Kunal Sharma, Vice President and Head-Integrated Onco-Pathology at Agilus Diagnostics, shared on LinkedIn:
“Grateful and honoured to feature in this year’s ‘Power List 2026’ by The Pathologist. It is a profound privilege to be recognized by such a renowned platform, standing alongside 50 ‘Leading Voices‘ shortlisted by the judges from across five continents and diverse disciplines of laboratory medicine, encompassing all career stages.
To build this year’s list, the editors asked each of us a defining question: What is the biggest challenge facing your specialty right now, and how are you addressing it through your leadership?
My answer focused on the urgent need for accessibility and integration. Today, we are caught between the growing need of precision diagnostics and a troubling shortage of skilled specialists, a gap further complicated by the growth of siloed specialty laboratories with fragmented services without adequate cross-disciplinary collaboration leading to incomplete clinical insights.
Also, the herd driven urge to be out there early to capture market share, without extensive validations and quality processes can lead to inaccurate results.
I shared our ongoing mission to build truly integrated onco-pathology programs where combining morphological diagnosis, cytogenetics and molecular testing delivers a holistic and complete report. Empowering this with global digital pathology networks and AI algorithms-we are actively bridging the gap caused by shortage of specialists and logistical challenges.
Whether a case originates from a tertiary center or a remote village, our guiding principle remains the same: *Every tissue block represents a patient, not merely a sample*
Training programs which upskill our existing pathology workforce and the growing seminal role of pathology in cancer management, aim towards more trained specialists and attract talent.
‘Vision for the future: My goal is to help transform oncology diagnostics from a fragmented and subjective practice into a more standardised, AI-supported, and accessible discipline. By prioritising integrated care and carefully validated technology, I hope to make precision diagnostics available to more patients, regardless of location.’
Congratulations to my remarkable co-honorees who are shaping the future of our profession. The features are incredibly inspiring and completely worth your time. You can see the full list here and read my complete interview here.”
You can also read: Kunal Sharma։ The Role of Digital Pathology and Artificial Intelligence in Today’s Era.