Role

Product Design Intern

Team

Slide Viewer Squad

Platform

Web Platform

Timeframe

12 weeks (Summer 2022)

Overview

During the Summer of 2022, I interned at PathAI as a Product Designer on the Slide Viewer Squad. I designed and shipped a new collaboration tool on the Slide Viewer platform, helping 1200+ pathologists diagnose diseases with improved accuracy and faster turnaround times. On a high level, I went through a comprehensive design process that started with identifying user problems, defining product goals, generating ideas to align with these goals, conducting usability tests, and eventually designing the final feature as the project focus became more defined. This seems fairly standard, but the nature of a rapidly growing and fast moving company going through many cultural and organisational changes made for quite the experience. As an outcome, the successfully shipped feature in Q3 2022 addressed one of the biggest issues for pathologists.

In order to comply with my non-disclosure agreement and HIPAA, I have not included any proprietary information, precise research data, or PHI in this case study.
 

Setting up the Context

The Slide Viewer proposes a transition from traditional microscopy of glass slides to a digital approach where slides are converted to images and examined via our web platform. This platform provides pathologists with a diverse array of capabilities and features including precise magnification, image reorientation, cell measurements, and the power of AI-driven analysis, among others. Following the completion of the slide review, a report is automatically produced by the system.

The Problem

At the start of this project, I engaged with in-house pathologists who expressed there is a lack of an efficient way to consult with another pathologist for a second opinion when they're unsure about a diagnosis.They are forced to depend on less effective communication methods, like exchanging emails and sharing the accession number, which are time-consuming and disrupt workflow.

With such a length process, the delay in getting second opinions can considerably impact the timeline of diagnosis. In a profession where every minute matters, the lack of a streamlined consultation process can lead to significant repercussions. To address such operational inefficiencies and improve the diagnostic process, I worked with the Slide Viewer team to find a better solution.

How might we empower pathologists to efficiently collaborate, thereby improving the speed and quality of diagnosis?

The Solution

The proposed solution was a collaboration tool called Region Comments that allows pathologists to add comments or annotations to specific regions or areas of a digital slide, which they can then share via a link with other pathologists to facilitate consultation.

The tool equips the asking pathologists with the capability to create, edit, share, and delete region comments.

The consulting pathologist can respond to the consultation within the platform.

The Impact

After launching in Q3 2022 with our beta users, we noticed a significant jump in the number of cases signed out by a pathologist per day. Pathologists who did not have that level of specialty training could provide accurate and quality diagnosis in a much-shorter turn around time, thereby improving patient outcomes.

Overview of my contributions

• Strategy Alignment: Built an understanding of PathAI's clinical products, aligning with other teams to ensure the proposed solution is scalable across all verticals.
• Prototyping & Testing: Evaluated designs through user testing, stakeholder interviews, weekly design critique.
• Implementation: Collaborated with Engineering and PM on technical feasibility, implementation through design QA. 

Reflections

In retrospect, my summer at PathAI was both challenging and fulfilling, preparing me for the "real world". My manager and mentor gave me the nudges I needed to continue moving forward while also giving me the autonomy to do my own research, iterations, prototyping, and design feature presentation. A huge thanks to the whole Slide Viewer & Design team, especially Sandy Zhu, Jamie Harisiades, Riley Hunter, and my manager, Beckett Rucker. I am so grateful for the support and guidance from these talented individuals, and will continue to apply my learnings from PathAI to future projects! 

What I learnt

If I had to choose one word to characterize my summer, it would be "growth". It is crazy to think how much I have learned about design, the industry, and myself in just a short 12-week period over the summer, more so than in all my years of education combined. I'll segue that into a few major takeaways from my internship experience at PathAI:

• Be people proactive - No matter where you are, you can almost be certain that you will encounter people who are often eager to share their knowledge, give feedback, or engage in friendly conversations. Take advantage of this by being proactive. Some of my fondest and most memorable moments at PathAI were the one-on-one interactions I had with many individuals there. Continuously seek feedback and guidance, never hesitate to ask questions, and always stay curious.
• Embrace ambiguity - This was the most rigorous project I have ever worked on, and I am proud to have dedicated so much time, effort, and perseverance to it. The constant changes I faced pushed me to grow and develop during uncertain times, as I had to continuously adapt to new business and engineering demands in a fast-paced environment. Through this process, I gained valuable skills in navigating and thriving in ambiguous situations.
• Managing expectations - Make sure that the expectations you set are realistic and attainable. Having unrealistic expectations can lead to disappointment and frustration for both parties. For instance, there was a time when I knew I was stretched too thin to fulfill one of my mentor's requests, but I still agreed to do it. As a result, I produced subpar work that I wasn't entirely proud of, simply because I put too much pressure on myself. It's acceptable to push back at times, and most importantly frequently communicate to keep everyone aligned of any changes or updates.

Mayank was an intern that I had the pleasure of working with while he was at PathAI. He showed a tremendous eagerness to learn as he learned all the different hats one needs to wear when designing a product. He was able to lead user research sessions, pushed designs iteratively, and ended up delivering production ready files to engineering. The amount of growth he showed was impressive and he'll be a great designer for whichever team is lucky to have him next.

Sandy Zhu, Staff Product Designer at PathAI