Robert Michel
Until Robert L. Michel came along and founded The Dark Intelligence Group (DIG) two decades ago, the clinical laboratory industry and the anatomic pathology profession lacked a trustworthy source for information about the management and operations of medical laboratories. From its inception in 1995, The Dark Report quickly became the “go to” source of industry intelligence, innovations in lab management, and strategic market analysis.
This excellence in reporting has earned recognition from his peers. For example, twice Michel and The Dark Report have won national awards for best investigative reporting by the Specialty Information Publishers Association. In 2005, the award was for Michel’s coverage about how the anatomic pathology condominium laboratories (pod labs) operated by urologists and gastroenterologists came to be, who operated them, and how these owners marketed the AP condo labs to other physician groups. In 2009, Michel’s award for best investigative reporting resulted from his published interviews with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated when the company admitted that, for a period of 18 months, it had been reported inaccurate Vitamin 25(OH) D results because of problems with its laboratory-developed test methodology. The Dark Report’s story was picked up by The New York Times and was in the national news cycle for several days.
In his role as Editor-in-Chief, Michel brought unique capabilities to DIG and The Dark Report. His management training and diverse business experience—along with his skills as a concise writer and analyst—proved to be a winning combination for readers of The Dark Report. For that reason, Michel’s story has many intriguing elements.
Immediately prior to founding DIG, he had served in several executive positions for Nichols Institute based in Portland, Oregon, and San Juan Capistrano, California. This was during the time that Nichols Institute was an independent public lab company with annual revenues of about $280 million (prior to its acquisition by MetPath, Inc., now Quest Diagnostics Incorporated). He traveled extensively to many of the clinical lab business units owned by Nichols Institute in different regions of the United States and played a role in formulating effective market strategies in response to the emergence of closed-panel HMOs, capitated pricing, and full-risk managed care contracts, among other successful management initiatives.
Prior to his service at Nichols Institute, Michel served at three different Fortune 100 companies. These were Procter & Gamble, Centex Corporation, and Financial Corp. of America. Each was an opportunity to master new management techniques and apply them in different industries. Between these positions, he gained experience as an entrepreneur, having founded a real estate development firm and a general contracting company in the Southeastern United States.
Robert Michel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he played rugby, a sport he participated in for another 22 years. He is a native of California and grew up in Santa Ana.
Articles by Robert Michel
Several Laboratory Companies On Road to Public Stock Offering
ONE OF THE FEW PUBLIC STOCK OFFERINGS involving a lab testing company was completed last Wednesday. Exact Sciences, Inc., of Madison, Wisconsin sold $69 million worth of new shares to the public. Exact Sciences has proprietary diagnostic technology that it describes as “for noninv…
Whole Genome Sequencing: Is It Ready for Prime Time?
CEO Summary: Pathologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, in a collaboration with GenomeQuest, Inc., will produce whole human genome sequences of patient tumors and other specimens. These whole genome sequences will be studied to learn what diagn…
Aetna Sues LabCorp Over Lab Marketing Practices
CEO SUMMARY: Aetna, Inc., sued Laboratory Corporation of America in federal court, seeking injuctive relief for actions taken once LabCorp became an out-of-network laboratory provider for Aetna in July 2007. LabCorp is also accused of a “malicious scheme to continue to receive …
November 15, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
During this last election, a pathologist ran for the U.S. Senate, but his campaign did not draw much attention within the lab testing community. Pathologist Eric Wargotz, M.D., was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. His opponent was Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski, running fo…
“Primary-Care Pathology” One Goal at Beth Israel
CEO SUMMARY: In a pioneering collaboration, the pathology department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, will work with GenomeQuest, Inc., to perform whole genome sequencing of tumor specimens. GenomeQuest will handle sequencing, assembly, and annota…
Q3 Earnings Are Mixed Bag For the Two Blood Brothers
IF THERE IS A NOTABLE EVENT in the laboratory testing marketplace during 2010, it is that one of the nation’s billion-dollar lab testing behemoths has reported three consecutive quarters of declines in the number of test requisitions it handled, when compared to the same quarters during 2009. In t…
Growing Role for Digital Image Analysis in Pathology
CEO SUMMARY: For more than three years, pathologists at Washington University in St. Louis have worked with several different scanning products and digital pathology systems. Step-by-step, the Pathology Department has learned important lessons in how to capture digital images, ar…
Spate of Lab Informatics Deals Signals Greater Investor Interest
DURING OCTOBER, three laboratory informatics companies were acquired or obtained new capital funding. It is an indication of the growing importance that laboratory informatics will play as healthcare moves toward the goal of the universal patient health record (EHR). The first of the three transacti…
October 25, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Southern California’s always-crazy lab testing marketplace has a new laboratory competitor. In recent months, Richard Nicholson re-entered the business by acquiring West Pacific Medical Laboratory, based in Santa Fe Springs, California. He is assembling a team of experienced profes…
Lab Industry Unprepared For FDA Action on LDTs
CEO SUMMARY: News stories about the FDA’s stated intention to regulate laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) generally play up the agency’s comments about the need to assert regulatory oversight of genetic tests and direct consumer access testing. But what has gone unremarked by …
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 13 – September 15, 2025
The Dark Report examines a new bill that would reform PAMA and avoid reimbursement rate cuts scheduled for January 2026. Clinical laboratory leaders are urged to make their voices heard in Congress. Also, an expert describes how labs can fix pre-analytical errors and avoid disaster.
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