Precision Medicine Podcast: Recent Episodes
Trapelo
Welcome to the Precision Medicine Podcast by Trapelo. This is the podcast where experts come to discuss the problems oncologists, reference labs, and payers face as precision medicine grows, and consider solutions for advancing the quality of patient-centered cancer care.
Advances in molecular diagnostics are reshaping how cancer is detected, monitored, and treated, and liquid biopsy is becoming central to that progress. This simple blood draw can reveal key tumor biology at diagnosis and over time, providing timely insight and guiding more precise decisions throughout a patient’s journey. Clinicians now face an important challenge: knowing what is actionable today and what is coming next so more patients can benefit from the promise of these advances.
As we kick off Season 7, host and patient advocate Karan Cushman expands this season’s focus on Bringing Precision Medicine to Everyone with a deeper look inside the science of liquid biopsy. The conversation features two leaders shaping the field: Dr. Christian Rolfo, Division Director of Medical Oncology at The James Comprehensive Cancer Center at Ohio State University, and Dr. Roberto Borea, Medical Oncologist and emerging investigator from the Rolfo Lab.
Together, they break down the scientific momentum driving liquid biopsy forward, including tumor fraction, MRD-guided treatment strategies, resistance monitoring, fragmentomics, and the expanding frontier of early detection. They also discuss the barriers that continue to slow broader adoption, such as assay variability, limited standardization, reimbursement gaps, and operational challenges in community settings.
In this episode, we cover:
• How tumor fraction is emerging as a meaningful real-time biomarker
• Where MRD-driven escalation and de-escalation strategies are heading
• The current promise and limitations of early detection and MCED testing
• What is required to standardize liquid biopsy across reporting, workflows, and clinical trials
Episode 70 offers a clear look at the advances researchers are helping drive right now and what these developments could mean for clinicians, laboratories, and patients in the near future.
This conversation builds on episode 69 with Dr. Kashyap Patel, who introduced the foundations of liquid biopsy and its role in accelerating treatment decisions. Combined, these two episodes offer clinicians and patients an overview of where the science and real-world applications stand now and where the field is headed next.
Liquid biopsy is breaking speed and access barriers in precision oncology. In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, part of our series Bringing Precision Medicine to Everyone and the first in a two-part focus, founder and host Karan Cushman speaks with Dr. Kashyap Patel, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, author, and national leader in value-based oncology.
Together, they explore how liquid biopsy is changing the diagnostic and treatment landscape. This blood-based test can deliver results in days, be repeated as needed, and reduce the need for invasive procedures. Tissue biopsy remains important, but when the samples are too small or unsuitable for testing, liquid biopsy provides a valuable alternative in guiding treatment decisions and monitoring disease.
For patients with aggressive “turbo cancers” such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or small cell lung cancer, the time saved can be lifesaving. Karan shares her own experience with DLBCL, while Dr. Patel highlights real-world cases where liquid biopsy revealed actionable mutations, informed therapy, or enabled minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring.
Finally, Dr. Patel underscores the need for standardization and payer alignment to move liquid biopsy from innovation to everyday practice. This candid discussion frames liquid biopsy not as a futuristic idea, but as a clinically powerful and scalable tool that is closing gaps in precision oncology today.
What does it really mean to bring precision medicine to every patient, in every community?
In this inspiring, one-hour episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, host Karan Cushman sits down with Dr. Arif Kamal, Chief Patient Officer at the American Cancer Society (ACS), for a wide-ranging conversation that reframes how we think about progress in cancer care. With a background in oncology, palliative care and health system innovation—and a personal story shaped by his mother’s metastatic breast cancer diagnosis—Dr. Kamal offers a deeply human perspective on what it means to deliver not just the right treatment, but the right experience for every patient.
Dr. Kamal shares how the ACS is working to make precision medicine more equitable by addressing barriers like geography, affordability, clinician burnout, and fragmented care. He explains the importance of “precision compassion”—the idea that personalized care must also include empathy, listening, and action tailored to the needs of each individual. “We can’t talk about innovation,” he says, “without talking about accessibility.”
From the importance of whole-person care and mobile health units in rural communities, to expanding insurance coverage for biomarker testing and building trust with patients and caregivers, this conversation is full of insight into what it will truly take to change the odds for people facing cancer.
You’ll also hear about the ACS’s bold initiatives:
- The Change the Odds campaign, tackling ZIP code-driven disparities in care
- ACS CAN’s legislative efforts to expand access to biomarker testing
- How the ACS’s roundtables and grassroots partnerships support health systems, clinicians, and researchers nationwide
Dr. Kamal challenges us to think beyond science alone and focus on what really matters to patients—whether that’s more time, better quality of life or simply the ability to hold a grandchild on the beach.
Don’t miss this conversation about how we turn precision medicine from a possibility into a promise—one rooted in empathy, equity and action.
Subscribe here to catch every episode in the series "Bringing Precision Medicine to Everyone." Next, we explore the evolving world of liquid biopsy and its role in expanding access to early cancer detection and precision treatment.
When patients understand their inherited risk for cancer, they’re empowered to take action—often before cancer has a chance to take hold.
In this second episode of our Bringing Precision Medicine to Every Patient series, host Karan Cushman is joined by two trusted experts, Ellen Matloff and Dr. Angella Charnot-Katsikas. Together, they provide clear, practical guidance on how patients and clinicians can identify inherited cancer risk early—and take steps to address it.
Whether you’re a patient wondering where to begin, or a provider navigating limited time and resources, this episode delivers clear takeaways to help you move from uncertainty to informed action.
It’s a timely reminder that precision medicine doesn’t begin with treatment—it begins with knowledge. And with the right tools and support, patients can take control of their health and rewrite the story for generations to come. (Be sure to subscribe here so you don't miss an episode in this important series!)
