Oncology Overdrive – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Michel van Harten, MD, about creating better information systems for physicians and patients, how shared decision-making can improve drug development and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 0:14
•    About van Harten 0:20
•    The interview 1:00
•    What was your journey to becoming a physician and beyond to where you are now? 1:24
•    How did you learn the necessary skills to be an exceptional leader in this space?  2:51
•    How many years were you a practicing physician for? 3:53
•    What does myTomorrows do, and what drew you to this type of work? 4:54
•    Where is this service available?  7:19
•    Jain and van Harten on the challenges patients face surrounding eligibility for clinical trials.  8:36
•    Where do you see this going down the line?  10:05
•    Has your company looked into how to these services can impact diversifying clinical trial enrollment?  12:04
•    What are some challenges your company has faced?  13:50
•    How quickly do you think growth will accelerate in this space?  15:26
•    How will this work and resource have major impacts on drug development in a more accelerated way than in the past?  16:11
•    From the patient-facing side, have you faced any challenges concerning patients’ willingness to be enrolled in clinical trials?  18:22
•    What is next for you, and where do you see yourself in twenty years?  19:13
•    Do you have any concerns about AI in health care? […] What should we be aware of when utilizing AI in this space?  19:45
•    Jain and van Harten on the challenges and setbacks that come from outdated and inaccurate clinical trial databases.  21:35
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want listeners to take away? 23:50
•    How to contact van Harten 24:28
•    Thanks for listening 25:17

Michel van Harten, MD, is the CEO of myTomorrows.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Michel van Harten can be reached via email michel.vanharten@mytomorrows.com. 

Disclosures: Jain and van Harten report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Melody Harris about the evolution of precision medicine, what physicians and companies can do to help patients better understand precision oncology and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 0:14
•    About Harris 0:20
•    The interview 1:11
•    Tell us about how you ended up in this niche role. 1:32
•    How did you make the decision to move from practicing law to transitioning your career into this space?  3:56
•    Jain and Harris on the “hype” around precision medicine. 7:11
•    What is the central thesis of the work at NeoGenomics? 10:36
•    What do you feel companies need to be doing to make expectations surrounding diagnoses more transparent for patients?  11:49
•    Where do you think this is all going in the future? Where do you think we’ll be in another ten or twenty years?  13:30
•    What do you see yourself doing next?  19:04
•    How can companies address the disparities in health care access, especially in underserved areas?  21:06
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want listeners to take away? 23:32
•    How to contact Harris 24:30
•    Thanks for listening 25:14

Melody Harris serves as chief operations officer and president of informatics at NeoGenomics, a leading oncology testing services company.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Harris can be reached at melody.harris@neogenomics.com. 

Disclosures: Jain and Harris report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Shyam Natarajan, PhD, about machine learning in cancer research and testing, using technological innovation to address disparities in health care trials and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:17
•    About Natarajan 1:22
•    The interview 2:10
•    How did you get into the medical technology space?  2:29
•    Can you explain what machine learning means?  4:37
•    How did you end up co-founding Avenda Health?  7:18
•    Do you think that this type of technology is replicable in other disease types as well? […] Where else do you see this being a benefit? 9:53
•    When you think about AI, what are the other applications for this type of technology outside of oncology?  11:24
•    How do you respond to concerns that AI is becoming too sentient or independent?  12:50
•    What are the checkpoints we need to put in place to make sure that biases in AI algorithms do not become the norm?  16:21
•    Do you have ways to predict who would benefit from these types of technology, and can you categorize patients into who is appropriate for trialing these technologies?  19:44
•    Is there a way to utilize this technology to address disparities in health care?  22:04
•    Have you found that there are specific things that make it harder to enroll patients in these particular clinical trials? How do you navigate those? 24:47
•    If you had a crystal ball that could see fifty years into the future, where do you see all of this technology going? 27:28
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 30:56
•    How to contact Natarajan 31:31
•    Thanks for listening 32:22

Shyam Natarajan, PhD, is the co-founder and CEO of Avenda Health, a medtech company focused on improving outcomes for the one in seven men at risk for prostate cancer.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Natarajan can be reached at www.avendahealth.com or via LinkedIn. 

