Moneyball Medicine

Dr. Jennifer Carter says it was watching friends and family members stricken with cancer struggle navigate the complexities of the healthcare system in the early 2000s that inspired her to start a company in the area of precision medicine. At that time, the development of targeted therapies for cancers with specific genetic markers was already offering new hope to patients, but it was also creating new challenges for doctors and patients, who had to digest, manage, and interpret unprecedented amounts of data. The vision of her company N-of-One, she says, was around "how do you create something that could cut across all the different stakeholders and create the knowledge necessary that connected physicians and patients with cutting edge diagnosic and treatment strategies in a way that made it understandable and accessible." That ended up being "a very good strategy for physicians, patients, and the company," Carter says—an observation confirmed by QIAGEN's acquisition of N-of-One in January