August 31, 2026
Transcript
Nancy Johnson
Welcome to Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Monday, August 31st. What happens when pathology goes viral? We'll explore the specialty entering its TikTok era. Then we'll preview a few of the stories we're reporting this week with expert insights from CAP members.
Nancy Johnson
But first in today's story, the use of hashtags pathology and pathologist is increasing on TikTok, which has over 1 billion users. Dr. Meredith Herman, a fourth-year pathology resident at the University of Michigan, got active on TikTok in her final year of medical school. When she has free time, she posts about painting and pathology.
Dr. Meredith Herman
For me, the ones that I think have been most popular are the ones that are authentic. So I find the videos that take the least amount of time and thought perform the best. The ones that I spend a ton of time on don't get as many views. So TikTok is a platform where it has to be raw and authentic in that way. It can't be overly rehearsed.
Nancy Johnson
In a study for the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, a team of pathologists, including Dr. Herman and Dr. Kamran Mirza, analyzed 105 English language TikTok videos about pathology over a 72-hour period.
Dr. Kamran Mirza
Yeah, so I think that in many ways we went searching probably for misinformation. I think that that's what we went searching for, and what we found was reassuring in many ways. So I think that the, you know, in the cross-section of the study that we did, uh, you know, the question really became, what is pathology TikTok telling people? And the reassuring finding was that the pathology community is really getting it right.
Nancy Johnson
Pathologists are up against misconceptions about the specialty, and now there's an opportunity to bust those myths.
Dr. Kamran Mirza
The typical generalization of what a pathologist does or who a pathologist is or how much regret pathologists have. That's still there. You know what I mean? And once those things go out there, it's very difficult to control because they have like a um, you know, they have an effect where it just keeps growing and growing, and then people keep referring to the same things. So Meredith and I have uh made it our personal mission to make sure that we uh we, you know, create content and do the things needed so that all of those things are put to rest.
Nancy Johnson
Dr. Kamran Mirza is a hematopathologist at the University of Michigan who creates TikTok content that helps patients understand their diagnoses.
Dr. Kamran Mirza
It might be that I make a video about chronic myeloid leukemia and someone who's a user, uh, their parent got diagnosed with CML, right? And and then they'll get that information and we can then um show people where the resources are, right? We can say, hey, go to the CAP website or go to this website where the content is, you know, scientifically proven to be accurate, right? And so I think that that is very powerful.
Dr. Meredith Herman
I try to showcase a day in the life, what it actually looks like under the microscope, and I'll try to answer questions from students that I get. Sometimes I get multiple questions in a week from the same, you know, from medical students. And so I'll make a video addressing that question so I can just share the link with everyone who asks from there on forward.
Nancy Johnson
They encourage pathologists to get active on social media.
Dr. Meredith Herman
We can't continue to hide behind our microscope. We can't continue to hide behind all the machinery in the laboratory and just expect people to understand us. We have to be vocal, we have to be visible, and we have to be personable. And this is just one of the ways of many ways to go about doing this. So you don't have to do a silly dance. We're not asking for uh for dancing. You know, you can you can make as many TikToks and whatever content you want, and it can be totally random and funny, and it can be as long as three seconds long to three minutes long. Um, it is a great way to get the word out there and share your story.
Dr. Kamran Mirza
I completely agree. You know, I mean the common thinking is that oh, doctors should stay off TikTok. And I think that in some ways that's backwards, right? If millions of people are going to TikTok to understand health and medicine, the answer cannot be that the people who actually understand health and medicine are going off of it, right?
Nancy Johnson
Dr. Mirza and Dr. Herman emphasize that pathologist participation should come with professionalism, transparency, and respect for patient privacy. They're offering medical information, not medical advice on social media. Be sure to follow both of them on TikTok.
Dr. Kamran Mirza
Happy International Pathology Day, everybody. What an incredible day today is.
Nancy Johnson
Now, here are more stories that the team is working on this week. We'll highlight several new proficiency testing programs designed to help laboratories deliver reliable results and support better patient care. Can better data lead to better cancer care? The CAP 26 Cancer Data Summit will show how pathology data and AI are helping shape the future of diagnosis, research, and treatment. We'll talk to Dr. Mark Tuthill of Henry Ford Health about what to expect at this gathering of oncology, surgery, industry, and informatics leaders. And if you're curious about the CAP's annual meeting but have never attended, catch our interview this week with members who were newbies to the conference. Hear from them about why you should join us in Las Vegas in October. That does it for the daily edition. Share this newscast with your social media network. And if you're watching this video on YouTube, hit the like button and leave us a comment. And if you've got a story that we should be covering, write to us at stories @CAP.org. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a wonderful day.