Ellen Matloff is a nationally recognized genetic counselor, founder and CEO of My Gene Counsel, and a leading voice in digital health and patient-centered genomics. She founded and led the Yale Cancer Genetic Counseling Program and was a plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case that overturned gene patenting.
Dr. Angella Charnot-Katsikas is Chief Medical Officer at Palmetto GBA and a molecular diagnostics expert who helps guide coverage decisions through her work in precision medicine policy.
They share compelling stories that bring the science to life. Ellen reflects on one of her first BRCA1-positive patients—a healthy young mother who chose preventive surgery based on a powerful family history of cancer and a determination to break the cycle. Dr. Katsikas offers her own experience as both a pre-vivor and survivor, whose early diagnosis was only possible because of proactive testing and screening guided by her family history.
The episode also explains why many patients still miss these opportunities—due to limited awareness, inconsistent risk assessments, and systemic barriers in access. The guests highlight the limitations of consumer tests like 23andMe and the critical role of genetic counselors in interpreting results and guiding decisions.
They offer actionable strategies for integrating family history collection and risk assessment into routine care, including the use of digital tools in busy or resource-limited settings. Reimbursement challenges are discussed, alongside encouraging progress toward making precision medicine standard of care.
Special thanks to our good friend Dr. Kashyap Patel and the No One Left Alone initiative for
collaborating with us on this series. Our goal with Bringing Precision Medicine to Everyone is to equip patients, caregivers and care teams with the knowledge and tools needed to deliver the best of modern cancer care–no matter where a patient lives.
In Episode 66 of the Precision Medicine Podcast, host Karan Cushman kicks off a vital new series, Bringing Precision Medicine to Everyone in collaboration with Dr. Kashyap Patel, a nationally respected community oncologist and founder of the No One Left Alone initiative. This series explores what it takes to close the gap between innovation and access in precision cancer care—especially in community and rural settings where disparities remain greatest.
Dr. Patel, a long-time advocate for equitable oncology care, shares the real-world barriers patients face—from gaps in provider awareness to financial constraints and restrictive payer policies—and how his organization is actively working to address them. He also offers powerful patient stories that highlight the life-saving potential of timely biomarker testing and personalized therapies.
Joining the conversation is Dr. Angella Charnot-Katsikas, a molecular pathologist, policy leader at Palmetto GBA, and breast cancer survivor, who brings a unique perspective from both the clinical and payer sides. She emphasizes the importance of collaboration across care teams, the need for rapid diagnostic turnaround, and the urgency of keeping pace with evolving clinical guidelines.
Together, the guests affirm that precision medicine is the standard of care—but for too many, it’s still not the reality. This episode lays the foundation for a transformative series focused on dismantling systemic barriers and ensuring every patient—regardless of their zip code—can benefit from the best of modern cancer care.
In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, host Karan Cushman engages in a thought-provoking discussion with two pioneers in AI-driven oncology: Dr. Douglas Flora and Dr. Sanjay Juneja. Together, they explore how AI is revolutionizing cancer care, from earlier detection and faster diagnoses to personalized treatments and clinical trial optimization.
AI’s potential in oncology is game-changing. Dr. Flora and Dr. Juneja break down how AI is helping to identify cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages, automate biomarker testing, and streamline clinical trials to match patients with the best therapies faster than ever before. AI is not just a futuristic concept—it is already helping oncologists reduce misdiagnoses, improve screening accuracy, and speed up treatment approvals, all of which could significantly improve patient outcomes.
But if AI is so transformative, why isn’t it more widely used? Adoption remains one of the biggest hurdles, with challenges ranging from regulatory barriers and insurance limitations to the slow integration of AI into clinical practice. Karan challenges her guests to explain what needs to change for AI-driven precision medicine to reach more patients—sooner rather than later.
With her patient-first perspective, Karan ensures the conversation stays focused on what these advancements mean for real people. Looking ahead to 2030, the discussion explores what a fully AI-integrated oncology system could look like—and why the revolution in cancer care isn’t coming—it’s already here.
Dr. Douglas Flora is the Executive Medical Director of Oncology Services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and Dr. Sanjay Juneja is a hematologist-oncologist, social media educator, and VP of Clinical AI Operations at Tempus AI. Both guests are co-founders of Tensor Black, an education and consulting company specializing in AI applications in oncology.
In this two-part episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, host Karan Cushman continues her deep dive into prostate cancer care with expert guest Dr. William Oh, a leading genitourinary oncologist, Director of Precision Medicine at Yale Cancer Center and Chair of the American Cancer Society National Prostate Cancer Roundtable. Building on part one (episode 63), they explore the transformative role of precision medicine, advanced diagnostics, and targeted therapies—emphasizing the urgent need for greater awareness, understanding, and advocacy as prostate cancer continues to rise steadily.
Karan opens the conversation by emphasizing the growing complexity of prostate cancer diagnostics and treatment. Dr. Oh discusses the wide array of diagnostic tools, from PSA tests and MRIs to the cutting-edge PSMA PET scan, which has revolutionized staging and treatment planning by providing detailed insights into cancer spread. He highlights how these tools are helping oncologists tailor treatment plans with unprecedented precision.
The discussion shifts to molecular diagnostics, a burgeoning field that provides critical information about the aggressiveness of cancer. Dr. Oh explains how molecular tests, such as genomic profiling, are enabling personalized treatment decisions for prostate cancer patients, particularly those on the fence about options like surgery, radiation, or active surveillance. Karan and Dr. Oh also address disparities in access to these advanced diagnostics, underlining the need for wider implementation.
Karan steers the conversation toward advancements in targeted therapies. Dr. Oh outlines breakthroughs in precision treatments, including PARP inhibitors for patients with BRCA mutations and the innovative LU-177-PSMA therapy, a “smart bomb” approach that targets cancer cells with remarkable specificity. He also explores the promise of immunotherapy, though he acknowledges its limited applicability for prostate cancer due to the disease’s low mutational burden.
