Taylor Shimizu introduced our program and reminded us it is a perfect complement to Gary Gilliland’s October program on eradicating cancer.  Mathew Trunnell is a man on a mission.  He was recruited by the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center to bolster their research capabilities using data analytics.  As Hutch’s chief data officer, Michael has been able to advance cancer care and treatment through innovative partnerships with local technology companies. 

 

Mathew came to the Research Center to tap into his passion for curing cancer.  Hutch is the only designated cancer center for a five-state region and a world leader in infectious disease research.  Its cutting edge work in immunotherapy holds the best promise for treating cancer.

 

Trunnell highlighted how data analytics enriches the work done by Hutch’s scientific teams.  It extends their analyses and helps pinpoint promising new innovations.   These new advances coming from data analytics are driving Hutch to partner with local tech companies.  Information technology from Amazon, for example, is helping scan patient records 6000 times faster than humans can which provides scientists deeper insights than ever before.

 

 

Fifty percent of chemotherapy patients end up in hospitals at some point in their treatment due to complications or side effects.  Microsoft is helping Hutch develop a wearable device that tracks patient vitals.  The devices signal health challenges and provide data for predictive algorithms so we can see trends and sources that cause patients health to drop and require hospital attention.

 

 

Seattle is a world leader in data visualization.  When Hutch published the first-ever report on the quality of cancer care across the state it worked with Tableau on data visualization to make huge mountains of data understandable to the masses.  Communicating clearly and sharing lots of valuable information increase access to cancer care. 

 

Trunnell concluded his talk by reminding us that we can cure cancer - it is already happening today.  Immunotherapy represents a huge advance in successfully fighting cancer.  These partnerships with local tech firms also boost our research efforts tremendously and lead to big breakthroughs in cancer and infectious disease treatments.

 

Mathew did share that these advances have not been easy.  It is a long journey to build partnerships around patient data.  There have been tremendous discussions around sharing data and protecting its confidentiality and integrity.  Agreeing on data sharing is complex and takes time.

 

President Cindy Runger opened the meeting.  Jimmy Collins and Marli Iverson led the club through an especially pertinent rendition of You Are My Sunshine.  We were also introduced to our newest member, Romanita Hairston.