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PMWC 2027 Precision Medicine World Conference
Jan. 27-29 Silicon Valley
The Davos ofPrecision Medicine
Save$1201 By OCT. 15 View tickets
PMWC 2027 Precision Medicine World Conference
Tickets Save $1201

Interview Questions for Samir Hanash

Interview with Samir Hanash, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Responses to interview questions from Tal Behar, Precision Medicine World Conference

Samir Hanash, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley, Track 3, Day 1, Session 2: The End of One Size Fits All

Interview Personalized Cancer Screening Proteomics & AI
View the Developing PMWC 2027 Program

1

Beyond Age-Based Screening: Personalizing cancer detection around individual risk

Hanash argues that reducing cancer deaths starts with determining who is at risk and for which cancer. He points to blood-based risk assessment across nine common cancers as a way to personalize screening and potentially enable prevention.

Q1 You pursued blood-based cancer detection long before it became a major field. What did you see that others did not, and what still must happen before early detection meaningfully reduces cancer deaths?
A: It became clear that the foundation for reducing death due to cancer is to determine who is at risk and for which cancer. This allows for screening to be personalized based on risk. At present screening is largely based on age and for just a few common cancers. Determining an individual’s cancer risk based on a blood test like we have done for nine common cancers provides a real time assessment of risk to tailor screening accordingly. Determining risk also provides an opportunity for prevention like eventually with a cancer vaccine for which an individual is found to be at risk or other means.

2

When Is a Multi-Cancer Test Ready? Cancer-specific evidence and cost effectiveness

For broad clinical adoption, Hanash calls for test performance to be calibrated for each cancer type. Mortality reduction remains the ultimate goal, with cost effectiveness and potential health care savings also part of the evaluation.

Q2 Blood-based early detection must distinguish true early disease from biological noise while avoiding unnecessary downstream procedures. What evidence should the field require before a multi-cancer test is ready for broad clinical use?
A: The performance of the test has to be calibrated on a cancer type by cancer type basis. Because some cancers are more common than others, one size does not fit all. Although the ultimate benefit is mortality reduction, in addition to performance, cost effectiveness meaning health care costs saved through the implementation of the test have to be taken into account.

3

From Proteomics to Prevention: Integrating multi-omics and AI

Hanash sees proteomics as essential for characterizing proteins and their locations. As vast proteomic datasets are combined with other omics and individual characteristics, AI becomes critical to translating that complexity into useful discoveries.

Q3 You helped establish HUPO and have watched cancer proteomics mature over decades. Looking ahead, how do you see proteomics, other omics, and AI working together to shift cancer care from late diagnosis toward interception and prevention?
A: Proteomics, other omics and AI can contribute substantially to shifting cancer care. First proteomics is essential to identify forms of proteins and their subcellular locations whether for diagnostics or therapeutics At present with the advances in proteomics technologies from one biological sample terabytes and terabytes of data can be generated for discovery that can be incorporated with other omics data and with subject characteristics making the use of AI essential to derive the most benefit from such data.
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PMWC 2027 Jan. 27-29 • Santa Clara
15 tracks • 400 speakers Co-hosted by Stanford/UCSF/Yale • Davos of PM
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