The role of artificial intelligence in precision oncology is another key topic. Dr. Oh and Karan discuss how AI and machine learning are helping clinicians process complex data, from imaging to genomic profiles, to guide more informed treatment decisions. Dr. Oh envisions AI as an essential tool for streamlining oncology workflows while preserving the human connection between doctors and patients.
Karan highlights the importance of effective communication in prostate cancer care, referencing a recent editorial co-authored by Dr. Oh. Together, they explore the need for more patient-centered terminology, such as replacing the term “castration-resistant prostate cancer” with “androgen deprivation-resistant prostate cancer,” to foster better understanding and improve patient experience.
The episode concludes with a forward-looking discussion on clinical trials, the integration of new technologies like liquid biopsies, and the ongoing efforts to expand insurance coverage for biomarker testing. Dr. Oh emphasizes the critical role of collaboration, awareness, and education in advancing precision medicine and ensuring that patients benefit from the latest innovations.
With Karan’s thoughtful questions and Dr. Oh’s expertise, this episode offers a comprehensive and accessible exploration of how precision medicine is reshaping the future of prostate cancer care. We hope you’ll tune in to the series and share this important episode with others!
In part one of a two-part series on prostate cancer, the Precision Medicine Podcast addresses critical challenges as well as new advancements in prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. Host, Karan Cushman, is joined by Dr. William Oh, Director of Precision Medicine at Yale Cancer Center and Chair of the American Cancer Society National Prostate Cancer Roundtable. Together, they shed light on the complexities of prostate cancer and how early screening can address rising incidence rates and persistent disparities, particularly among African American men. Subscribe to get Part 2 delivered straight to your inbox.
Prostate cancer currently affects one in eight men in the US, with African American men facing a one-in-six risk and 70% higher incidence rate than White men. These disparities extend to earlier onset and more aggressive disease presentations. Globally, the disease is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in 112 countries and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in 48 countries. The incidence of prostate cancer has been rising steadily. There has been a 3% annual increase in cases and a 5% annual rise in advanced prostate cancer diagnoses since 2014. Throughout the series, Dr. Oh discusses the role precision medicine can play in addressing these trends by tailoring prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies to individual patient profiles.
Karan and Dr. Oh begin the conversation by highlighting critical advances in prostate cancer care, including the development of over a dozen FDA-approved drugs in recent decades. Listeners will learn of the systemic barriers that often prevent men from accessing these treatments, resulting in just half of men with advanced prostate cancer receiving standard-of-care therapies—a fact that underscores the need to improve access and equity in treatment. Dr. Oh chairs the American Cancer Society National Prostate Cancer Roundtable, which aims to address these gaps by uniting diverse stakeholders—from patient advocacy groups to scientific organizations—to improve outcomes through collaborative efforts.
The discussion also explores the role of environmental and epigenetic factors in prostate cancer risk. Dr. Oh discusses how stress, socioeconomic disparities, and toxic exposures, such as those experienced by 9/11 first responders, may alter DNA and increase cancer risk. He compares these findings to the higher incidence of prostate cancer among African American men who live in environments that exacerbate health disparities. Dr. Oh emphasizes the importance of identifying and mitigating these risks to improve outcomes.
Screening is a key topic throughout the conversation, and Dr. Oh discusses the challenges of early detection and the controversies surrounding PSA (prostate-specific antigen) screening. While current guidelines recommend baseline PSA testing for most men between the ages of 50 to 55, new evidence supports earlier screening for high-risk populations, particularly African American men who should begin testing between ages 40 and 45. This shift toward earlier detection is critical for addressing aggressive cancers before they progress to advanced stages.
Dr. Oh goes on to explain the importance of genetic testing, which reveals up to 10% of advanced prostate cancer cases involve BRCA or other DNA repair mutations. Recognizing these mutations early can inform targeted treatments like PARP inhibitors, yet Dr. Oh notes that many patients are not tested, underscoring the need for better implementation of precision diagnostics. By linking genetic data to clinical outcomes, precision medicine can help tailor treatments to the unique needs of each patient.
The episode concludes with a call to action for improved education and collaboration. Dr. Oh emphasizes the need for patients to discuss family history and risk factors with their doctors and for primary care physicians to prioritize early conversations about prostate health. He advocates for a comprehensive approach that combines education, technology and multidisciplinary care to close gaps in prostate cancer treatment and ensure that advances in precision medicine benefit all populations, especially those at highest risk.
Stay tuned for Part 2 with Dr. Oh coming out in late December 2024.
New Legislation Helps Deliver Appropriate Biomarker Testing to More Cancer Patients When and Where They Need It
Currently, there is a significant divide between the promise of precision medicine and how equitably new innovations are applied to each cancer patient’s treatment journey. Our expert guests Hilary Gee Goeckner (Director of State and Local Campaigns for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network), and Kristine Ashcraft (founder and President of YouScript, and member of ACS CAN task force) are actively working to close that gap. They are champions of the ASC CAN effort to pass legislation across the US to expand insurance coverage of evidence-based biomarker testing for cancer patients. In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, they explain why it’s so important.
Because biomarker testing is a complex topic, host Karan Cushman kicks off the episode by asking our guests to define the different types and their respective benefits. Hilary begins by explaining genetic testing and how results offer a view into someone’s risk for developing cancer. She continues through diagnostic biomarker testing which can help match patients with the right treatments. Kristine then introduces pharmacogenomic/pharmocogenetic testing which looks at the genetic variability of how patients respond to drugs.
It's clear that testing offers a wide range of benefits and having biomarker test results upfront can support clinicians in making more precise treatment decisions as well as modifications to drug selections and dosing based on a patient’s individual profile. But our guests remind us that many underserved patients are less likely to receive guideline-indicated biomarker testing for a variety of reasons. Tune in to the full episode for more!
