How Suren Avunjian and LigoLab are Disrupting the Lab Industry for Good

When it comes to entrepreneurial endeavors, overnight successes are usually years in the making. The same goes for disruptive technologies; they rarely appear out of nowhere. Often, it takes years of planning, countless iterations, and a never-ending sea of development cycles to nudge an industry forward, let alone disrupt it. However, when industry disruption happens, it’s a thing of beauty.

But how does an organization become an industry disruptor? For LigoLab co-founder and CEO Suren Avunjian, it all started with a seemingly unachievable goal.

“LigoLab co-founder Edward Kharatian and I had this outrageous vision,” explained Suren Avunjian. “We wanted to launch a software company that would provide a single, unified software platform packed with all the tools, functions, and modules that a modern medical laboratory would need to scale successfully, and we wanted to do this without any outside investment. That would allow us to only answer to our lab partners and our team. It took a ton of determination and the help of some very talented people along the way, but after more than a decade of chasing this dream, we were able to turn our vision into a reality.”

LigoLab Information System is a leading provider of innovative end-to-end software for medical laboratories. The fast-growing company provides services to more than 150 facilities across the U.S. As a comprehensive enterprise-grade solution, the LigoLab LIS & RCM Laboratory Operating Platform includes modules for anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, molecular diagnostics, revenue cycle management, and direct-to-consumer, all on a truly integrated platform. This all-in-one software solution is unique within an industry where siloed laboratory data and barriers to interoperability are still the norms. With the LigoLab Operating Platform serving as the centerpiece of all lab technical and financial operations, labs can better serve their patients, differentiate themselves in the marketplace, scale their operations effectively, improve compliance and more profitability. 

“Our platform enables any workflow supported by automation and rules that help laboratories become super-efficient and virtually error-free,” said Avunjian, while noting that it’s no surprise that the fastest-growing medical labs in the country are using the LigoLab Operating Platform to grow exponentially. 

“We’re a partner that can replace multiple and outdated legacy systems within a lab that create barriers and prevent growth,” said Avunjian. “At the same time, we also realize that every laboratory is very unique. That’s why we made our system both comprehensive and extremely flexible. With the robust platform, we provide high-touch professional services, providing best practices and unlimited customization of the platform to best serve our partner laboratories.”

LigoLab’s growing market share and innovative technology are also what prompted Frost & Sullivan to present the company with its Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the North American Laboratory Information Systems Industry. Most notably, as the pandemic forced significant changes in all sectors throughout the world, the team at LigoLab put its ingenuity to work to help laboratories. In February of 2020, Avunjian and his team quickly built and launched TestDirectly, a direct-to-consumer web portal that connects laboratories with patients and facilitates streamlined sample collecting, processing, and reporting. The portal has proven to be a COVID-19 testing game-changer for both labs and patients. 

“With TestDirectly, we were able to help laboratories quickly respond to the new demands brought on by the pandemic while also making testing safer and more accessible for patients,” said Avunjian.

The cloud-based TestDirectly portal is easy to implement, and it integrates with all Laboratory Information (LIS), Electronic Health Records (EHR), and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) systems. The portal replaces paper forms and manual processes with automation that supports patient and family members with self-registration, scheduling, and reporting. The collection and laboratory staff is empowered by real-time queues, label generation, capacity management, specimen collection, specimen tracking and processing, billing, and compliance. It also supports lightweight LIS functionality, resulting in automated report delivery via email, SMS, portal, or interface. In addition, the platform enables automated reporting to public health departments and agencies in every state. 

In a nutshell, TestDirectly supports all testing workflows (drive-through, walk-up, concierge, organizational, at-home collection, surveillance/pooled testing). The portal bridges the gap between patients and laboratories, boosts testing capacity and improves turnaround times. 

“We’ve been able to dramatically increase productivity and the number of specimens we can handle with TestDirectly,” said Rob Rovig, General Manager at Atlas Genomics, one of the many high-throughput labs using the portal nationwide.

“We would have never gotten to where we are today without the dedication of our best-in-class personnel and our loyal laboratory partners,” concluded Avunjian.

Early in his career, Suren Avunjian played a critical role in building and successfully exiting several tech businesses as well as advising well-established organizations. He oversaw the growth of numerous B2B software platforms, and his entrepreneurial journey eventually led him to the position of CTO with Healthline Clinical Laboratories. The lab grew to be the largest privately held laboratory in California and was ultimately acquired by LabCorp in 2006, prompting Avunjian and his partners to launch LigoLab Information Systems. For more background on Suren Avunjian and his career, you can access his bio HERE.