The new season of Business Class News’s Race to the Start Line podcast launched with a conversation that was both deeply personal and profoundly forward-looking. Host Karl Woolfenden sat down with two leaders from Caris Life Sciences—Dr. David Spetzler, President and Chief Scientific Officer, and Dr. James Hamrick, Chairman of the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance —for a discussion on how Caris is transforming the future of cancer care.
Woolfenden framed the conversation with personal reflections, sharing how recent losses in his own circle to cancer heightened his awareness of the need for innovation in oncology. “It tightened my awareness,” he said, “of how important it is to spotlight the companies and individuals driving meaningful progress.”
Tackling the Complexity of Cancer
Caris Life Sciences is a leader in molecular profiling and precision medicine, advancing how oncologists understand and treat cancer. Dr. Spetzler emphasized just how complicated this mission is:
“Yeah, so I think what the patents demonstrate is that we’re really on the cutting edge of trying to understand cancer. And the complexity of cancer is really quite staggering, because there are no two diseases that are the same.”
He explained that Caris has built one of the world’s largest datasets in cancer biology.
“One of the things that we’ve been able to do is amass an enormous data set. We’re approaching having profiled a million patients, and one of the great advantages that gives us is we can start to understand—from previous patients—new patients’ status, and direct them towards the better drugs that are going to help them live longer.”
From Science to the Patient Bedside
Where Spetzler focused on the science, Dr. James Hamrick provided a clinical lens on the company’s work. He reflected on his journey as both a practicing oncologist and now a leader at Caris.
“The founder of Caris, and Dr. Spetzler who has been there since 2009, was always that connection point between the science and the patient. And that’s where I focus—making sure what we’re doing actually makes a difference in the clinic.”
Hamrick highlighted the importance of ensuring that breakthroughs aren’t confined to research institutions but are accessible to patients everywhere:
“Too often, patients in community hospitals don’t benefit from the latest advancements available at large academic medical centers. At Caris, we’re working to close that gap.”
Humanizing the Science
The conversation underscored the human stakes of the work. Both leaders emphasized that the mission isn’t just about data or discovery—it’s about outcomes.
Dr. Spetzler summed it up: “Science is only as valuable as the difference it makes in the real world. That’s what drives us every day.”
Scaling Innovation for the Future
For Caris, growth means more than company expansion—it means scaling the reach of its technology so that physicians everywhere have the tools to personalize cancer care. This, Woolfenden pointed out, is a different kind of “race to the start line”: one where the finish line is measured in lives saved and futures extended.
As the first episode in the series, the dialogue with Caris Life Sciences set a high standard for Race to the Start Line. It showcased how innovation, when combined with purpose, can shape industries—and in this case, save lives.
