Laboratory Medicine Program

Laboratory medicine plays an integral role in the delivery of quality patient care at the University Health Network. Doctors rely on medical laboratory professionals to provide vital information on patient health – up to 85 per cent of decisions about diagnosis and treatment are based on lab test results.

Each year, the Laboratory Medicine Program (LMP) at UHN performs over 12 million tests for the Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and the Princess Margaret Hospital and other health care centres across the province. More than 400 staff members are dedicated to providing the most advanced and highest quality laboratory services as well as supporting new and innovative approaches in laboratory medicine. These approaches include state-of-the-art molecular genetics, histocompatibility testing and the UHN telepathology system, which enables pathologists to diagnose patient slides over the Internet. Within seconds, the system transmits digitalized whole samples from physicians in rural and northern hospitals to specialized pathologists at UHN, enabling fast and accurate diagnosis to all Ontario patients regardless of where they live.

Dr. Danny Ghazarian, UHN pathologist, uses telepathology system to diagnose a patient slide

The Laboratory Medicine Program provides academic, service and reference testing leadership in all of our laboratory divisions:

Clinical Biochemistry: Study of chemical components including hormones and drugs in blood and body fluids.

Hematology: Study of blood clotting mechanisms and blood and bone marrow disorders, such as anemia and leukemia.

Clinical Microbiology: Study of bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites that invade the body and cause diseases such as SARS and West Nile Virus.

Pathology: Study of tissue and cells for the detection of disease, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

[back to top]