CHAIRMAN’S CORNER

Dr. Chadi Nabhan Chairman, Precision Oncology Alliance

Welcome to the first edition of Caris Connection and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us. At Caris Life Sciences®, we pride ourselves on providing the best clinical and scientific platform available to advance molecular science. We are also extremely proud of the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ (POA) and the collective work we have been able to accomplish over the first few years. We hope you find this newsletter valuable as we share information about POA members and projects, celebrate successes, highlight molecular science learnings, and share Caris product updates and improvements.

I took on the role as Chairman of the POA in April 2020, and couldn’t be happier. I am convinced there is no other group in the world working together to improve precision medicine like the POA. I am also thrilled to have the support of Caris and very impressed with the product portfolio and upcoming pipeline. From Whole Exome and Transcriptome Sequencing and AI-based molecular insights (MI GPSai™ and MI FOLFOXai™), to the soon-to-be-launched Caris CODEai™ and blood-based tumor profiling, Caris is actively fulfilling the promise of precision medicine.

I recognize the tiring times that we are all living in with the COVID-19 pandemic, but if anything, this crisis has shown me how resilient oncologists are and how deeply we all care about our patients and their families. The oncology community was mobilized as a cohesive unit to identify best practices to assure no disruption in patient care. Virtual visits took center stage, and yes, we all started learning how to navigate Zoom, WebEx and GoTo meetings. Who said you can’t teach oncologists some new technologies? I learned that our frontline healthcare workers will do anything to assure patients’ safety even when their own is at stake. As we battle this nasty virus, one must not forget the other patients who require timely care and attention. And caring for patients means that diagnostic tests need to be performed timely and that the results maintain superb quality. At Caris, we made so many changes to assure that the molecular tests ordered for your patients are done in a timely manner while ensuring the safety of our employees. We know that by working together we will all make a difference.

Our goal within the POA is to build the best-in-class research network across the United States by cultivating the knowledge spread throughout academic and community practices. Within the POA, there are 13 subgroups based on cancer type, although there will be some changes as to how these groups are divided and operate. Each POA institution has access to a multifaceted database (molecular, clinical, and outcomes), which ensures better design to observational and interventional clinical trials. My team and I are here to help you and we are very excited about the initiatives we are currently working on and the new opportunities Caris is bringing to the POA very soon. 

Thank you for reading through this newsletter, and as always let us know what you think. 

Stay safe and until next time. 

Sincerely, 

Chadi Nabhan, MD, MBA, FACP

P.S. Be sure to save the date for your upcoming tumor group quarterly calls!

June 18:	Thoracic Oncology	1–2PM CT
June 23:	GI	1–2PM CT
June 30:	Cutaneous	3–4PM CT
July 9:	HNSCC	1–2PM CT
July 14:	CNS	12:30–1:30PM CT
July 24:	GU	1–2PM CT