Welcome to Part 2 of a two-part colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness series featuring guest Trevor Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Man Up to Cancer, a non-profit that inspires men to connect and avoid isolation during their cancer journeys. Trevor shares what he’s learned since being diagnosed with stage 4 CRC six years ago, the darkness he faced from mental health struggles and how he ultimately decided to Man Up to Cancer himself.
Precision medicine (i.e. “personalized” medicine) is predicated on the idea that treating the whole person leads to better outcomes. Trevor’s story is evidence as host Karan Cushman takes listeners through his journey with cancer beginning with the less-than-obvious signs that led to his diagnosis at age 41.
As husband to his wife, Sarah, and father to two young daughters, Sage and Elsie, Trevor now realizes he has a lot to live for, but in the initial months after he was diagnosed he couldn’t see beyond the devasting news. He says he felt like an outlier—as if all other men with cancer were somehow shouldering the burden without help while he struggled. He later realized that many, many men felt the same way he did, and they were less likely to be accessing support resources than women. Trevor says, “I just realized that something needed to be done for those guys like me who maybe don’t want to participate in a co-ed environment, and maybe if we give them something, maybe if we build something for them where it’s by men going through cancer, for men going through cancer, maybe they’ll open up.”
This realization led Trevor to launch Man Up to Cancer. He says, “People who isolate going through cancer have worse medical outcomes, number one, and worse problems with mental health.” He created his non-profit to address those issues head on.
Trevor notes that treating the whole person, not just the cancer, can save lives, but men first need to learn to ask for help. This whole-person approach is very much in line with the idea behind precision medicine today in that understanding ourselves and how we operate can optimize our treatment paths. As Trevor says, “For me, mental health was just as important as my physical health going through this [colorectal cancer]. For so many others, it’s the same.”
If you’re living with cancer or supporting someone through their journey with cancer, please tune in to Part 2 of our incredibly candid and insightful conversation with Trevor. Not only is he truly inspiring, but he underscores how cancer patients reaching out to their communities and asking for support can sometimes literally be a matter of life or death.
And don’t miss the other episodes in our CRC awareness series, which includes Part 1 with Trevor in which he discusses the critical need for better screening for CRC as well as our broader discussion with Dr. Douglas Flora, Executive Medical Director of Oncology Services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Editor-in-Chief of AI and Precision Oncology.
Download the full transcript of the episode here (pdf).
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Today, 80% of adults younger than 60 are not being effectively screened for colorectal cancer. They now have a 50% greater chance of being diagnosed than they did in the 90s. Additionally, the rise of early-onset CRC—even in otherwise healthy young people in their 20s and 30s—is unprecedented.
This marks the 60th episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast as host Karan Cushman begins a two-part series focused on colorectal cancer with Trevor Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Man Up to Cancer. Trevor was diagnosed with CRC at age 41 and attests that it feels like we are back in the early days of breast cancer in terms of building awareness around the criticality of basic screening, yet the statistics are startling.
In this Part 1, Trevor helps us understand the facts and current trends behind the second-leading cause of death for both men and women in America today. Trevor says the numbers are alarming, noting a 1% to 3% increase in the young-onset cohort every year. The big question, he says, is “why?”.
In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, host Karan Cushman does some time traveling with Dr. Douglas Flora through his lifetime journey with cancer. Dr. Flora is the Medical Director of Oncology Services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Editor-in-Chief AI in Precision Oncology, a peer-reviewed research journal dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence applications in clinical and precision oncology.
Read the full summary and tune in here.
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In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, hosts Karan Cushman and Clynt Taylor welcome back Dr. Luis Raez, Medical Director and Chief Scientific Officer at Memorial Cancer Institute who is joined by Dr. Pranil Chandra, Chief Genomic Officer at PathGroup.
Together, we discuss the key barriers to performing comprehensive genomic profiling in lung cancer; how collaboration between oncologists and pathologists can enable a more consistent approach; and the improvements that should be made to close the gaps between the available life-extending, targeted therapies on the market today and the lung cancer patients who need them.
To read the full summary, download the transcript and subscribe to receive future episodes straight to your in-box visit Precision Medicine Podcast Episode #58.
Special thanks to our partners at Janssen Biotech for their sponsorship of this episode.
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To mark the beginning of Season 5 of the Precision Medicine Podcast, we are honored to welcome Dr. Debra Patt, Executive Vice President of Texas Oncology. As an oncologist and breast cancer specialist at one of the nation’s largest community cancer practices, Dr. Patt is on the frontlines of oncology care every day. She joins us to discuss how Texas Oncology uses clinical decision-support technologies and health economics and health services research (HEOR) to deliver more consistent precision oncology care to patients at over 200 locations across Texas.
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In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Karen Winkfield, Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, appointee to President Joe Biden's National Cancer Advisory Board, and co-host of the weekly podcast, 3 Black Docs, which is dedicated to educating the community about health and health disparities in an approachable and entertaining way.
Dr. Winkfield’s commitment to her calling was clear by the fact that she joins us during her vacation to discuss racial disparities in the healthcare system that prevent many Black patients from seeking and receiving appropriate care. She tells us that she didn’t discover her calling early and, due to family and cultural barriers of her own, she almost didn’t pursue it at all. In fact, it took the support of a dedicated high-school teacher and nine emotional years to finish her undergraduate degree in biochemistry to get her where she is today as a practicing radiation oncologist.
Off the top we ask Dr. Winkfield what can be learned from greater participation of underrepresented groups in clinical trials or greater participation in the healthcare system. She notes that Black people are still dying of cancer at a much higher rate than the rest of the population, and while there are some biologic reasons, much of the cause is under-representation in cancer clinical trials.
