Informatics ResearchThe Division of Pathology Informatics has established a unique research environment for fellows, graduate students, engineers and residents. Some of our established areas of research include: Clinical Imaging: The Division of Pathology Informatics has established a robust clinical imaging system for pathology. The system has a client/server architecture and is integrated with the LIS and a central image database. All pathologists and residents have image display stations on the desktop, and image capture stations are available at all gross rooms and sign out areas. This system has been OEMed to a major LIS vendor (CoPath) and will be available commercially in the near future. This unique system allows residents, graduate students and fellows to study and guide the implementation of imaging in pathology. Active areas of research include imaging workflows, the utility of enterprise wide pathology imaging, the value of image enhanced reports, and the use of an image enhanced LIS system in integrating a geographically dispersed department. Telepathology: The Division of Pathology Informatics has a working telepathology laboratory to study the practice of "pathology at a distance". A variety of systems are supported including an image enhanced LIS fat client, web based thin client, java based client - server system, robotic microscopy and a virtual slide system using FlashPix. The Division has active clinical operations within the local UPMC network, rural Pennsylvania hospitals, UPMC hospitals overseas as well as academic medical centers in North America, Europe and Japan. Active areas of research include design of systems, workflow issues, systems integration, and clinical guidelines. Machine Vision in Histology: The machine vision group is a collaboration between the Division of Pathology Informatics and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. The group is doing active research in three main areas. High End Imaging: This group examines the technical capabilities of lenses, CCDs, cameras, capture cards and other components to determine ideal pathology imaging system for both human and machine viewing. Image Libraries: Dedicated to developing systems that can store, index and appropriately display ../images from large (>100,000) image databases. Work includes mechanisms for text-based indexing as well as automatic indexing of ../images on the basis of the image content itself. Automated Diagnosis: Closely associated with the Image Libraries project, the automated diagnosis project aims to develop working systems and algorithms to assist pathologists in making morphologic diagnoses. Working systems are currently dedicated to prostate diagnosis and Gleason grading. Enhanced Reporting and Clinical Consultation: This newly formed group studies the ways pathology web sites, in conjunction with the pathology report, can be used to improve the quality of care. Areas of active research include structured reporting in pathology, the development of subspecialty web sites for clinician and patient use, the development of integrated AP/CP/molecular reports, and the development of pathology data warehouses and datamarts. A potential area of great interest is the utility of direct pathologist-to-patient interaction. The Division also has work progressing on several other fronts, including: Online pathology services including a searchable case database, CME, online journals and a transplant pathology site Medical lexicon based image indexing and management. Since its inception in late 1994, the Division has produced a significant body of articles, abstracts and invited presentations in Medical Informatics.