Precision Signals

Sahir Ali’s career defies conventional paths. Trained as an engineer, he worked in quantitative finance, contributed to cancer research, built software companies, and ultimately founded Modi Ventures, where he developed the BioStack investment framework for technology-driven life sciences. In this conversation with Sean Khozin, Sahir explains how systems thinking, mathematics, and first-principles...

In this episode of Precision Signals , we speak with Mike Krzyzewski, known to most of the world as Coach K, about leadership, trust, teams, cancer advocacy, and the human side of progress. Coach K is one of the defining figures in American sports. Over more than four decades at Duke, he built championship teams, led the United States to Olympic gold, and shaped generations of players and coaches...

Dr. Brian Druker helped change the course of modern oncology through his central role in the development of imatinib (Gleevec), a therapy that transformed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and helped establish the modern era of precision oncology. In this episode of Precision Signals , Dr. Sean Khozin speaks with Dr. Brian Druker about the scientific, clinical, and human story behind Gleevec, from th...

In this episode of Precision Signals, Sean Khozin, MD, MPH sits down with Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), to trace a career that began with a childhood memory of Brian Piccolo and Memorial Sloan Kettering, and now sits at the helm of the world's largest professional society in cancer care. Dr. Hudis reflects on his path from Northeast Ph...

Sunil Verma, SVP and Global Head of Oncology at AstraZeneca, has lived a life defined by reinvention. Born in Zambia, raised across Africa, India, and Canada, he was accepted to medical school at 19, became one of the most respected breast cancer oncologists in Canada, built a cancer center in Calgary from the ground up, and then left academia entirely to help write the next chapters of oncology a...

As cancer treatments become more powerful and precise, the field of oncology is entering a new era. We are moving beyond the question of "Can we extend life?" to "How do we live with the biology these therapies unleash?"In this episode of Precision Signals, host Sean Khozin is joined by Dr. Afreen Shariff (Director of the Endocrine Neoplasia Program at Duke University) and Jon McDunn (President of...

In this episode of Precision Signals, Sean Khozin sits down with Dr. David Fajgenbaum — physician, scientist, patient, and founder of Every Cure — to explore one of the most extraordinary stories in modern medicine. As a third-year medical student, David developed idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease, a rare inflammatory disorder that led to multi-organ failure. He was read his last rites fiv...

Most people know Sean Parker as the prodigy behind Napster and Facebook. Far fewer know why he chose to take on one of the hardest problems in science: cancer. In this clip from Precision Signals, we explore the founding insight behind the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy—that the greatest barrier to progress in cancer research isn’t talent or ideas, but how science is funded. Despite mor...

Sean Khozin in a conversation with Sushil (Sush) Patel, CEO of Replimune, discussing advancements in cancer immunotherapy, particularly the use of oncolytic viruses. They explore how engineered viruses can turn tumors into targets for the immune system, representing a shift in oncology towards reprogramming tumor biology. Sush shares insights from his extensive career, including challenges faced a...

In this episode of Precision Signals, Sean Khozin speaks with Dan McHugh, investor at Yosemite, about the systems that mediate between scientific discovery and patient impact. Dan’s path runs from Stanford bioengineering and the Greenleaf Lab to Bain & Company, Emerson Collective, and the co-founding of Tune Therapeutics. Across these roles, he has operated at the boundary between deep biologi...

Dr. Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), joins Dr. Sean Khozin to dissect the science and business of curing cancer. From her upbringing as a self-described "nomad" and "army brat" to leading the American Cancer Society, Karen shares her journey from the lab bench to the boardroom. In this episode, we explore the Parker Institute's unique model of "venture ph...

In Episode 4 of Precision Signals, Dr. Sean Khozin sits down with Daniel Arbess—investor, social entrepreneur, and healthcare innovator—to explore why the limiting factor in solving cancer and neurodegenerative diseases isn't breakthrough science, but institutional innovation. Daniel Arbess has built a career on questioning foundational assumptions across multiple domains: from analyzing Cold War...

In this episode of Precision Signals, Dr. Sean Khozin speaks with Dr. James Gulley, Chief of the Medical Oncology Service and Co-Director of the Center for Immuno-Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Gulley is one of the world’s leading figures in immuno-oncology. He helped bring immune-based cancer therapies from an era of skepticism into a clinical mainstay, shaping both the science an...

Dr. Michelle Longmire, physician-scientist, technologist, and CEO, cofounder of Medable; shares how early lessons in science and systems design shaped her mission to fix one of medicine’s most persistent bottlenecks: slow, fragmented, and inaccessible clinical trials. We discuss her path from autoimmune skin disease research at Stanford to building Medable into a global clinical trial infrastructu...

What does it take for AI to move from technical innovation to real-world adoption in oncology? In the first episode of Precision Signals, Dr. Sean Khozin speaks with Dr. Cora Sternberg and Dr. Olivier Elemento—two leaders at the intersection of clinical trials, precision medicine, and computational biology. Together, they unpack the central paradox of medical AI: why so many tools are technically...