From building high-performing teams across diverse markets to shaping systems that support better decision-making, earlier interventions and stronger healthcare outcomes, Kamil Doležel, General Manager of Unilabs Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), shares his perspective on what it takes to lead in diagnostics.

What attracts you to Unilabs?

The opportunity to shift healthcare from reacting to disease towards proactive health management

I joined Unilabs in 2017 following its acquisition of AeskuLabs, where I was CEO.

Today, as General Manager of Unilabs CEE, I am responsible for the overall direction, performance and development of our diagnostic services across the market.

What drives me most is the tangible impact of our work, particularly the growing opportunity for Unilabs in preventive healthcare.

I believe diagnostics has the potential to shift healthcare from reacting to disease to proactively managing health.

How do you describe the purpose of your role today?

Building a cohesive, reliable and sustainable diagnostics system

My role is to ensure that Unilabs CEE functions as a cohesive, reliable and sustainable system, both internally and externally.

This allows us to build long-term value for our customers, patients and the wider healthcare ecosystem through timely, reliable and high-quality diagnostics.

For this to happen, we must connect medical expertise, technology and operations.

Leadership in this context is not about isolated decisions, but about maintaining a system that works and continuously improving it.

I am surrounded by very strong leaders and colleagues who help me execute our strategy across the company.

What is your leadership philosophy?

Creating long-term direction while bringing out the best in people

I follow a simple principle: the journey is an aim.

This does not mean that we should not have ambition or clear goals. It means that real value is created in how we work, how we decide and how we move forward.

Leadership, therefore, is not about one-off results, but about creating long-term direction, maintaining momentum and continuously seeking better ways of doing things.

At the same time, I strongly believe that success is built on people.

A good leader must be able to listen, understand their environment and bring out the best in their team members.

This philosophy also extends to how we operate within the wider healthcare system.

To have a strong voice, we must be able to partner successfully with health authorities and help shape the future environment for laboratory diagnostics alongside them.

I believe Unilabs is evolving to become a critical link in a connected healthcare system. The organisations that will define the next decade of healthcare are those that can turn insights into meaningful and timely actions.

Which experiences have most shaped this philosophy?

Shared behaviours can create a common language across different cultures

Early in my career, I learned that strategy alone does not deliver results — people do.

People perform at their best not when they are simply told what to do, but when they deeply understand their role.

That is why I have always invested heavily in ensuring that every person in my team understands and takes ownership of a shared set of competencies:

• Listening

• Respect

• Communication

• Delegation

• Teamwork

• Delivering on commitments

These are not simply values written on a wall. They are behaviours that I try to model myself and that I expect my team to demonstrate every day.

Having had the opportunity to lead across different cultures, particularly Czech and Slovak, I have found that a shared competency framework can become a major asset in a cross-cultural environment.

When everyone understands that we communicate openly, delegate with trust, respect each other’s expertise and time, and act as one team, we create a common language that cuts through cultural differences.

Where does the greatest untapped opportunity lie for healthcare organisations like Unilabs?

Prevention supported by earlier and more personalised diagnostics

Prevention — but not only in the traditional sense of screenings and check-ups.

Diagnostics is no longer simply about confirming disease. It is increasingly about supporting decision-making, prevention and personalised care.

We already have remarkable capabilities.

Advances in the industry are making it possible to detect diseases such as Alzheimer’s earlier than before.

Genetic testing can identify cancer predispositions before symptoms appear.

Pathology and advanced diagnostics are helping save lives that may not have been saved a decade ago.

What sets Unilabs apart in the diagnostics industry?

Scientific credibility, access to innovation and genuine accessibility

There are three things I believe set us apart.

First is our quality and scientific credibility.

Our laboratories are fully accredited and operate according to high international standards.

Beyond accreditation, we have something even more valuable: our people.

Within Unilabs, we have internationally recognised specialists and experts who contribute to shaping diagnostic standards across Europe and, in some cases, globally.

Second, we are part of a network that gives us early visibility into where diagnostics is heading.

That includes advances in:

• Genetic testing

• New biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s

• AI-assisted pathology

We can translate this knowledge into real clinical practice across CEE.

Third, we are genuinely accessible.

That is not only geographic accessibility, with a presence across regions that many providers do not reach, but also accessibility in a human sense.

A physician with a question about a complex result can call and speak directly with one of our specialists.

Together, they can review the findings, discuss the clinical implications and support better decisions for the patient.

What excites you most about the future of Unilabs?

Developing new talent while using AI to strengthen human expertise

We are investing in the next generation of diagnostic talent.

We open our doors to students, welcome them for internships and give them the opportunity to see first-hand what modern laboratory diagnostics looks like.

Many arrive expecting a traditional laboratory environment and leave understanding that diagnostics is one of the most dynamic and intellectually demanding fields in healthcare today.

Another area that particularly excites me is artificial intelligence.

Not AI as a buzzword, but AI applied where it genuinely makes sense in laboratory diagnostics:

• Image analysis

• Pattern recognition across large datasets

• Supporting pathologists to work with greater speed and precision

We are adopting these tools thoughtfully, where they provide real clinical value, while ensuring that our people are equipped to work alongside them rather than be replaced by them.

When I think about the future of Unilabs, I see an organisation where world-class expertise meets continuous learning, where young talent is nurtured from the beginning of their careers, and where technology amplifies human judgement rather than replacing it.