Local experts shared their knowledge of pathology and its impact on healthcare. This final event in a series of free public Understanding Health talks aimed to shed light on different aspects of health.
Dr Anna Mantzouratou and Nathan BourneOn 4 June, expert speakers Nathan Bourne, Biomedical Scientist and Pathology Governance and Quality Manager at University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Anna Mantzouratou, Principal Academic in Human Genetics at Bournemouth University (BU) discussed the role pathology plays in healthcare.
Nathan Bourne spoke about the new Dorset Pathology Hub, the different laboratories and their purpose. He shared a video of Steve Hior’s patient experience which highlights how the hub provides a more personalised approach to healthcare.
Nathan BourneIn addition to this, he spoke about the digitalisation of pathology and the advances of artificial neural networks and machine learning (using artificial intelligence) for early detection and diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, helping shorten waiting times for diagnosis. Further advancements include using heat mapping (thermography) in Breast Cancer Screening to detect tumour tissue. He said, “We’re here to save lives, every sample there is a patient on the end of it, we’re here to support their journey through healthcare.”
Dr Anna Mantzouratou followed with her presentation ‘There is no one like you’. Her main area of research is looking at the genetics of early human embryos and gametes, and the genetics of antimicrobial resistance. She spoke about media coverage of artificial human cloning and genetic engineering (the modification of an organism’s genes using technology).
Additionally, she spoke about modern-day access to a wealth of information about our genes and ancestry through direct-to-consumer genetic testing and how genetic information can be used for health prognosis and treatment. Furthermore, she spoke about preimplantation genetic testing and how our genes as well as environmental factors can impact fertility.
She said, “The collaboration between University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and Bournemouth University is of mutual benefit. We need patients to conduct our research and find out what is needed. It also equips us with knowledge and understanding to train students to work in hospitals and healthcare environments. Education, training, and research will support developments in pathology.”
They concluded their presentation by answering a public question-and-answer session. They highlighted that the future of pathology will see more advanced databases and personalised data. Dr Anna Mantzouratou spoke of Genomics England’s work to analyse sequences of genomes from NHS patients with a rare disease and patients with cancer to use the data to help find causes of diseases.
You can watch the recording of this event and previous Understanding Health talks which discussed ‘Understanding Menopause’ and ‘Understanding Concussion in Sport and Practice’ on the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust website.