We point out her step-by-step plan to address this type of imbalance in the healthcare system, and we are reminded that this is nothing new as she has been working to help address it for decades. She says, "Okay, I laid out a plan, but there's been a plan out for ending cancer disparities for over 20 years." The unequal burden document that was essentially kind of written by the Institutes of Medicine. Congress actually was the one who said, "Hey, we need to kind of understand what's going on with this cancer disparities thing." The whole plan is outlined.
Part of what the challenge is now is, do we have the will, do we have the will to do what is needed? Yes, I mean, there are those of us who've been kind of yelling from the mountaintops for decades now that we need to do something different because people are dying.”
She goes on to explain that balancing disparity isn’t as easy as, say, offering translation services, because institutionalized racism runs so deep that it presents barriers at every step. For instance, she says that if you look at the Cancer Genome Atlas Program, which has over 11,000 primary cancer samples, only 25 of those specimens are from prostate cancers derived from Black men, despite the fact that Black men not only have a much greater risk of developing prostate cancer, probably twice as high as any other racial ethnic group, and they're two-and-a-half times as likely to die of prostate cancer. She says, in America, your wealth directly impacts your health. Your zip code impacts your outcome more than your genetic code.
We naturally asked what role technology can play in eliminating healthcare disparities, and she says that without more representative patient samples, trials and access, precision medicine can never be precise.
In fact, she believes precision medicine can actually deepen the divide if it is not used with precision in terms of the whole person.
Where do they come from? What are barriers to them accessing precision medicine, such as transportation or even paying for parking?
Dr. Winkfield is a strong proponent of navigators who help cancer patients overcome those institutional barriers to ensure that they have equal access to the promise of precision medicine. She says, “These are the things, the social determinants of health, if we can stop and just see the person in front of us and say, what is it that you need to help you along your cancer journey? That to me is being precise.”
In episode 55 of the Precision Medicine Podcast, we welcome Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, President and CEO of the Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine. Dr. Kingsmore joins us to discuss the extraordinary role whole genome sequencing is playing in prolonging and improving the life of critically ill newborns.
Read the full summary and tune in here!
Dr. Christian Rolfo, President of the International Society of Liquid Biopsy and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the Center of Thoracic Oncology at the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, joins us to explain the unique role liquid biopsies are playing in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Read the full summary, subscribe and tune in here.
Learn more about our lead sponsor Trapelo Health here.
In this Precision Medicine Podcast episode, we are joined by Dr. Belinda King-Kallimanis, Director of Patient-Focused Research at LUNGevity—an organization that brings together research, education and support services for patients and caregivers in the lung cancer community—and Nichelle Stigger, LUNGevity board member and lung cancer survivor. They sat down with us to discuss everything from the importance of patient-friendly language in lung cancer to discrepancies in access to biomarker testing and what LUNGevity is doing to improve the status quo. Read the full summary and listen here.
In celebration of the three-year anniversary of the Precision Medicine Podcast, we take a look back at how far precision diagnostics have come with the help of one of our first guests Hannah Mamuszka, Founder and CEO of Alva10, and her colleague Lena Chaihorsky. Both women are focused on resolving the knowledge gap between payers and diagnostic companies and moving diagnostics to the forefront of the precision medicine conversation.
Read the full summary and tune in here!
In this episode, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we speak with Ali Rogin, author of Beat Breast Cancer Like a Boss and award-winning producer of PBS NewsHour. Ali is what is commonly known as a breast cancer previvor, someone who knows they have a mutation that may lead to cancer and takes preventative steps to avoid a diagnosis. With the growth of genetic testing and precision medicine and the ability to isolate genes that can lead to cancer, more and more people may fall into the category of previvors. For instance, women that have the BRCA 1 or 2 mutation, as Rogin does, have a 70% chance of developing breast cancer by the age of 80. Rogin says progress in precision medicine has given these women options they would never have had before, enabling them to make proactive, informed decisions about their future health.
For our 50th episode, we welcome Dr. Kashyap Patel, medical oncologist and CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Center, current president of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), and author of the book, Between Life and Death: From Despair to Hope. Dr. Patel explains the social determinants that can impact the quality of care and opportunity for precision medicine that patients—and specifically oncology patients—receive. For him, Covid-19 brought to light the impact that disparities in healthcare can have for all of us. He notes that one in three cancer deaths could be prevented if disparities didn't exist and that disparities result in 230B of excess expense. Read the full summary, listen and subscribe to the Precision Medicine Podcast here.
In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, Janine Morales, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Trapelo Health takes us inside the complex world of evidence-based decision making in oncology.
Specifically, she dives deeps into some of the nuances in the latest targeted therapy approvals and explains how having access to a real-time knowledge-base and a team of experts that curate current clinical evidence can empower physicians to make more appropriate decisions at the point of care. Read the full summary here and subscribe to join us in the advancement of precision medicine.
Dr. Howard McLeod is Medical Director for Precision Medicine at The Geriatric Oncology Consortium, a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and has worked on research projects with some of the most notable institutions around the world, including FDA, NIH, and NCI.
We cover a lot of ground with Dr. McLeod in this podcast, including career advice, the advancement of precision medicine technology and the positive impact of COVID on telemedicine and clinical trials. Read the full summary and tune in to the audio here.
Bill Bonello, president of NeoGenomics Informatics, and Clynt Taylor, president of Trapelo Health, discuss challenges in precision medicine and how evidence-based technologies can help deliver more appropriate, value-based care to more patients.As a subtext to the discussion is the recent acquisition of Trapelo Health, creator of clinical decision-making platform Trapelo, by NeoGenomics Informatics, provider of bioinformatics services. This acquisition is aimed at improving access to precision medicine testing and treatment. Read the full summary and learn more about Trapelo here.
