Meet Prasanth, U.S. Air Force Reservist and Labcorp Oncology Head

Join us in celebrating National Military Appreciation Month as we recognize the services of our veterans, reservists and active duty members and their families. We recently spoke to Prasanth, who has been part of the U.S. Air Force Reserve for the last 15 years and joined our team earlier this year as Senior Vice President, Global Enterprise Oncology Head at Labcorp Drug Development. 

How did you get into the oncology field? 

In the early 1990s, I was selected for a Department of Energy Program to look at lab techniques for DNA sequencing. That was my first real introduction into rapidly emerging technologies that can help us get a better understanding of molecular biology and ultimately how to help treat diseases like cancer. After practicing as a Hematology/Oncology physician for a number of years, I moved on to a biotech firm and had the opportunity to really dive into the fundamentals of what drives cancer – ultimately “cancer is a disease of the genome.” For me, oncology represents the science behind life itself. To defeat cancer, we need answers to questions like: what makes a cell copy itself; and ultimately what drives a cell to grow uncontrollably and become cancer? 

What brought you to Labcorp? 

I joined because there was a unique opportunity to make a difference in transforming how oncology care is delivered to patients and really improving outcomes. Cancer is truly the emperor of all maladies. There are physical, mental, and social implications associated with a diagnosis of cancer which are unique compared to other illnesses. 

I’m excited about the rapid progress made in molecular medicine that has accelerated our understanding of cancer and its pathophysiology. I also have seen how our diagnostic technology is really important as we improve clinical actionability. Importantly, test results in a vacuum might not be helpful unless you can do something with it – we need to harness the insights from that data to help drive the right treatment decisions for patients.

I think Labcorp is unique in this amazing time we live in. Not only do we have fantastic testing capabilities in oncology across the patient journey – from screening, diagnosis, to prognosis to therapeutic selection – we can also increase the clinical utility of test results by hopefully getting patients into clinical trials. Only about 20% of today’s molecular testing in oncology leads to a standard of care therapy. We are uniquely positioned at Labcorp to help address how to increase the clinical utility of genomics/diagnostic testing by providing insights to the best care for patients – which includes access to clinical trials. 

How does your military service fit into your work at Labcorp? 

The vision and mission of both the military and Labcorp is ultimately to make a positive difference in the world. I think that working to help patients dealing with cancer represents an incredible challenge but also an amazing opportunity to help people. I view the military in a similar way. The Air Force core values are: 1) integrity first; 2) service before self; and 3) excellence in all we do. Whether we apply those core values in the military or in our day to day lives, we need to make sure that we are doing the best that we can as individuals by holding ourselves up to those high standards. 

I’ve also learned a number of other shared lessons in the military and in medicine, such as, there is a time and place to think outside of the box and a time and place for process and following standard operating procedures. We want to learn from our experiences and to constantly use data iteratively to find the best way to approach problems. If you haven’t solved the problem using a standard data driven approach, then it’s time to think outside of the box. We can apply those same principles in both the military and at our jobs at Labcorp to solve complex problems. 

Do you have any advice for people like you that span both the military and the civilian world? 

I would advise people to always stay curious, to stay passionate and, most importantly, to believe in themselves. Be willing to take some risks and to learn new things. The true measure of a person is not whether you will fall, because we all stumble and fall in our lives. The secret to success in life is being resilient – whether you hop right back up when you do fall. And aim to make a difference in the world. Here at Labcorp, our north star is to truly make a difference for patients; be proud of what you do, because every one of you is making a positive difference in the world. 

What excites you about your future career with Labcorp?

I’m very excited to be here. We live in a unique time – one where we are finally realizing the promise of gleaning insights from “big data,” have access to amazing diagnostic solutions such as detecting the genomic alterations driving cancer and can tap into incredible drug pipelines providing those therapeutic tools to target those genomic alterations. This is the era – 20+ years ago we didn’t really have the tools to be solving some of these questions. There are always going to be challenges and obstacles, but I see as great opportunities to come up with solutions.

Ultimately, I want to help deliver on the promise of precision medicine to really improve patient lives. I am confident we will be leaders in driving solutions for cancer patients by tapping into the power of the combined here at Labcorp. We want to empower clinical decision making to improve patients’ outcomes using data from clinical and lab insights as well as by continuing to innovate on our science and technology solutions. But what really excites me about Labcorp are the amazing people I have met here – dedicated, passionate, talented, and caring – and ultimately it’s our people that are the most important ingredient for us to tackle our biggest challenges like how to defeat cancer.