Investing in tomorrow: how Unilabs is building the future of diagnostics

Each year at Unilabs, around 20 young healthcare professionals begin specialist or subspecialist training programmes. These programmes, which attract ambitious individuals from diverse backgrounds, are designed to support the rising demand for high-quality diagnostic services, while helping to strengthen the future healthcare workforce.

Selection is based on both qualifications and personal interviews, ensuring candidates are well suited to the demands of specialist training. The result is a pipeline of future specialists who gain exposure to advanced diagnostics while developing the skills required to support patients and clinicians in increasingly complex healthcare environments.

Expertise, mentorship and hands-on experience

While the training programmes vary across countries and specialties, they share a common principle: learning through close collaboration with experienced professionals.

In Sweden, trainees follow national specialist training requirements under a structured programme supported by dedicated mentors and supervisors. Medical Director Sweden at Unilabs Sweden, Dr Barbara Usener, says each trainee receives a personalised development plan designed to ensure they gain experience across all mandatory competencies. "Everybody at the laboratory or radiology centre is involved in educating and working with young colleagues, especially senior doctors and senior technicians and nurses."

Training programmes in the Netherlands primarily focus on clinical chemistry training, delivered in close partnership with affiliated teaching hospitals. As well as accepting medical doctors, the Netherlands’ training pathway is also open to biomedical scientists who, in collaboration with teaching hospitals, can be trained as laboratory medicine specialists. Medical Director at Unilabs Netherlands, Dr Claudia Pronk, says the training programmes themselves are subject to regular external review and accreditation. “In the Netherlands, the training team and training environment are periodically assessed through a formal visitation process, and, when the required standards are met, the programme receives accreditation for a five-year period.”

Unilabs also offers fellowships in subspecialties, such as haematology and molecular medical microbiology, alongside shorter placements for residents in internal medicine who wish to gain experience in diagnostic disciplines.

From trainee to trusted specialist

The journey from entry into a programme to independent specialist practice typically takes around five years. Dr Pronk, says, during that time, trainees progress from observation and supervised learning, to taking responsibility for complex diagnostic decisions. "As their training advances, they become increasingly independent and play an active role in maintaining quality of care, supporting clinicians and contributing to innovation and optimisation of diagnostic processes. Trainees are therefore an essential part of the organisation while simultaneously developing their competencies.”

Training often includes placements at external institutions to gain experience in specialised areas, participation in research projects, attendance at advanced courses and opportunities to develop teaching skills. By the end of the programme, they are equipped to work as certified specialists.

Preparing specialists for the future of diagnostics

Throughout their training, Unilabs trainees work with advanced diagnostic platforms and emerging technologies. They participate in implementing and validating new assays, gain experience in advanced molecular diagnostics, support quality improvement initiatives and contribute to laboratory digitalisation and automation projects. This exposure helps ensure specialists are prepared for the innovations that will define healthcare in the years ahead.

These specialist training programmes also play an important role in addressing workforce shortages across diagnostic medicine. Medical Director at Unilabs Switzerland, Dr Alain Mayer, says in some markets, where the shortage of qualified specialists is particularly acute, developing talent internally has become one of the most effective ways to secure future expertise. The strategy is proving successful; many trainees choose to continue their careers with Unilabs after completing their certification, helping maintain continuity of expertise while supporting long-term workforce planning.

By combining expert mentorship, hands-on clinical experience and exposure to the latest diagnostic technologies, Unilabs is helping to develop the specialists who will support healthcare systems for decades to come.

Unilabs Academy

In addition to hands-on specialist training programmes, the Unilabs Academy brings together our world-class medical education programmes, helping healthcare professionals across our organisation deepen their expertise through fellowships, webinars, hands-on simulation and Continuing Medical Education (CME)-accredited training. Find out more at https://academy.unilabs.com/