In this notable episode, Dr. Caroline Carney, Chief Medical Officer at Magellan Health, and Clynt Taylor, CEO at Trapelo Health, join us to discuss how collaborative technologies can help payers more effectively manage the cost of precision oncology while delivering the best outcomes for patients. Read the full summary.
In this episode, Dr. F. Anthony Greco, medical oncologist at Tennessee Oncology, discusses the role that precision medicine has played in improving our diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
In this Part 2 podcast featuring Dr. Gabriel A. Bien-Willner, Medical Director of the MolDX programat Palmetto GBA, we dive into the core challenges that payers face in navigating the explosion of precision medicine tests and treatments, and specifically how the prior authorization process can be streamlined by keeping payers updated on changes in coverage policy for new genes or CDx.
Be sure to tune in to Part 1 with Dr. Bien-Willner who speaks about reshaping reimbursement policies for genetic and genomic testing.
Christopher Boone, Vice President and Global Head of Health Economics & Outcomes Research at AbbVie, shares his thoughts on how using data to understand a patient’s real-world environment can expand the practice of Precision Medicine.
It is fitting that our first guests on Season 3 of the Precision Medicine Podcast are Rob Metcalf, CEO of Concert Genetics and Clynt Taylor, CEO of Trapelo Health who are both innovators in precision medicine technology. What we learn from them in this episode is that after 20 years of hearing about the “promise of precision medicine,” technology has reached a critical point where it can begin to accelerate that progress. Read the full summary, listen and learn more here.
In this episode, and in honor of lung cancer awareness month we had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Luis Raez, Medical Director and Chief of Hematology Oncology at Memorial Cancer Institute who focuses on treating lung cancer. Hear how the emergence of next-generation sequencing has changed his approach to lung cancer treatment, what notable discoveries in lung cancer have occurred over the last year, and how he sees COVID-19 impacting the treatment of cancer. Tune in to the full episode here.
In the first of a two-part podcast, Gabriel A. Bien-Willner MD, PhD, FCAP, Medical Director at MolDX, and Chief Medical Officer at Palmetto GBA shares how he has helped implement payer controls and coverage and set policies for affiliated Medicare Administrative Contractors in 28 states.
In the past, payers have had to navigate the growing field of precision medicine without the benefit of expertise, so their only guidance came from the NCCN or consultations with other experts in the field. Today, under his direction, Palmetto GBA is able to base its policies on evidentiary reviews, and he believes this form of evidence-based decision-making should be an industrywide standard.
Dr. Mark Moasser, a physician-scientist and breast cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco discusses his research focus on the HER2 oncogene, the latest trial findings and the importance of improving patient access to clinical trials.
At Trapelo, connecting oncologists with patient-appropriate clinical trials is a major part of our mission, so we were grateful for the opportunity to talk to Dr. Moasser and learn more about his thoughts on this matter. Tune in to the full episode to learn more about his current research and perspective on the future of precision medicine.
In this episode, Clynt Taylor, CEO at Trapelo Health, talks with Lori Brisbin, Vice President of Precision Medicine at Texas Oncology, one of the largest practices in the United States. The discussion centers on how this expansive network of oncologists is leveraging the web-based Trapelo™ platform to provide evidence-based decision support to its physicians and bring precision medicine to the forefront of patient care
On this Precision Medicine Podcast, author and CEO of the Toft Group (a ZRG company), Robin Toft, joins us to discuss her new book, We Can, and share her thoughts on the need for more women and greater diversity in the C-suite and the boardroom within the life science industry. Read the full summary here.
Roy Smythe, M.D, explains why proteins are more useful than genes for understanding the human body and creating precision medicines to heal it.
Dr. Smythe is CEO of SomaLogic, a leading-edge, biotechnology company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The company scans human proteins to gain insights into the past, current, and future health of patients, making it a promising new technology for precision medicine outcomes. Tune in here for the full summary and more :https://www.trapelohealth.com/proteins-in-precision-medicine
In this Precision Medicine Podcast episode, we met with lung cancer patients Lisa Goldman and Tori Tomalia to discuss their organization, the ROS1ders, which they created to advocate and support those with ROS1-positive cancer—a group that represents just 2% of lung cancer patients.
We were fascinated by how two women with no medical background could form a highly respected and resourceful group for those with this rare type of cancer. The women told us that when they and a mutual friend Janet were diagnosed with ROS1-positive lung cancer, they came together to learn more about precision medicine treatment options by reaching out to one of their doctors with questions.
What they learned is that there wasn’t much information to be found, and, as the doctor said, they would need to bring together a critical mass of ROS1-positive lung cancer patients to enable better cancer models and the needle on research. That’s exactly what these heroic women did.
In our second podcast with Dr. John Quackenbush, Chair of the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, we delved deeper into his approach to understanding cancer by studying entire gene networks rather than simple mutations. Read the full summary here, subscribe and learn more about our lead sponsor Trapelo Health.
In this episode of The Precision Medicine Podcast, we speak with Dr. Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, Chief Medical Officer and Director of Research for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia, about how precision medicine is changing the treatment of GI cancers. Learn about the personal experiences that inspired his medical career focus and the hidden talent that nearly stole him away.
In this episode 32 of the Precision Medicine Podcast sponsored by Trapelo, we talk extensively with Barbara Fortini, PhD, the Program Director for the Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics program at the Keck Graduate Institute about what students of biology and genetics need to know today versus what they needed to know a decade ago, and how she sees those skills being applied in a clinical setting. Read the full summary, download the transcript and tune in here. Learn about our sponsor Trapelo here.
