When most people hear about fighting cancer, what comes to their head are hospitals and medical labs that are busy with doctors, working scientists and other healthcare professionals. However, the fight for cure goes beyond the world of medicine and science. Disruptive technologies such as big data have come with the promise of significant transformation on how we use the World Wide Web. However, the biggest excitement lies in how big data and predictive analytics will lead to the transformation of the healthcare industry. Since the fight against cancer is taking place on a molecular level, data collection has become very essential.
One of the key industry players that is using big data in the fight against cancer is Eric Lefkofsky. Lefkofsky has a startup company called Tempus that is making use of big data to treat cancer. The startup is collecting cancer patient’s data and clinical treatment records to identify patterns and trends that will result in useful modes of treatment. Precision medicine that has been data-enabled is critical in the treatment of cancer in the United States and all over the World. Tempus is leading the way in identifying patterns in cancer treatment and coming up with treatment options for patients. Lefkofsky’s tech-company is based in Chicago, Illinois and is a perfect example of startups that are utilizing big data for the benefit of mankind.
The company was founded in 2015 with Eric Lefkofsky as one of its co-founders. The company has committed to buying and collecting one of the most diverse clinical and molecular data libraries in the United States and the world over. The company is also assembling an operating system that will make all of that information useful and accessible to both patients and doctors. Although Eric Lefkofsky is a billionaire businessman, he has committed to start a company that uses modern technology to take care of the thousands of cancer patients in the US. Lefkofsky learnt that there is a niche in cancer research that has not been exploited. Lefkofsky and his team also learnt that there is a simple way of taking care of cancer patients using the large volumes of data generated and collected on a daily basis from oncology centers.
Tempus technologies have assisted healthcare professionals in making better decisions in cancer treatment by making use of genome sequencing of the collected data. Lefkofsky and his team are now in the last stages of refining an end-to-end data analytics platform. This platform is meant to provide oncologists and other doctors with real-time information that connects molecular data with clinical data. Lefkofsky’s firm has come up with the largest library of molecular and clinical data of cancer patients in the entire world. The startup has not done this all by itself. It has collaborated with software engineers, data specialist, physicians, scientists and many others. Lefkofsky is positive that genome sequencing will be as natural as other standardized tests like drawing blood in the next few months.
The company has said that it will use the data collected to enable the delivery of personalized care by oncologists to cancer patients. Doctors will be able to choose treatments that address the genetics needs of a specific patient through the analysis of clinical data and genomic information. Over the last decade, advancements in technology have forced the migration from paper records to electronic records in the healthcare industry. Electronic records are easier to store for future use and analysis.
