OncoScope-AI: A Personal Mission to Change Cancer Care

Two years ago, a 52-year-old friend of mine died of breast cancer. She had confided in me –?and no one else – about her condition a year before she died, knowing that I worked in?cancer research. At the time, I set about contacting the best medical experts in the world?whom I knew could give her the best advice available on how she could save her life. ?

Unfortunately with her type of breast cancer, the guidelines did not have any?recommendations beyond standard chemotherapy. And even one of the top experts in?breast cancer suggested that she enroll in a clinical trial. Initially, it felt to both of us like a?miracle – a lucky break informed by the physician’s personal contacts in the medical world?– giving my friend and her loved ones a sense of hope. That hope lasted a matter of months. ?

Instead, imagine a world where my friend could have gone to her local physician – not?necessary a world expert, but her physician for many years – at the first sign of her illness,?who could then have entered the key elements of her diagnosis into a real-time oncology?database including approved and investigational treatments. ?With that search, the?physician was able to come up with informed recommendations, and ultimately a?comprehensive course of action. That search, orders of magnitude more valuable and?timely than a standard PubMed search, would bring the very latest curated oncology?results to every physician’s fingertips in a matter of seconds. ?

I wish I could say that my friend was the only acquaintance of mine whose diagnosis was?marred by the lack of a comprehensive and timely search of the latest medical information.?But I cannot. ?

And my friend was the lucky one. She had access to the top medical advice in the world.?Most people do not have that level of access.?

This is why I formed OncoScope-AI: To help all oncologists everywhere use AI to filter the?myriad results of medical papers published every day in the field, and present those results?in a comprehensive yet usable fashion — and in so doing, help build effective and informed?action plans for each and every oncology patient. ?

This is for Maria, Kirsten, Olivier, Susan, and others who are fighting every day for their lives..