Dr. Adam Brufsky, Medical Director for the Women’s Cancer Program at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, shares the newest findings from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) and discusses the important role of precision medicine in breast cancer care. Tune in and #Subscribe here https://bit.ly/2sT9y8r #PrecisionMedicinePodcast #SABC19
In this first episode of season two of the Precision Medicine Podcast, Dr. John Quackenbush discusses his approach to understanding what makes cancer cancer by studying entire gene networks rather than simple mutations. Dr. Quackenbush is Chair of the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the first people to have worked on the Human Genome Project. Read our full summary and tune in to the episode here.
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Selin Kurnaz, CEO and cofounder of Massive Bio, who led a panel at the Precision Medicine Leadership Summit in Philadelphia. The panel discussion, Precision Medicine Clinical Trials and Novel Designs: Levering Data, ‘Omics’, AI and Policy focused on the importance of increasing patient accessibility to clinical trials, an issue that drove Dr. Kurnaz to cofound her company. Read more in our full summary and tune in to the episode here.
In this episode, we talk with Kristine Ashcraft, founder and CEO of YouScript, a platform that synthesizes all evidence impacting drug response, including pharmacogenetic testing, to support doctors and pharmacists in making faster, more proactive decisions at the point of care. For a summary and transcript visit https://bit.ly/2O5Fpuj
Dr. Bruce Johnson, Chief Clinical Research Officer from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, joins us to discuss how recent advances in treating rare cancers can help drive the understanding and expansion of precision medicine.
To celebrate our upcoming anniversary, we're going back to where the Precision Medicine Podcast made its debut nearly one year ago.
Dr. Edward Abrahams is President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) and host of the 15th Annual Personalized Medicine Conference coming up on November 13 at Harvard Medical School. In this episode, we discuss the evolution of precision medicine and the value it can bring to all stakeholders, including innovators, scientists, patients, providers, and payers.
If you are a regular listener we've heard over and over about the challenges associated with convincing everyone—and most notably payers—of the value of precision medicine. So, we are excited to share Dr. Abrahams’ and the PMC’s vision for communicating it as a win-win for all stakeholders.
In honor of breast cancer awareness month, Dr. Erica Stringer-Reasor joins us to discuss how breast cancer has led the way in the adoption of precision medicine. Dr. Stringer-Reasor is an expert in the field of breast cancer, a fast-rising star in cancer research and Assistant Professor of Hematology Oncology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
In this podcast, Nigel Russell, Founder and Co-president of the Journal of Precision Medicine and host of the Precision Medicine Leadership Summit, joins us to talk about how his team communicates the importance and challenges of Precision Medicine to a broad and sometimes under-informed readership.
In Part Two of our two-part interview with Dr. Jack West, Associate Clinical Professor at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, we discuss the differences between how community oncologists are applying—or in many cases not applying—precision medicine as opposed to how it is applied by academic oncologists.
Ten-year cancer survivor and patient advocate Randall Broad, shares his personal story with stage III non-small cell lung cancer and how that experience made him acutely aware of the need for improved communication between patients and physicians in an effort to facilitate mutual understanding and better outcomes. Listen here.
Dr. Michael Kolodziej is CIO at ADVI Health and a pioneer in developing value-based reimbursement models for cancer care. Having seen him present his talk, “The Healthcare Landscape of 2025: 3 Trends That Can Change Cancer Care Forever,” at a Florida Association of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO) event, we were anxious to dive deeper into the trends here on the Precision Medicine Podcast.
In this part two podcast, he talks about payer reform and alternative payer models in cancer care today.
Mr. Chet Burrell, former president and CEO of Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield and Executive Chairman of the Intervention Insights Board of Directors, discusses the challenges payers face in managing the growth of precision medicine for cancer care and why he's championing Trapelo's precision diagnostic platform as the first collaborative technology solution.
In this first episode with Dr. Jack West, we discuss the state of precision oncology and the challenges providers face when it comes to performing the right molecular tests to appropriately prescribe targeted therapies. Leave a review and subscribe here.
In this first episode with Dr. Jack West, we discuss the state of precision oncologyand the challenges providers face when it comes to performing the right molecular tests to appropriately prescribe targeted therapies. Leave a review and subscribe here.
Laboratories could be considered the epicenter of the precision medicine industry, so we were thrilled to have Dr. Michael Astion, Medical Director for the Department of Laboratories at Seattle Children's Hospital join us. In this episode, he introduces us to PLUGS, (Patient Centered Laboratory Utilization Guidance Service) a grassroots program he co-founded that exists to promote and strengthen laboratory stewardship.
We’ve received many questions about the challenges clinicians face in knowing when to use pharmacogenetic tests in practice. So we invited our resident "genome educator" back! Inthis episodeJeanette McCarthy, co-founder of Precision Medicine Advisors, returns to address those questions and discuss some of the issues health care providers face. Listen here.
Dr. Michael Kolodziej is Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at ADVI Health, a Washington, D.C.-based healthcare consulting and strategy firm, and a pioneer in developing value-based reimbursement models for cancer care. Having seen him present his talk, “The Healthcare Landscape of 2025: 3 Trends That Can Change Cancer Care Forever,” at a Florida Association of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO) event, we were anxious to revisit his thinking on the subject.
In this podcast, we start with the first of the three trends Dr. Kolodziej mentions in his talk: Biosimilars. We asked Dr. Kolodziej to explain what biosimilars are and how they are impacting the cost of cancer care today.
Dr. Windy Dean-Colomb, an MD Anderson-trained MD, PhD, and practicing medical oncologist, and Dr. Clayton Yates, a professor of biology at Tuskegee University and director of the university's Multidisciplinary Center for Biomedical Research, join us to discuss the importance of studying and addressing racial disparities in oncology.
How precision medicine is moving oncologists away from population-based treatments to more patient-appropriate care.
Dr. Lee Newcomer, board-certified oncologist and former SVP of oncology and genetics at UnitedHealthcare, answers pressing questions about the current costs of cancer care, how diagnostics are currently reimbursed and who should control the development of those diagnostics. His answers gave us a lot to think about.