Disclosures: Jain and Natarajan report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Komal Jhaveri, MD, about breakthroughs in breast cancer treatment, where the field is evolving with anti-body drug conjugates and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:17
•    About Jhaveri 1:21
•    The interview 1:41
•    How did you get into this highly specialized field? […] How did you become a breast oncologist and find yourself at Memorial Sloan Kettering?  2:07
•    As a breast oncologist, what has really excited you in the breast cancer space over the last decade?  5:02
•    What do you think is going to happen in the next five to twenty years? Where do you think breast cancer treatment is going to evolve?  13:44
•    Do you think AI is going to have a big impact on how we treat patients? 17:47
•    If someone could only listen to the last minute of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 19:52
•    How to contact Jhaveri 20:34
•    Thanks for listening 21:32

Komal Jhaveri, MD, is a breast oncologist & early drug development specialist, clinical director of the early drug development service, and section head of the endocrine therapy research program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Jhaveri can be reached at her office 646-888-5157, or via email jhaverik@mskcc.org. 

Disclosures: Jain reports no relevant financial disclosures. Jhaveri reports she is the principal investigator for Genentech’s INAVO120 trial at MSK and co-chair globally.

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with David Cosgrove, MD, about implementing real-world utilization of clinical trials, the importance of diversity in clinical trials and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:17
•    About Cosgrove 1:26
•    The interview 2:54
•    How did you make your way from Ireland to Portland, Oregon?  3:18
•    As a fellow GI oncologist, what are you excited about in the cancer research space?  6:13
•    How can we realistically address disparities in cancer care to deliver the latest breakthroughs to patients?  8:54
•    Jain and Cosgrove on the challenges GI cancers experience in terms of delivery of cancer care compared to colleagues in other spaces. 11:22
•    What excites you about what’s happening in oncology right now, and where we’re going in this space? 13:30
•    How did you end up as medical director at Compass Oncology?  15:15
•    What are you specifically working on now, and where do you hope to see it go in the next five years?  17:25
•    How do we get more patients from different backgrounds into clinical trials, and why is it important that we do that? 19:05
•    Jain and Cosgrove on challenges facing patient guidelines and qualifications for clinical trials. 21:09
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 23:41
•    How to contact Cosgrove 24:45
•    Thanks for listening 25:49

David Cosgrove, MD, serves as the medical director of Compass Oncology in Portland, Oregon, and specializes in general adult oncology with advanced subspecialty expertise in gastrointestinal cancers.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Cosgrove can be reached via email david.cosgrove@usoncology.com.
 
Disclosures: Jain and Cosgrove report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with MOLLI Surgical co-founder and CEO, Ananth Ravi, about inventing surgical technology to provide better patient care, addressing inequities in surgical tool access and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:15
•    About Ravi 1:27
•    The interview 2:10
•    Tell me about how entered this field and how you ended up founding a company that invents surgical instruments.  2:42
•    How did you end up moving from Zambia to Canada?  5:02
•    Tell me more about MOLLI Surgical. How is this precision surgery unique from what is already out there?  6:47
•    What is your background to help you go from ideation to implementation, and how did you take the steps to make your ideas a reality? 10:31
•    How do you address rural and global disparities when it comes to accessing these technologies?  16:12
•    In an ideal world, where would you see this technology being utilized, and are there any other technologies that you think will revolutionize this type of care?  19:32
•    What else excites you about this space? […] How did you find going from the academic space into this role in the business/corporate space?   22:19
•    Jain and Ravi on work-life balance.  25:51
•    What’s next for you in the next three to five years?  29:26
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 30:15
•    How to contact Ravi 30:42
•    Thanks for listening 31:39

Ananth Ravi is president, CEO and co-founder of MOLLI Surgical.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Ravi can be reached at www.mollisurgical.com or via email aravi@mollisurgical.com. 

Disclosures: Jain reports no relevant financial disclosures. Ravi reports he is president, CEO and co-founder of MOLLI Surgical.

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Cyclacel CEO, Spiro Rombotis, MPH, about developing techniques and therapies for drug development, how technology has affected these advancements and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:15
•    About Rombotis 1:23
•    The interview 2:21    
•    Can you tell us about how you ended up in the biotech and pharma spaces?  2:41
•    How did you transition to the first CEO of Cyclacel, and what has kept you in the same space for over three decades?  4:45
•    Is this how you envisioned your career? How did this vision evolve over the course of your career?  8:53
•    What does Cyclacel do, and can you describe the types of innovation you are doing there? 10:19
•    With all this new and exciting technology in the field, where do you see epigenetics and precision oncology going in the next ten to twenty years?  15:46
•    What are your thoughts on AI in the oncology space?   22:21
•    Jain and Rombotis on checks and balances when it comes to AI use in cancer care and clinical trials.   27:53
•    What’s next for you?  30:53
•    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 36:18
•    How to contact Rombotis 40:25
•    Thanks for listening 40:43

Spiro Rombotis, MPH, is the CEO of Cyclacel. He has over 36 years at three public biotechs and two pharmas.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Rombotis can be reached via email srombotis@cyclacel.com. 

