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About the Pathology Education Consortium (PEC)

Pathology Education Consortium (PEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit company, founded in 2003. incorporated in Michigan, and with its administrative office located in Toledo, Ohio. The mission of PEC is to develop educational conferences and other resources in pathology and lab medicine. PEC has a special interest and expertise in pathology informatics so its first educational offering was the Lab InfoTech Summit, launched in Las Vegas at the Venetian Resort Hotel in March, 2004. This initial effort met with success and was supported by 175 paid registrants and 27 exhibitors. The predecessor conference to Lab InfoTech Summit was Automated Information Management in the Clinical Laboratory (AIMCL) which was offered in Ann Arbor under the auspices of the University of Michigan Medical School and the Department of Pathology for 21 years beginning in 1983. At the present time, Lab InfoTech Summit is the major educational offering of PEC but additional forums and meetings are under active consideration and will be described on this web site as they evolve.

Corporate officers of PEC are Bruce A. Friedman, M.D., President; Michael J. Becich, M.D., Ph.D., Vice-President; and F. Michael Walsh, M.D., Treasurer. Here are brief biographies of them:

Michael J. Becich, MD, PhD:
Director, Benedum Oncology Informatics Center, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; Professor of Pathology, Division of Cellular and Molecular Pathology; Vice Chair of Pathology Informatics; Professor of Information Sciences and Telecommunications, School of Information Sciences and Telecommunication, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Past- President and Founding Member, Association for Pathology Informatics.

Dr. Becich is one of the preeminent pathology informaticians in the country. He received both his M.D. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1984 and completed his residency in anatomic pathology at Washington University, St. Louis, in 1989. He joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1991. He is the author or co-author of some 90 publications in medical journals plus numerous book chapters. He is the founder of the APIII pathology informatics conference held annually in the Fall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is now in its ninth year. APIII has recently provided a special focus on oncology informatics, a new field of inquiry that has emerged largely through the efforts of Dr. Becich.

Bruce A. Friedman, MD:
Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Director of Pathology Data Systems, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Health System; Past- President and Founding Member, Association for Pathology Informatics.

Like Dr. Becich, Dr. Friedman has specialized in pathology informatics and has been active in the field since 1982. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residence in pathology at the same institution, finishing in 1971. He has been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Pathology, since 1973. He is the author or co-author of some 70 scientific papers and multiple book chapters, largely in pathology informatics during the last two decades. He was the founder of the AIMCL conference on pathology informatics, which was initiated in Ann Arbor in 1983. He coined the term “pathology informatics” in the literature 15 years ago. He is a well-known speaker in the field of pathology informatics, both in the US and abroad, and also serves as a consultant in the field to multiple companies in the same area.

F. Michael Walsh, MD, MBA:

Chairman of the Department of Laboratory Medicine; ProMedica Health Systems, Toledo, Ohio; Medical Director of ProMedica Laboratories; President of Consultants in Laboratory Medicine, Consultants in Medical Billing, Consultants in Logistics, Consultants in Diagnostic Medicine, and ML Diagnostics, all in Toledo, Ohio.

Dr. Walsh is a graduate of The Medical College of Wisconsin with highest distinction. He trained in pathology at The National Naval Medical Center and The National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Walsh served as a White House Fellow in the Ford Administration. His career includes stints in investment banking and venture capital where he worked in the New York Metropolitan area and as Vice President of Operations and Medical Director of MetPath (now Quest Diagnostics) in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. He is a Distinguished Fellow of The American College of Physician Executives and a Fellow of The College of American Pathologists and The American Society of Clinical Pathologists. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and a Clinical Professor of Pathology at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo.

Please use the contact information for inquiries to PEC:

Pathology Education Consortium (PEC)
3170 West Central Avenue
Toledo, Ohio 43606
Tel: 419-534-3251
Email: vhilty@clm-pml.com