Precision Medicine Podcast guest Dr. Sandeep “Bobby” Reddy talks about how he became an early adopter of precision medicine and the opportunities that exist to present its economic benefits. Listen to the full episode here.
In epsiode 6, Dr. Peter Beitsch, Chief Physician of the Dallas Surgical Group and an executive with the TME Breast Cancer Network, joined us to discuss his study published by the Clinical Journal of Oncology titled, Underdiagnosis of Hereditary Breast Cancer: Are Genetic Testing Guidelines a Tool or an Obstacle? During the episode, he spoke in-depth about the results of that study and the implications for the future of precision medicine in cancer care.
This episode is Part Two of that discussion in which we learn more about how Dr. Beitsch uncovered flaws in population-based cancer treatments and began to advocate for individualized patient care.
Clynt Taylor, CEO of Intervention Insights, shares his insight in working with large cancer centers to identify and address barriers to precision medicine in cancer care.
In this episode, we welcome guest, Chris Wells, VP of Public Affairs for the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a collaboration of innovators, scientists, patients, providers, and payers who work to further the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine across the healthcare system.
Luba Greenwood, J.D., Strategic Business Development at Google Life Sciences, discusses innovative digital health tools in precision medicine and the greater healthcare space.
In this episode of the Precision Medicine Podcast, Brad Power, a courageous journalistic voice and lymphoma survivor, shares why he's fighting for greater access to precision medicine in clinical practice. Brad has worked as a re-engineering consultant and has authored over 75 articles for the Harvard Business Review.
In this episode, Jeanette McCarthy, co-founder of Precision Medicine Advisors and genome educator, joins us to discuss the importance of educating everyone involved in precision medicine—including healthcare providers, payers, and even patients—about its day-to-day applications.
NCCN testing guidelines have long been a key tool that payers use to decide which cancer patients will be covered for genetic testing. With the rapid growth of precision medicine, it has become more important than ever to ensure every patient that should be tested is tested, raising new questions about how effectively and consistently current guidelines are applied. Dr. Peter Beitsch addresses some of those questions in a recent study published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology and many are saying will have a major impact on women with breast cancer in the future. Listen to the full episode here.
All of the conversations we have here at the Precision Medicine Podcast are focused on uncovering both barriers and solutions to realizing the promise of precision medicine. Having the opportunity to speak with Laura Holmes Haddad, an author, speaker, and breast cancer “thriver,” was especially meaningful, because it serves as a reminder that improving patient care—and giving every patient the best chance at beating cancer—is the ultimate goal.
On this episode, Laura shares her experience with cancer and discusses her recently published book, This is Cancer: Everything You Need to Know, from the Waiting Room to the Bedroom.
Laura begins by telling listeners about the inspiration behind the book, which she wrote to give cancer patients a sense of what to expect. She realized there had been many things about the cancer experience that she did not know before being diagnosed, and that her notion of what it would be like was vague and flawed. Laura wanted to provide people with a sense of comradery and comfort in the knowledge that many others shared their experiences. After the release of her book, she was pleased to learn that caregivers and friends of cancer patients were helped by her insight and could better relate with their loved ones facing the disease.
Laura talks about her battle with stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer. The doctors who initially cared for Laura believed that after three rounds of chemotherapy nothing could be done to save her life; however, she continued to pursue a doctor whom she would like and feel comfortable with, and eventually found an oncologist who helped her get into the clinical trial that saved her life. This doctor had a strong grasp on current cancer research and was committed to supporting Laura. He applied to enter her in a clinical trial at City of Hope National Medical Center that would approach her tumor differently than traditional treatment. The trial was a form of precision medicine, and so it treated her in terms of her overall biology rather than merely considering her disease.
Laura now feels quite strongly about the value of precision medicine, and she wants other cancer patients to understand both what clinical trials are like and how precision medicine can help with cancer treatment and screening.
She is a public advocate for cancer patients and for precision medicine, and she is committed to seeing cancer stories told, cancer patients advocating for themselves, and barriers to care removed. More specifically, Laura hopes to see clinicians granted more access to innovative therapies, and she advocates for insurance companies to remove roadblocks to these treatments. The science of cancer detection and treatment develops quickly, she notes, and there is much for people to learn and put to use. Her experience and insights are truly inspiring, and well worth a listen.
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Personalized medicine offers new hope for cancer patients, but those such a significant illness are not the only ones who can benefit from it. Dr. Keith Stewart joined us for an eye-opening discussion about how his team at the Mayo Clinic is exploring the possibilities of using precision medicine for the prevention and maintenance of a “healthy genome” in people who have not yet developed a disease. Listen in.
Diagnostics tests are critical for properly applying Precision Medicine in cancer care, yet they are still undervalued by payers. In a recent podcast, we had the privilege of speaking with Hannah Mamuszka, Ph.D. founder of Alva10, a company aimed at breaking the cycle of commoditization in diagnostics and bringing radically new tests to bear on value-based healthcare.
Our conversation centered around the hurdles diagnostic companies face getting technology accepted and used for patients within our health care system—one of the biggest hurdles being reimbursement.
In oncology today, diagnostic technology tools are key to helping scientists unlock the potential of precision medicine, so we were thrilled when Dave Messina, Chief Operating Officer of Cofactor Genomics, agreed to be a guest on The Precision Medicine podcast to talk about the importance of such tools.
The conversation with Dave was a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come—and how far we have to go—in developing and using technology to realize the promise of precision medicine in cancer.
The impact of precision medicine is on everyone’s mind these days—especially those on the front lines of cancer care. So, it was an honor for to speak with, and get the perspective of, one of the most vocal and forward-thinking pathologists in oncology today: Doctor Tony Magliocco, Chair of the Department of Pathology and Executive Director of Esoteric Laboratory Services at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.