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 philanthropy." Karen explains how PICI uses shared intellectual property to de-risk early-stage science and spin out venture-ready companies like Dispatch and Orbital Therapeutics. We also discuss the challenges of modernizing a historic non-profit with "no product" to sell , the intersection of AI and biomarkers with companies like ArteraAI , and PICI's massive data project, "Radiohead".

Karen is candid about her leadership philosophy: she is not a "keep the trains running" executive, but a leader built for transformation.

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 nuclear policy to restructuring post-Soviet industries as the youngest-ever partner at White & Case, to founding Xerion Capital, a hedge fund that delivered over 25% annualized returns through the 2008 financial crisis. Now, he's applying that same lens to healthcare transformation.

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 and the clinical frameworks that define the field today.

Their conversation explores the critical frontiers of immunotherapy: the limits of predictive biomarkers, the biological opacity of treatment resistance, and the shortcomings of current trial designs. They discuss adaptive clinical trials, new endpoints, and the integration of AI into clinical research. Emerging tools such as digital pathology, wearable monitoring, and continuous physiologic data capture are highlighted, including recent work detecting CAR-T toxicity before it becomes clinically evident.