On Monday 27 April 2026, the College welcomed 100 stakeholders from across diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries, government, trade associations our membership for a one-day event that aimed to support delivery of our corporate engagement strategy. The event programme combined speaker-led talks, audience Q&A, and breakout group discissions and offered a unique opportunity for representatives from the corporate sector to share insights and exchange knowledge with RCPath Fellows, other professional bodies and government. 

 

Ministerial address

We were delighted to open the event with speeches from that Dr Zubir Ahmed MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, and Dr Rhydian Phillips, Director of Diagnostics & Transport, NHS England. Minister Ahmed spoke (in a recorded video message) of his personal experience of working closely with pathologists and scientists across a range of specialties in his role as a transplant and vascular surgeon. He also acknowledged key challenges facing pathology, including lack of modern IT infrastructure. He spoke of the Government’s pledge to implement the ‘shift from analogue to digital’ in consultation with health professionals. Minister Ahmed gave examples of medical innovations that are being evaluated by NICE to support the analogue to digital shift – capsule sponge tests to detect oesophageal cancer and AI tools for identifying prostate and breast cancer. 

 

Keynote address

Dr Rhydian Phillips from NHS England presented a talk entitled ‘Transforming Pathology: Delivering for Patients, Enabling the NHS’ in which he shared NHS England’s delivery approach to transforming diagnostics. Dr Phillips spoke of 5 priority areas for NHS pathology between 2026 and 2030: delivering performance improvement, improving patient access for different care models, supporting system resilience, supporting digital innovation, and improving pathology network effectiveness. A follow-up meeting between senior College staff and Trustees and Rhydian’s team is planned to discuss how the College can input to NHS England’s transformation work. 

 

Speaker sessions

After a coffee break, delegates then heard from Helen Dent, CEO of BIVDA, who spoke about the Life Sciences Sector Plan, highlighting the key objectives of the plan, published last year, and the barriers to growth in relevant areas. Helen shared her thoughts on the importance of pathology networks and services as enablers in achieving the goals set out in the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan, and the NHS England 10 Year Health Plan, and called for more collaboration between pathology networks and industry. 

Delegates then heard from representatives from 2 of our corporate members, Roche Diagnostics and MSD-UK. Matt Johnson, Director of Innovation and Access at Roche Diagnostics talked through the partnership work they have done with the College over the last couple of years including educational webinars, and how this is being built upon to co-develop a white paper aimed at government. Two speakers from MSD-UK, Dr Amir Sharili, Precision Medicine Lead, Oncology and Rachel Dixon, Associate Director, Oncology Policy and Communication, then shared information about the joint activities they are developing with the RCPath, including a roundtable discussion event on biomarkers this September. 

The next speaker, Ravi Chana, Executive Director, Diagnostics, at ABHI, presented a summary of the NHS Cancer Plan, and explored areas where industry and pathology professionals could collaborate to help achieve the objectives of the plan. 

The final speaker of the morning was Dr Andy Clarke, who shared some research he had conducted across Yorkshire NHS Trusts on productivity in histopathology.

 

Networking and breakout discussions 

The networking lunch gave delegates time to make new contacts and discuss and reflect on topics covered during the morning. Each attendee then joined one of 6 breakout group discussions, which explored possible ways industry and the profession could align and work together in the following areas: 

1.    IT interoperability
2.    Digital pathology and AI
3.    Genomic cancer testing
4.    Academic pathology and research
5.    RCPath conference event being planned for 2028
6.    Productivity in histopathology.

Facilitated by both RCPath fellows and external stakeholders, the sessions aimed to give representatives from different sectors the opportunity to put forward their views on the various topic areas and to identify areas of alignment between industry and the profession that the College can take forward/support.

Key points that had been discussed/ agreed during these sessions were then shared with the rest of the delegates in a feedback session back in the main conference room. This was chaired by Professor Peter Johnston, Vice President for Workforce and Corporate Engagement.

Professor Sarah Coupland, RCPath Registrar and President-elect, then gave a summary of key points and areas of commonality between the various discussion groups. RCPath President, Dr Bernie Croal, closed proceedings by thanking all speakers and delegates and acknowledging the College’s gratitude to our 9 corporate members. 

What happens next? 

The College team will now use notes from each of the breakout discussions held at this event to produce a report of the event and to identify key actions we can take forward in partnership with industry and other stakeholders. 

Thank you to all who were involved in our Industry Leaders’ Forum event. We’ve received many positive comments from delegates including:

"Great day, great agenda, great networking, thank you’ and ‘Great event yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed it, well organised and managed throughout."

Our aim is to use the 2026 Forum event as a springboard to expand and build on our corporate engagement programme of activities, including educational and advocacy initiatives, and to foster new partnerships and collaborations that support improvements to patient care.