Dr. Danijela Konforte, PhD, FCACB, is a Clinical Biochemist and Discipline Head, Special Chemistry at LifeLabs. As a Discipline Head, she leads a team of clinical biochemists and laboratory scientists who provide clinical and scientific oversight of special chemistry laboratory operations, including clinical toxicology, therapeutic drug monitoring, trace elements, hormones, vitamins, protein electrophoresis, autoimmune, and allergy testing.
Dr. Konforte has a special interest in clinical laboratory–developed testing (LDT) and lab workflow process improvement and optimization through automation. Her team at LifeLabs has developed and implemented several LDTs and digital tools that have improved quality and efficiency for special chemistry operations. At LifeLabs, Dr. Konforte was the medical and scientific lead in establishing a clinical mass spectrometry laboratory section in 2015, which has grown in both size and scope into one of Canada’s largest mass spectrometry operations.
Dr. Konforte earned her PhD from the Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Ontario Cancer Institute. She also completed a Clinical Chemistry Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Clinical Biochemists.
Dr. Konforte actively contributes to Canada’s and the International scientific and professional lab medicine community. She is a member of the Ontario Lab Medicine Program (OLMP)—Clinical Chemistry Committee and served as the Professional Affairs Division Head of the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (CSCC) (2019–2025).
Dr. Konforte initiated and chaired the CSCC COVID-19 Special Interest Group (2020-2022), which published several national and international guidance documents about serology and point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2. Since 2019, she has co-ordinated the Clinical Chemistry Fellows Rotation at LifeLabs in collaboration with the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto. She has also supported clinical lab accreditation as a College of American Pathologists (CAP) Assessor and served two terms as a member of the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare (IQMH) Chemistry Committee.
In addition, Dr. Konforte is a lecturer at the Department of Lab Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, and is a reviewer for scientific journals, including Clinical Biochemistry and the Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine (JALM). In addition to CSCC, she is also a member of the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM). She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications showcasing the innovative work done at LifeLabs and has presented at national and international conferences.