A vision for pathology

Innoquest Pathology Malaysia is determined to support Pathology Asia to become one of the largest laboratory groups in the world. It has more than 900 staff across 85 pathology facilities throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

But its Executive Director and CEO, Nabil Fawzi, is ambitious to grow it exponentially so its influence stretches even further.

“We’re striving to become one of the largest labs in the world,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “All of us know that we have a very long journey ahead of us in terms of expansion. Our top management shares the same vision that we can play a much bigger role in future years.”

Innoquest’s specialists perform cutting-edge diagnostics for more than 10,000 healthcare professionals, hospitals and clinics. Every week, it processes more than 75,000 tests to detect diseases and conditions or to monitor health.

Fawzi joined the Petaling Jaya-based firm in January 2024 and remains Deputy Group CEO of its holding company Pathology Asia, a member of the Global Diagnostics Network. He’s also a board member of Singapore Diagnostics, Lablink Medical Laboratory and the Board Director of North Borneo Capital.

“Innoquest is an amalgamation of the three largest independent labs in Malaysia and brings quality in the industry to another level,” he explains.

“We started by supporting about 20 hospitals via lab outsourcing, but today we have 40. We also partner with KPJ Healthcare hospitals, so we’ve really come on leaps and bounds in the past five years to become one of the most respected labs in Asia.”

Retaining market leadership

Independent labs such as Innoquest control 40 percent of a pathology market expected to rise in value by more than 13 percent in the next three years, fueled by a vibrant medical infrastructure, the opening of more hospitals and investment in providing better health care to Malaysia’s 34 million citizens.

Fawzi has a clear plan for how he will make sure his company will take advantage of that growth and remain the market leader. “Really, it’s moving the business up a notch, taking on more complex and esoteric tests to enhance our offering,” he reveals.

“We’re also implementing extensive end-to-end digitalization and cybersecurity enhancements to increase the number of ways we can serve doctors, nurses and clinic assistants.”

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“We’ll be focusing more on services for the large hospital groups as well as specialists, clinics and practices in Malaysia.”

Part of his enviable record of success has been negotiating strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships.

“We’re very proud of our strong relationships with our suppliers,” he says. “Strengthening them was a priority when I took over as CEO, particularly key partners such as Roche Diagnostics, which is a particularly important ally in enhancing our testing, profiling and hematology. We’ve discussed going to market together to improve the long-term quality of the industry.”

Delivering value

Taking a long-term view is something Fawzi has done through all of Innoquest’s endeavors. “It’s critical for all our stakeholders to come together to improve patient outcomes as there are so many challenges like rising healthcare costs, supply chain issues and securing talent,” he insists.

“When we can do that, then we’ll be bringing value to the doctors, too. and they’ll continue their journey with us.”

He’s only been able to do that because of the healthy and supportive culture his leadership has nurtured, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The past five years have been tough, and what’s helped me immensely during that time is the wonderful people around me and the trust we have for each other, which breeds strong teamwork,” he says. “There’s clarity of direction so it always feels like we’re on the same page and not second-guessing each other.”

That strength of purpose also means Fawzi and his team will be ready for whatever the future throws at them.

“We’re prepared for whatever that might be,” he confirms. “Whether we discover there’s another pandemic coming our way, a bout of flu or an economic crisis, we’ll still be able to make sure that our customers are getting the same impeccable standard of service and the same value.

“The way we do that may be through digitalization, enhanced data analytics, reliable logistics or further medical breakthroughs. At the end of the day, we want the momentum we’ve enjoyed to continue for many years to come.”