any highlights. Any insights. Any takeaways for the Digital Pathology Trailblazers.

00;16;20;07 - 00;16;39;15

Jake

Many of I'd say yeah. Just don't underestimate the value of strong partnership in the space. It really comes down to the, I think the relationships and the support that you get from these partners as you go along. This journey is really a journey. It's a huge undertaking to become digital. But if you have the right partners, then I think it can be made a lot easier at least.

00;16;39;18 - 00;16;40;20

Jake

00;16;40;23 - 00;17;03;09

Aleks

And I bet you guys are going to be connecting during this conference. If the trailblazers want to talk to you, where can they find your. I know where they can find you around because I'm going to be working with you at the conference at booth three. One, two. How about you, Jake? If somebody wanted to talk to you about, the partnerships about digital pathology staining, digital pathology.

00;17;03;09 - 00;17;04;15

Aleks

Ready? Where can they find you?

00;17;04;19 - 00;17;10;18

Jake

At the conference. Come down to our both as well. We're just passing. I should know this right? We can edit.

00;17;10;18 - 00;17;13;24

Aleks

It. We can edit the 755.

00;17;13;29 - 00;17;18;11

Robert

Yeah. Yeah.

00;17;18;13 - 00;17;35;21

Robert

Trust me, I didn't know my booth. Okay, guys. Okay. She's the only one that knows my booth now. Okay, good.

00;17;35;24 - 00;17;52;04

Aleks

I'm almost there. Bottom of the press release 123. All right. 123. Okay, we start this one. Jake, if somebody wanted to talk to you about partnerships, about what you guys do and how you, help labs be future proof, where can they find you?

00;17;52;06 - 00;18;00;21

Jake

Come down to the edge of the booth. Number 123. Us go. We'll be there with our team of digital pathology experts ready to talk to you.

00;18;00;24 - 00;18;17;03

Aleks

Okay. Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you have a great conference. If you're at the US, Cobb, you're going to be seeing us hanging out there. Visit us, ask questions. Don't be intimidated. And, thank you so much again. Thank you.

00;18;17;04 - 00;18;17;15

Jake

Thank you.

00;18;17;22 - 00;18;23;15

Aleks

And I talk to you in the next episode. Let's go. Hey, good job guys.