Ever since Aperio began, we've had two main challenges.  The first is obvious for any young business, we've had to build products and provide services to meet the needs of our customers.  And over the past seven years we've done our best, and have grown significantly as a result.  But the second is less obvious but equally important, we've had to create awareness of digital pathology and its benefits.

Over the past year, and especially in the past few months, the general awareness of digital pathology (and Aperio) really seems to have grown.  It has gone from a niche subject in a corner of pathology to a primary area of discussion; most pathologists now feel that digital pathology is the future of their field.  Evidence for this comes from all sides, and it is nice to see Aperio covered in major business press like NBR.  But it is perhaps even more significant to see grass roots mentions like Dr.Yang's MedBlog, in China, or Dr. Bhargava's MedSpin, in India.  And more and more we are seeing hospitals purchase digital pathology systems and feature them as new technology, such as this mention on Rhode Island's Hospital website.

An effort like this is never done, but it is gratifying to see this kind of progress.  Slowly but surely digital pathology is becoming mainstream, joining digital radiology as a major medical imaging modality.  Very cool.