Leading with the Lab: How Froedtert & ThedaCare Use Laboratory Integration to JumpStart Their Merger and Deliver Immediate Value
Placeholder text contentSteve Serota, President of Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratories and Chief Laboratory Officer, Froedtert ThedaCare Health, explains the strategy: “We wanted to create immediate clinical, operational, and financial value and leading with the lab was ideal choice.” When Froedtert Health and ThedaCare launched their combined organization in January 2024, leadership faced a familiar challenge following large health system
mergers: how do you demonstrate progress early while the broader enterprise is still aligning?
Mobilizing High-Performance Quality Teams to Close Care Gaps, Strengthen Compliance, and Deliver Measurable Clinical and Financial Results
The 2026 Executive War College will feature Jenny Tran and April Young,
Senior Director – Laboratory Operations, Anatomic Pathology who will share
how their collaborative governance model aligns laboratory operations with
enterprise quality management to drive measurable improvements.
Drawing from real-world implementation experience, the session will explore:
1. The advantages of a shared-accountability model between Laboratory
Operations and Quality Management that strengthens cross-department
collaboration across the health system.
2. The enterprise impact of structured quality governance, including
reduced organizational risk, improved patient safety, and operational cost
savings.
3. How frontline insights are elevated into leadership-ready action, with
practical examples of sustainable change and workforce development.
Reinventing Phlebotomy with Autonomous Robotics: From Core Technology to Real-World Clinical Evidence, Preference Studies, and Future Advancements
At Executive War College 2026, Brooke M. Katzman, PhD—Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and Director of Hospital Clinical Laboratory, Central Clinical Laboratory, Point of Care, and Laboratory Services at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN—joins Luuk Giesen, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Vitestro, to discuss what this innovation means for patients and laboratories. Dr. Giesen will present real-world clinical performance data from leading European hospital laboratories, including safety outcomes, first-stick success, and patient preference findings. Dr. Katzman will highlight Mayo Clinic’s human factors study engaging both staff and patients to assess readiness for adoption and acceptance of the new technology. As she notes, “Device validation with our patient population is important to gain trust and confidence with the system.”
This session will examine the technology, the evidence, and the broader implications of this advancement for laboratory medicine.
Modernizing Laboratory Compliance: Unifying Automation, AI-Aligned Documentation, and Digital Training Systems to Eliminate Redundant Work and Achieve Continuous Audit-Ready Performance
Unika Alexander, Cofounder and CEO of The Proficient Lab, points to document control and compliance management as one of the most significant opportunities for transformation. “The next level of productivity comes from creating a unified ecosystem that consolidates document control, regulatory requirements, and audit readiness into a single, automated system,” she explains.
At the 31st Executive War College 2026, Unika, a licensed medical laboratory scientist and nationally recognized laboratory compliance expert will introduce the next generation of compliance and documentation software designed to help laboratories move beyond manual, fragmented systems. Her session focuses on building an integrated framework of checks and balances that supports continuous audit readiness while reducing administrative burden.
Under OIG Scrutiny: Translating 2025 Enforcement Trends Into Actionable Strategies for Laboratory Compliance, Test Utilization Optimization, and Enterprise-Wide Risk Mitigation in 2026
At Executive War College 2026, healthcare regulatory attorney Danielle Tangorre of Robinson & Cole LLP and laboratory compliance expert Andrew Fletcher, CEO and Founder of Eutilogic Consulting, will translate recent OIG enforcement trends and the anticipated iCPG revisions into practical strategies laboratories must adopt in 2026. “The anticipated updates heighten the compliance landscape and bring into focus the imperative for laboratories to integrate stewardship into medical necessity reviews, utilization monitoring, and oversight of standing orders,” explains Andrew. From a legal and enforcement perspective, Danielle adds that “proactively integrating best practices for laboratory management significantly reduces exposure to compliance penalties and enforcement risk.”
Transforming Pathology at Scale: NYU Langone’s Achievement of a Fully Digital Workflow in One Year to Accelerate Diagnosis, Collaboration, and AI-Enabled Innovation
At Executive War College 2026, Syed T. Hoda, MD, Director of Digital Pathology, Director of Bone & Soft Tissue Pathology at NYU Langone Health and Christina Olesnycky, Senior Administrative Director of Laboratory Services at NYU Langone Health, will take attendees inside NYU Langone’s real-world journey to deploying a fully scaled digital pathology workflow in just one year, including the conversion of millions of glass slides across a large, complex health system. Drawing from this experience, they will outline the strategic, operational, and technical decisions required to successfully execute digital pathology at scale.
The New Age of Growth in the Diagnostic and Pathology Market: Strategic Considerations for Mergers, Acquisitions, Organic Growth, Global Partnerships and Emerging Technologies
The laboratory landscape is becoming increasingly complex as organizations contend with regulatory uncertainty, rapid technological innovation, and accelerating consolidation across both domestic and global healthcare ecosystems. At the same time, laboratory executives are expected to deliver sustainable growth while preserving quality, operational resilience, and patient-centered care.
Breaking the Traveler Cycle: How to Replicate Proven, High-Impact Workforce Strategies to Achieve Sustainable, Long-Term Laboratory Staffing and Operational Stability
Stefanie Davidson, Laboratory Director at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in Alaska, will present at the 31st Executive War College 2026, sharing a proven approach to breaking the laboratory technologist traveler cycle without relying on temporary or contract staffing.
Through use of cost data, strong leadership practices, and a deliberate grow-your-own workforce strategy, Stefanie has successfully maintained full laboratory staffing while reducing dependence on external personnel. As she explains, her success reflects “the combination of data-driven decision-making, leadership engagement, and intentional workforce development.”
Building Trust in AI Adoption for Pathology: A CAP AI Studio Immersive, Hands-On Experience Exploring Validated AI Tools in Real-World Clinical Scenarios
Kevin Schap, Director of Clinical Informatics Initiatives at the College of American Pathologists (CAP), and Dr. Rajendra Singh, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will present at Executive War College 2026, highlighting the CAP AI Studio, an immersive, hands-on AI evaluation environment designed to help pathologists rigorously assess emerging technologies within real-world digital pathology workflows.
Governing the Data Backbone of the Modern Laboratory: How to Ensure Secure, Compliant, and Validated Patient Data Across the Entire Laboratory Data Lifecycle
Executive War College 2026, April 28-29, 2026 at the New Orleans Hyatt, welcomes
Todd Stabelfeldt, Founder and CEO of C4 Solutions, a recognized authority in computing technology and data management for clinical and anatomic pathology laboratories and hospital environments. Todd brings decades of experience helping laboratories manage, secure, and validate complex digital records across the full data lifecycle. As an industry leader in laboratory data environments, he also offers a personal perspective. As a quadriplegic, Todd has leveraged technology not only to advance laboratory operations, but to overcome physical limitations and drive innovation.