A reference lab revolution - Episode 3
What Zoetis Reference Laboratories is doing differently to change the industry
Zoetis' approach to building a disruptor in the reference laboratory space
Content sponsored by Zoetis
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Well, welcome back and we're gonna chat a little bit about the offerings that the whitest reference labs has for its CBC components. And joining us is our wonderful friend, Dr. Laura Brandt. How are you my friend? I'm good. Good to see you. Of course, I'm ready to learn. So to those of you that may not know who Dr. Brandt is a little bit of information about her she completed veterinary school at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in 2006. She then completed a small animal internship followed by a year of clinical practice as an emergency clinician in the Chicagoland area. Dr. Brandt went on to pursue a clinical pathology residency at Colorado State University. Simultaneously she obtained a master's degree in microbiology. Upon completion of her residency in 2011, Dr. Brandt took a position with ripples veterinary, a commercial diagnostics laboratory in New Zealand. After a few years down under it was time to return stateside and Laura obtained and instructorship at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. For the next few years. Laura made her home in the Denver Metro area, launching and overseeing the Ethos Diagnostic Science Denver Laboratory with the acquisition of Ethos Diagnostic Science by Zoetis Reference Labs, Laura, excuse me, Laura joined Zoetis in spring 2020. She was appointed director of cytopathology for ZRL in October 2020, becoming manager to an amazing group of clinical pathologist in 2022. Her role has expanded into Director of Clinical Pathology, taking a more formal role in the day-to-day core laboratory functions. She is passionate about educating her veterinary colleagues and contributing to the advancement of veterinary medicine and animal welfare. Outside of work, Dr. Brandt enjoys working on her 120-year-old Victorian home with her fiance Jeff walking her terrier, Jasper, and cooking dinner with friends and family live music hiking and traveling. Wow, that keeps you busy. Okay, so let's get into it. So, Dr. Brandt, you oversee the Clinical Pathology team for the Zoetis Reference Lab. So during the introduction, we learned a little bit about ZRL in revolutionising their offerings. Could you share with me and what your team is doing differently to change the industry?
Laura Brandt, DVM, MS, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): Yeah, And I heard is there a term called a path pod? What is this? We have an absolutely amazing group of pathologists and I manage personally, the clinical pathology group. It's just it's a team of real go getters. They really want to interact with customers. And we've really made them accessible to customers. So one of the things that through the ZoetisDx, our customers can access the pathologist information directly. You don't have to call customer service, you can just get in straight to the pathologist who's read your report and have that interaction. Our goal being to really bring that pathologist into your practice and really make them feel like they are part of what you're doing day to day on the clinic floor. We also have kept our caseload because we really want our pathologists to have time for these interactions. And we want them to have time dedicated to these cases. Right? So we don't want them rushing around trying to get through so many cases that they're overwhelmed and not giving the attention to your patients case. Yeah, so that's another thing where we've actually, I think it happens very, very organically with other groups. But for us, we really formalize the process. And we have folks kind of divided up by region by timezone, and they're in a communication pot all day long. And it's part of their job to interact with each other in these pots. So it's not everyone's expected to participate. Everyone actually loves participating. They've learned so much from each other. And it just really rounds out a pathology report, because you can instantly get a second third, fourth opinion in real time while you're working on the case.
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Yeah, talk about collaboration.
