Rajesh C. (Raj) Dash, MD, is Professor of Pathology at Duke University Health System, where he is Vice-Chair for Anatomic Pathology and Director of Surgical Pathology. He is board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology, cytopathology, and clinical informatics, and has been a member of the College of American Pathologists since 1995.
Raj combines a clinical career in pathology with a computer science background and more than 30 years of experience in clinical informatics, standards, and laboratory information systems. He is currently a member of the CAP Board of Governors.
Education and training
- BS, Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1991)
- MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago (1995)
- Residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Duke University Medical Center (1995–2000)
- Fellowship in Pathology Informatics, Duke University Medical Center (1998–2000)
- Fellowship in Cytopathology, Duke University Medical Center (2000–2001)
Duke University Health System
- Professor of Pathology (2016–present); Associate Professor (2012–2015); Assistant Professor (2001–2012)
- Vice-Chair for Anatomic Pathology and Director of Surgical Pathology (2025–present)
- Vice-Chair for Pathology IT (2014–present)
- Medical Director, Laboratory Information Systems (2007–present)
- Director for Laboratory Informatics Strategy, Office of the Chief Health Information Officer (2012–present)
- Program Director, Cytopathology Fellowship (2006–2014)
At Duke, Raj led the physician side of the health system’s enterprise-wide laboratory information system implementation, with go-lives across Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, and Duke Hospital in 2014. He also led the laboratory IT build for COVID-19 testing, the rapid release of results to patients under the 21st Century Cures Act, and a high-availability design for hundreds of instrument interfaces.
Working with community practice. As Vice-Chair for Anatomic Pathology, Raj works hand in hand with the community practice groups at Duke Regional, Duke Raleigh, and Duke Health Lake Norman. He helped lead the laboratory system go-lives at Duke Raleigh and Duke Regional and helped start the new practice at Duke Health Lake Norman, so he has built systems and practices for community settings, not only a tertiary center.
Service to the College of American Pathologists
Raj has served the College for three decades, beginning in the Residents Forum, which he later chaired. His CAP service includes:
Current roles
- Member, Board of Governors (2025–present)
- Chair, Council on Education
- Chair, Information Technology Leadership Committee
- Vice Chair, Council on Informatics and Pathology Innovation
- Vice Chair, Annual Meeting Strategy Execution Steering Committee
- Member, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, and Compensation Committee
- Outbound Liaison to the IHE Anatomic Pathology Domain and to SNOMED International
- Advisor, Artificial Intelligence Committee; Member, Informatics Committee
Earlier service
- Member, Board of Governors (2017–2020), and Vice Chair, Council on Scientific Affairs
- Chair, Artificial Intelligence Committee (2021–2024), and Chair of its Standards Project Team (2023–2024)
- Chair, Informatics Committee (2011–2017), and Chair, Clinical Informatics Steering Committee (2017)
- Vice Chair, Information Technology Leadership Committee (2019–2023)
- Board Liaison to the CAP Foundation Board (2019–2020)
- Chair, SNOMED International Standards Board (2006–2007)
- Representative of the CAP on the SHIELD steering committee for laboratory data harmonization (2023–present)
- Member of the Biorepository Accreditation Program Committee, the Personalized Health Care Committee, and the Nominating Committee
Standards and national service
- Planning Co-Chair, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Pathology and Laboratory Medicine domain (2013–present)
- Member, Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) Interoperability Standards Workgroup, on USCDI versions 4, 5, and 6 (2023–2025)
- Member, Office of the National Coordinator Health IT Standards Committee (2016–2017)
- Member, WHO ICD-11 Technical Advisory Group on Neoplasms (2010–2014)
- Director, CDC and CAP SNOMED CT specimen mapping project (2022)
- Member, American Board of Pathology Test Development and Advisory Committee for Management and Informatics (2025)
Honors
- Distinguished Service Award, College of American Pathologists (2021)
- Pathology Advancement Award, College of American Pathologists (2015)
- President’s Honors Award, College of American Pathologists (2003, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2020)
- Informatics Award, College of American Pathologists (1997)
- Outstanding Achievement Award, Cancer Bioinformatics Grid, National Cancer Institute (2007)
- Certificate of Appreciation, National Quality Forum (2005)
Scholarship
Raj has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and a book chapter, with a focus on pathology informatics, interoperability, and artificial intelligence. Recent work includes the IHE guideline for digital pathology interoperability, a CAP concept paper on evaluating machine learning in pathology, an introduction to generative AI for pathologists, and a chapter on standards in digital pathology. His research interests include fine needle aspiration cytology, breast pathology, structured reporting and medical terminology, and tissue banking informatics.
Beyond pathology
Professional relationships
In the interest of transparency, I note the following relationships. I have served on the advisory board of Leica Biosystems since 2018, and Leica compensates me for my time on certain activities. I previously served on the Sectra pathology PACS advisory board (2020–2025) and on the Epic Beaker pathology steering board (2018–2020), which were voluntary and unpaid. Some of these organizations have also covered my travel expenses.
MAW3, a laboratory information system I developed at Duke, was licensed to Trans4Matix for commercial use outside Duke. Trans4Matix has since been dissolved and never generated revenue.