"Success lies in not obsessing over the competition but rather staying dedicated to addressing our own challenges."
Wayne Brinster Tweet
Wayne Brinster, President & CEO of PreciseDx, a leading innovator in AI-powered, patient-specific disease analysis. Brinster is a strategic executive leader with 20+ years of driving revenue and promoting transformation within diagnostics, life science and biotech industries.
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Table of Contents
Can you tell us a little bit about PreciseDx?
Wayne Brinster: PreciseDx is a venture-funded startup which is a leading innovator in AI-powered, patient-specific disease analysis. We are initially focused on using our technology to solve a specific problem in breast cancer, but it can and will be applied to a wide range of other cancers and diseases in the future.
What sets us apart from every other AI health tech company is our Morphology Feature ArrayTM (MFA) technology. Our Platform interrogates every cell in the sample as to exact morphology features, that data is translated into a risk assessment report based on thousands of patients that have been followed for 6 to 10 years to observe progression.
This comprehensive view provides critical information to clinical care teams. Our results, recently published in Breast Cancer Research, showed our technology took reproducibility and prognostic accuracy from the current standard in the mid 70s up to 98%.
Improved accuracy saves cost in the healthcare system, these savings come from both from reducing the number of patients treated who are low risk and being certain that high risk patients are identified correctly and quickly and treatment is begun in the most timely fashion.
PreciseDx originated at the Hamilton and Amabel James Center for Computational Medicine, but was spun out as an independent company in 2021.
Initial investors include Merck & Co., IBM Ventures, Mount Sinai Health System, and Agilent Technologies, who understand that we have an extremely accurate way of doing things.
You used to work for very large and well-established organizations, like BD, what attracted you to working at PreciseDx, a startup?
Wayne Brinster: In general, smaller companies move quicker and can single mindedly focus on innovation. After managing several acquisitions of small, nimble highly innovative technology companies I wanted to participate and build that culture.
I was specifically drawn to PreciseDx because of its technology. When I first learned about it and its potential to enhance patient outcomes and assist those with chronic and other diseases, it immediately grabbed my attention and motivated me.
It’s exciting to wake up every day and work on something that will improve lives. I’d also like to say that the group that we’ve assembled is excellent. Every member has prior experience in the field of cancer diagnostics and knows exactly what it takes to achieve success.
AI is transforming many industries, with healthcare being no exception. What do you see as the most challenging part of leading an AI-tech focused organization?
Wayne Brinster: As an AI-focused healthcare organization, we constantly face the task of addressing crucial questions such as “What advantages does our technology bring to healthcare professionals?” or “How does our AI solution enhance patient outcomes?” or “What sets our product apart from others in the market?”. The key lies in ensuring that people have a crystal-clear understanding of the inner workings of our technology and its inherent value.
Another one of the biggest challenges is making sure that people understand how and where the AI is applied, what it is based on, and that it can be trusted in situations where patients’ health are involved. We are able to do that well because our outputs are quantifiable.
In other words, our products give the overall answer, but also provides the statistics and foundation used to build that answer. This is a much more understandable method of applying AI.
When pathologists use our technology, it’s not a black box that spits out a report. They are able to validate the data and determine how it was derived. Additionally, for the patient-facing healthcare providers, the report is easy to interpret, highlighting the level of risk for that cancer or disease.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you celebrated with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Wayne Brinster: This year we have had a number of achievements, but the biggest was the approval of our test for use on patients.
This is monumental because it signifies that a group of physicians reviewed our technology and the results from our studies, and felt confident enough in our technology to allow it to be used for patients.
Additionally, we are working on a medical economic impact report, which will demonstrate that our tech is not only benefiting patients, but will help reduce the economic burden of these diseases on the healthcare system.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Wayne Brinster: Some advice I wish I had received that might have helped is to not worry about competition and stay focused on our own issues. It can be distracting to spend too much time figuring out exactly what your competition is doing.
In the next quarter we will be closing on our next round of funding and expanding the organization. It’s more critical than ever that we stay strategic and focused.
What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned.
Wayne Brinster: The book that has influenced me the most is an older one, but stands the test of time: Good to Great and Built to Last by Jim Collins. It underscores the importance of spending your time focused on strategy and the big picture and not the dozens of little fires that pop up each day.
As CEO, it’s important that I focus on longer term goals and rely on the supportive team around me that allows me to delegate these day-to-day things.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Wayne Brinster: As with any venture-backed organization, one of the biggest challenges is always fundraising. Working to secure funding is time constraining and today, in 2023, it’s one of the most arduous times to find investments.
Furthermore, AI is getting a lot of odd press and people are not yet sure what to make of it. On one side there is a fear it will take over the world and on the other it’s over-hyped.
People need to understand that AI is a hugely broad definition. What we are providing is a far richer set of information to the people to take better care of their patients.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Wayne Brinster: The most underestimated part about leading a company is putting enough time into the entire HR process making sure that finding, selecting, onboarding and developing people are working toward your company goals.
It’s vital to ensure you’re putting the right people in the right seats and setting them up to do their best and deliver the best for the company. I’ve found that this is the area that gets undervalued the most. People are the most important factors when running a company.
Coming into an organization as a new leader gives a good opportunity to look at the skills, experiences and strengths of each individual in the group under you.
I always ask myself if that person is in the wrong position and I have had great success in moving people laterally to a different function and cross-functional experience adds to the bench strength of the group.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Wayne Brinster: 2023 is a pivotal year for PreciseDx, we gained approval for our test and are near completion of an economic impact study that will give us great acceleration in the market.
Success to me would mean having a number of our partners and customers utilizing our technology every day to deliver the right information to healthcare providers so they can improve patient outcomes.
Our product has been documented to improve outcomes, provide more timely results and save the system money, a winning combination.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Wayne Brinster for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Wayne Brinster or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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