3 Questions with Constantine Kanakis, MD, MSc, MLS(ASCP)CM

As a child, Constantine Kanakis, MD, MSc, MLS(ASCP)^CM, lost his younger brother to a year-long battle with a very complex case of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. He grew up with hematopathology textbooks and says he has been enamored with the beauty and meaning behind the cells that live and work in our marrow and lymphoid tissues. This experience sparked a lifelong passion for a career in medicine, and Dr. Kanakis, a Fellow in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine at Northwestern Medicine, always thought he would end up a clinical hematologist. But after he found himself in graduate school for medical laboratory science and worked at the bench for a few years, he realized what a career in medicine would look like. And after so many years in the lab, he says, “There was nothing else I could be besides a pathologist.” 

Here, Dr. Kanakis shares his insight on patient care, the legacy he’d like to leave, and more, in this edition of 3 Questions with (and a bonus!).  

As a pathologist, you have a unique perspective on disease diagnosis and patient care. How do you approach the responsibility of delivering accurate and timely diagnoses, knowing they have a significant impact on patient outcomes? 

I take my role in the continuum of medical care very seriously. It’s a true privilege to be the one that provides answers to both clinicians and patients. I often tell people that the insights we provide from a histologic slide, a laboratory test, or the impacts of a transfused product can drastically change someone’s life—often for the better. Every one of those specimens, slides, and reports represent real people and our responsibility as pathologists is to make sure that the fabric of diagnostic medicine is reliable, accessible, and equitable in our providing accurate results and positive outcomes. My journey as a laboratory professional and now pathologist has shown me the impacts of our work from the bench to the bedside and back, and I try to make sure that everyone is aware of our significant contributions to medical care. 

Pathology can involve challenging cases and emotionally charged situations. How do you handle the emotional aspects of your work, such as delivering difficult diagnoses or dealing with patient outcomes? 

Every time I’m involved in a difficult or heavy diagnostic case, I remember the struggles my family had going from expert to expert across multiple institutions. On the one hand, if my contributions to patients’ care can be delivered accurately, effectively, and with comprehensive information I feel that I add to the swift management and best outcome they might have. On the other hand, when dealing with patients more directly in settings like trauma or apheresis, I remember to be driven by compassion paired with knowledge to make sure their care is maintained at the highest standards. I do all of this because that’s exactly what I hope for as a patient myself; someone who provides care with compassion, integrity, expertise, enthusiasm, and respect. 

How did you first get involved with ASCP? What (or perhaps who) pushed you to become a volunteer? 

I first joined ASCP as soon as I was a board-certified medical laboratory scientist. I was taught that membership in professional societies is a great resource for a growing career. Just around a year into my first job after becoming an MLS, I was nominated and won a regional member of the year award! I was sponsored by my colleagues at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago (Susan Dawson, Tony Ocasio, and Allen Thompson) where I then got to attend my first annual meeting in 2015 in Long Beach. There I met Dr. Blair Holladay, Jeff Jacobs, Dr. William Finn, Rex Famitangco, and more of the most welcoming, supportive folks I have yet to meet anywhere else. Rex introduced me to Kelly Swails, and I started writing and volunteering for a variety of outlets, committees, and efforts. Fast forward to today, I can’t count how many folks both I work with and receive support from at every step of my career! 

What do you hope to leave as your legacy in the laboratory?  

One might say it’s a little early in my career to consider questions about legacy, but it’s an important exercise. My work as a physician, scientist, educator, mentor, advocate, and communicator is constant. I am deeply committed to my field and find inspiration in the stories that make our work as unique as they are steadfast. I’m also continuously grateful to find myself sitting on committees, writing and contributing to the advancement of our profession, or even doing the daily work of a pathologist. Teaching cohorts of future medical laboratory scientists and physicians is fulfilling, and being a part of improving healthcare bit by bit makes every late night worthwhile. If my passion for these activities continues—which I hope it will—I truly wish my legacy in the laboratory is one of excitement, compassion, and innovation. I teach my students to “ask why,” to learn by doing, and to share insights both to the students that follow them and the mentors they work with. I hope my work will be part of a long history of making our members proud of our profession, making the general public grow to appreciate our vital work, and making all the aspects of care pathology and laboratory medicine intersect with that much better.