CEO by Sean Parker Cancer Drug Moonshot at the leading breed for healing

Karen Knudsen did not grow in a scientifically centered house. She grew up in a military family. But at a young age, as a “naturally curious” child, she loved the experience of discovery and dealt with mathematics and natural sciences. Knudsen stated that one day she would become a doctor. However, her career went into another scientific orientation, starting with a summer research intern in the laboratory of the National Cancer Institute during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.

“There was so much interest in understanding retrovirus like HIV, and so I went to a laboratory that retrovirus actually used to study cancer,” she recently recalled in an interview with CNBCS Julia Boorstin for the CNBC Changemakers Spotlight series (Knudsen was in 2024). “I was very interested in this direct line. How does what I do in the laboratory does the opportunity to influence life and I was thrilled and I never looked back,” she said.

Knudsen's experience as an oncologiefor in large health systems, and it led to the realization that it could help to learn more about the health care business. She chose an MBA. “I'm not sure if I will forget to look at my husband when I came home one day and said: 'I will get my MBA',” recalled Knudsen. “That was probably one of the unexpected decisions.”

Ultimately, Knudsen led to the first CEO that became the old American Cancer Society, which was more old until the centuries, even though she says that it is even more important that it was the first CEO for the organization that comes from oncology research. Under Knudsen's leadership, ACS turnover increased by over 30%.

Recently, Knudsen took over the CEO post at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immuntherapy creating by Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook and the tech entrepreneur behind Breakthrough ideas such as Napster-WO, a new business model for philanthropy venture-capital business model, which is organized with Knudsen's Lifelong interest.

Sean Parker Institute for Cancer Immunny therapy

The mission has not changed: “In the United States, we have 2.1 million Americans who receive a new cancer diagnosis this year, and unfortunately more than 600,000 people who will die from one of the 200 diseases that we call cancer,” she said.

Although cancer mortality has decreased by 34% since 1991, mainly due to previous detection and preventive health practices, Knudsen's new role is putting it at the top of the efforts to finance a new generation of breakthrough cancer medication.

Knudsen spoke to CNBC's Boorstin about how she achieved this phase of her career and what lessons she learned from a life that devoted herself to experimentation. Here are some highlights from the full video interview.

The scientific method and business thinking intensify each other

As a scientist, Knudsen says: “You feel very comfortable with the generation and tests of the hypothesis and the test” and that is in a way similar to a managing director who tries to find out what will come next on your market and how the conditions can change.

Scientists make it possible to develop a number of success metrics with which they can quickly know whether it is time to terminate or advance through a hypothesis. Knudsen says that this is part of the “overlapping way of thinking between scientist and business person”, which helped her to be successful when she changed from research to lead executives.

“It made the process to develop a number of success metrics and create a business strategy that tells you when you may be something or not on something easy,” she said.

Be brave to identify what you should do and what not

As a researcher within health systems that saw first -hand, how a wave of consolidation change entities and raise the question of how every person, every process and practice has to change, says Knudsen, they have to be willing not only to determine what works, but also, what has to disappear.

The appearance in the CEO post at ACS was “like a new fusion that needed business transformation,” she said. “Finding and fixing opportunities what needs to be repaired is often the most difficult part of the leadership,” she added.

Knudsen threw a bureaucracy that had grown into 12 separate organizations for more than a century with 12 CEOs and 12 strategies to optimize the operation. However, it was not just about eradicizing the inefficiencies. “I was traveling 49 weeks of the year for four years in episode because they really had to be there to see what was so good in these different areas and apply this to the rest of the organization,” said Knudsen.

Her greater point is that a life in research has made her a manager who sees changes as a constant. “Because medicine changes, science changes, the technology will change … it's okay to transform itself and constantly itot on it,” she said.

Work with people who are not afraid to fail quickly and to finance them when they can

Sean Parker and Karen Knudsen

Parker Institute for Cancer Immunny therapy

Sean Parker comes from the Silicon Valley “Move Fast and Break Things” World of Success, and Knudsen says that she has learned over the years to “be something more confident about risk to risk”.

Cooperation with Parker, the first President of Facebook and co -founder of Napster, is the highlight of the risk -controlled business side of her way of thinking.

“He is not afraid of thinking differently,” said Knudsen, adding that he still embodies the idea that “if we fail, let us fail quickly.”

In particular, she said that Parker found that the lack of access to capital was a great obstacle to the progress of the fight against cancer, and this held the risk participants from doing what they can best.

“The entire philosophy of the Parker Institute is to collect the best brains. Give them investments in the financing to achieve the high risk, high profit and the latest research that could fail but could also change cancer therapy dramatically,” she said.

The institute was founded in 2016 by Parker to transform all cancer into “curable diseases” and supports clinical tests, startup formation and incubation as well as the commercialization of medicinal products. In total, Pici supported the work of 1,000 researchers and contributed to creating a 4 -billion dollar -risk capital portfolio, which includes 17 Biotech companies.

“I think that is because we endangered science from the start,” said Knudsen. “We don't wait for someone to pitch for us. So I feel very optimistic about the ability to turn this bike,” she said.

Create a list of colleagues and mentors “hot dial”

Knudsen had many mentors during her trip. One that quoted her was Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, which she was for her as a “knowledge fountain”. But when CEO the American Cancer Society surrounded it “with CEOs from all areas of life. I had a CEO council that was hot dial,” said Knudsen. “There are some things that you really have to talk to other CEOs about.”

She also emphasized that the higher you get up a professional director, the higher you get up a professional leader. Statistically speaking, this is the case, whether in the economy or in the academic world. More than 50% of the MD and doctoral programs are filled with women, but only 12% are complete professors, department chairs or deans. 10% of women CEO positions are held in the business world in S&P 500 companies; And about 12% in VC supported companies and 13% in healthcare companies.

Regardless of whether it is a gender, the inherent risk of failure of scientific efforts or with the lack of access to capital, Knudsen's consistent mission has helped to overcome obstacles.

“What I always wanted to do, be it as a scientist, be it as a health manager, CEO of the American Cancer Society or now the Parker Institute, it is to let people innovate,” she said. “At that moment we are at the time when there is so much discovery that the pace of change is really logarithmic, and yet too many great ideas never manage from the laboratory floor.”

Take a look at the full Changemakers to see Knudsen's knowledge in the field of drug discovery and the fight against cancer.