Disclosures: Jain reports no relevant financial disclosures. Rombotis reports Cyclacel Ltd employment and stock ownership.

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Jennifer Michaelson, PhD, about how to seek out opportunities in the health care industry, making space for diversity in biotech innovation and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:15
•    About Michaelson 1:21
•    The interview 2:30    
•    Can you tell us about how you ended up in the biotech executive space?  2:47
•    How do people get involved in this type of work?  12:32
•    Tell us about sourcing innovation in biotech, along with the challenges that come with it. 16:46
•    How do you consider patient access when thinking about innovations in the biotech space? 21:15
•    When you think about the challenges facing leadership and diversity in these spaces, how can we create an inclusive culture in the health care space? What have you done to spearhead a culture of DEI?  23:51
•    Jain and Michaelson on organizations infusing DEI concepts into standards of practice and care. 30:58
•    If someone could only listen to the last minute of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 32:16
•    How to contact Michaelson 33:52
•    Thanks for listening 34:23

Jennifer Michaelson, PhD, is chief scientific officer at Cullinan Therapeutics. Michaelson is a biotech executive with 20+ years of industry experience in oncology, immunology, and immune-oncology drug development.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Michaelson can be found on LinkedIn or via email jmichaelson@cullinanoncology.com. 

Disclosures: Jain and Michaelson report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Sean Bohen, MD, about how cancer therapies are changing how oncology can be discussed, shifting from clinical to industry work and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive :58
•    About Bohen 1:04
•    The interview 1:30    
•    Tell us about your journey. How did you become an oncologist, and how did you make the transition into working in the pharmaceutical industry?  1:51
•    How did you end up at Olema Oncology after working with other pharmaceutical companies? What was your decision-making process to focus on the industry part of your career? 3:44
•    Tell us more about what Olema Oncology does and what your role is there. 6:30
•    What do you see coming down the pipeline for breast cancer research and innovation? … What do you think Olema will contribute to that space? 8:58
•    Bohen and Jain on the ways in which new treatments have resulted in shifting conversations around cancer care and patient quality of life.  12:45
•    If someone in fellowship is interested in working in industry, pharmaceuticals or scientific development, what are the most effective ways to get into this space? 18:21
•    Jain and Bohen on changing the mindset and misconceptions around moving between clinical, academic and industry work within the field and after fellowship. 20:52
•    What do you see happening in the oncology landscape twenty years from now?  25:46
•    If someone could only listen to the last two minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 29:19
•    How to contact Bohen 30:54
•    Thanks for listening 31:52

Sean Bohen, MD, is the President and CEO of Olema Oncology.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Bohen can be reached at olema.com.
 
Disclosures: Jain and Bohen report no relevant financial disclosures. 

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Jonathan D. Licht, MD, about becoming and training qualified leaders in the field, challenges facing health care leaders and more.

•    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive :58
•    About Licht 1:16
•    The interview 3:17    
•    Can you tell us about your journey into hematology-oncology and how you ended up where you are today?  3:58
•    How have you found the time and ability to balance and succeed in the research, clinical, translational and leadership parts of your work? 9:05
•    What do you suggest to people who are currently trying to get into leadership positions in their early-to-mid career? 12:52
•    Do you agree with the sentiment that there are some leaders in the field who are put into positions prematurely or are ineffective? As a leader, how do you address the need for further training of future leaders?  18:39
•    What are some of the leadership challenges you have seen in the last several years, and how have you managed to navigate them? 23:20
•    How did you use your leadership skills to navigate the first few years of the pandemic, and how are you continuing to navigate delivery of care post-pandemic? 29:23
•    Tell me about the process of achieving NCI designation and what it means for your institution. 36:25
•    How have you had to navigate state health care legislation and policies challenging reproductive health care?  42:16
•    If someone could only listen to the last minute of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 46:13
•    How to contact Licht 46:56
•    Thanks for listening 48:16

Jonathan D. Licht, MD, is the director of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center. 

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X, formerly known as Twitter, and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ShikhaJainMD. Licht can be reached on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jdlicht or via email jdlicht@ufl.edu. 

Disclosures: Jain reports no relevant financial disclosures. Licht reports consultancy for AstraZeneca and research funding for Epizyme.