Anthony Killeen’s career highlights the rise of data science in laboratory medicine

If you ask the University’s Google Gemini “What is the ADLM?” the response is straightforward: “The acronym ADLM most commonly refers to the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine.  Formerly known as the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), this global scientific organization rebranded in mid-2023 to reflect the broader scope of modern diagnostic and clinical laboratory testing.”

Who better to comment on the rollout of ADLM’s new Data Science in Laboratory Medicine Certificate Program than LMP’s Anthony Killeen?  Elected president of the AACC, now ADLM, for the 2024-25 term, Killeen is currently serving as past-president for 2025-26 term.  He became LMP emeritus professor last month. 

“It was a great privilege to train at Minnesota and later join the faculty,” Killeen said. “When I came here the Chair was Dr. Ellis Benson who was a giant in the field of Laboratory Medicine. It's been amazing to continue that legacy in this Department and to work together with colleagues who are equally passionate about the field. Laboratory Medicine has been at the forefront of biomedical progress for a long time, and there has never been a more exciting time to enter the field.”

Laboratory medicine with its focus on diagnostic testing is a particularly data-intensive field of pathology.  The late LMP professor Donald Connelly was a pioneer in advancing clinical testing database development, web-based laboratory reporting, and clinical workflow. Now the laboratory medicine and data science nexus is entering a new era, and Killeen, who earned an M.S. degree in Evidence-Based Health Care (Medical Statistics) from the Oxford University in 2021, has ideas.   

In an ADLM interview earlier this year, Killeen was asked about how data science became one of his areas of expertise, how his lab uses data science to improve testing and patient care, and the hurdles data science may face in the coming years.  “We’re at the beginning of a big wave of data science applications in lab medicine,” he said.  “If you have the right tools, you can take millions of numbers and extract a story out of them.  It’s really exciting.”

Killeen came to the University in 1985 following residency training in internal medicine and a rotating internship in medicine and surgery at University Hospital in Galway, Ireland.  He received an MBBCh degree from Galway in 1983, earned a PhD degree in pathobiology from the University in 1990, and completed a fellowship in chemical pathology in 1991.   

After spending a decade at the University of Michigan, he returned to LMP as an associate professor in 2002 and was appointed Director of Clinical Laboratories at M Health Fairview.   In 2013, he was promoted to full professor and made LMP Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs.  In 2017, he was appointed Ellis S. Benson Professor.  Benson was the first department head of the merged departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.

In 2010, Killeen was appointed director of LMP’s Advanced Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.   ARDL is a central clinical laboratory for many NIH-funded clinical trials.  While directing ARDL, Killeen was PI of the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial.  SPRINT was an NIH-funded multi-center, randomized clinical trial designed to show whether a treatment program aimed at reducing systolic blood pressure to a lower goal than recommended level would reduce cardiovascular disease risk.  Nearly 10,000 research subjects were enrolled in the seven-year study, which ran from 2010 to 2018.  SPRINT demonstrated the effectiveness of treating systolic blood pressure to levels well below those previously recommended in United States and European blood pressure guidelines.  Through analysis of the subject’s blood plasma, serum, and urine, SPRINT showed the risks and benefits of intensive blood pressure treatment targets in a range of high-risk participants including those with prior cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and those age 75 years or older. 

Through these positions and experiences, his scientific and clinical prowess, and his innate creative insights in how to improve organizational performance, Killeen acquired a national and, indeed, international profile in clinical chemistry and laboratory diagnostics. 

Data science and analytics are critical for bringing the results of advances in molecular pathology to clinical testing in an optimal way.  Killeen published a book entitled Principles of Molecular Pathology in 2003 just as the NIH announced the completion of the Human Genome Project.   

It should be no surprise, then, that Killeen was one of the founding members of the Association for Molecular Pathology in 1995, as noted in an AMP article “30 Years of Innovation” published last year.  Today, AMP has an international reach with more than 3,000 members in 50 countries including pathologists, technologists, laboratory directors, and trainees from academic and community medical centers, government, and industry.

It is said that the Irish are particularly fond of journeys.  Killeen’s journey from Galway to the apex of laboratory medicine in an era when that discipline is transforming clinical practice worldwide is extraordinary.  When ADLM asked him what advice he would give to lab professionals looking to get started in data science, his answer reflected his own experience.  “Jump in and do it,” he said.  “If you work in lab medicine, now is the time to start your journey.”