This Just In Radio: CancerX 2026 with Joanna Weiss and Matthew Bednar

Speaker A: M welcome to this Justin the show

Speaker B: bringing you the latest advancements in healthcare

Speaker A: strategy, innovation and public policy. And now for the fastest voice in healthcare, here's your host, Justin Barnes.

Speaker B: Hello everyone and welcome to special edition of this Justin Radio. I'm your host Justin Barnes. Today we're broadcasting live from Tampa, Florida in the Moffitt Cancer Center. We we are graciously invited to join the Cancer X Leadership Summit and have several of their leaders joining the show to launch our new cancer innovation series. Many thanks to Dr. Kamal Jathwani and Dr. Ninish Parikh for their hospitality in making this on location series happen. This specific cancer innovation series was initially derived from a conversation last October at the health conference in Las Vegas where I became very optimistic about the strides in cancer care innovation and patient outcomes. As we're outlining these episodes, it became even more obvious why we needed to tell these encouraging, encouraging stories about innovation, survivorship and curing cancer. I hope all of you find these episodes as enlightening and encouraging as me. And I expect to host a follow on series later this spring. So stay tuned for this episode. My guests are Joanna Weiss, Chief financial officer for Moffitt Cancer center and Matthew Bednar, Vice president of ambulatory and virtual care operations for Moffitt Cancer Center. Thank you Joanna for joining us. So from your perspective, what recent advancements in cancer innovation are you most excited about? Um, and why is it meaningful?

Speaker C: You know, I would not pick just one. I am really excited about the innovations that are sort of encompassing the back end and administrative components of cancer care.

Speaker B: Excellent.

Speaker C: And the reason I say that is because those of us who support our clinicians, our researchers, we don't have a way that is directly impactful to the patient. But when we're able to lower our cost of how we do business, that gives us the ability to contribute to the prevention and curing cancer in a really meaningful way. So if it costs us less money to do the things that we have to do, our financial reporting, budgeting, you know, all those finance type, um, activities, that's just money that we can turn around and put back into our mission. So anything that's going to support that and make us be more efficient and really, um, utilize our people in the very best way, that's what I'm excited about.

Speaker B: So I love it. What would you be most um, encouraged by from a, from a cancer innovation standpoint that you've seen or been a part of? You talk about some of the back ends of it. Is anything from a cancer innovation or a curing perspective or a survivorship or anything like that that you can target.

Speaker C: Yeah. So I just came from Cancer X and the summit, and, um, those of you who may not know, my mother just recently passed away in August from cancer. And so so much of the supportive care and the really make it easier on both the patient and the caregiver. I got really excited listening to that, particularly because it's hard on both. Yes, it's hard on both. And so things that would have made it easier for my dad or my aunts or my sister and I to support her journey, anything like that would have been really great in conjunction with making her days on this earth as meaningful as possible. That's really exciting to me.

Speaker B: I love it. And that's exactly where this radio show series came from, actually, where, um, Dr. Jathani and, um, Parikh, we were at, At a conference last fall and having it at a reception. And we just talk about. I got excited about some of the talks around the day about innovations that we're making, where AI is going to play a significant role, um, improving outcomes and just excitement overall about curing cancer. Um, and then this all kind of cascaded into. Now we're up here for cancer Action leadership meeting and all these different interviews. So that message is very encouraging because that's actually what I want to talk about. That's the stuff I want to talk about because I want a very encouraging, enlightening message. Cancer is not a death sentence necessarily. There's a lot of optimism and we can make that journey better. Patient satisfaction, um, make it better on the families as well. There's a lot of innovations happening out there. Um, and I'm very sorry for the journey that you went through, um, but it's exactly why we're here. And I want to start talking about this more. What are you currently working on that you're most passionate about and how does it connect to improving cancer care or innovation?

Speaker C: So, um, I would say it's a little bit about where I started. So what we're working on as an organization is really thinking about how do we provide, prioritize the allocation of resources to the things that are going to matter the most. So what's going to move our strategy, uh, forward in the most practical, most timely way? Helping the organization think about that and say, okay, evaluate different, um, opportunities, um, investments, and just say, okay, how can we really leverage that? And circling that back to your question about moving cancer innovation forward. A key pillar of our strategy is innovation, right?

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker C: You know, we recognize that cancer care Is of course taking care of our patients, discovering the cures of tomorrow, but also innovating for a multitude of different reasons. One is to, to contribute to the prevention and cure cancer, of course. But the second is it also creates a revenue stream because we all know in healthcare margins are tight, they are razor thin, they're constantly under um, siege. And so, so if we can look for innovation that is dual pronged, it makes a difference in someone's life but also generates revenue for us, we invest back into research, It's a double win.

Speaker B: Right. And actually we're talking about that at our reception and dinner last night about how if we can have the right patients in inpatient, the right patients in the outpatient setting, and the right patients that should be at home, the quality of life is better, the outcomes are actually improving and the right people get in the right care at the right place. Um, and that always the right financial model for everybody, everybody wins. It's kind of a quote unquote a no brainer. So we track on the same page. And obviously as a cfo, you care dramatically about that as well.

Speaker C: I do.

Speaker B: Um, let's talk a bit about this, um, Spiros. We have Spiros here in the background for those on Nvidia. But what strategic role does the Spyros, uh, outpatient center in Moffitt's broader approach, uh, to cancer care? Um, and then what outcomes you most focus on achieving through that type of a center investment.

Speaker C: So Spiros is really in my mind a couple of different pieces in part. So you have the land management and what we choose to do with 775 acres. So that's one piece of it and then the other piece of it is the actual clinical and research facilities that will be on that campus in conjunction with the new companies that will ultimately be there. So when I think of it in the, in the first part, it's how do we take that land and make the most of it from um, a collision of all different types of industries and companies so that you may be sitting next to someone at lunch one day and just strike up a conversation and realize that you have some real synergistic work. That's the first thing that's really exciting and how that can move our strategy forward. The second is from just a pure clinical and discovery component. I'll start with the clinical first. M. We're moving into an area where they, the people who live around that Sparrows facility, they don't have an easy access to world class care like ours. So bringing that closer to home. We all know the benefits of care closer to home. And then the third I would say which is like a 2A so to speak is the discovery. So when you have a 250,000 square foot building on um, a piece of land, the work that's going to go out there is really transformative. I mean you have bioengineering and um, all these really neat things that in world class space the things that they're going to do are just really exciting to me. And um, it's just, it's a really great opportunity for Moffitt to become more than a Florida based organization or even a US based organization. It really has the opportunity to make us global.

Speaker B: Yeah. And from a goal, part of my audience is global. So um, when we talk about the Sparrows outpatient center that is in, it's north of Tampa, the region.

Speaker C: Yes it is. So if you were to look at the Tampa international airport and go 20 miles directly north, it's just to the east of that. So it's about 45 minutes from here.

Speaker B: And have we is ground been broken and all that and everything?

Speaker C: It's live. It is open. It was open as of January 26th.

Speaker B: Okay. Oh fantastic. I'm going to go check that out in one of our next interviews. Um, so looking at the virreal crystal ball, what strategy, capability or shield must Moffitt cancer Center make to successfully navigate cancer care in two to three years from now? Thinking about innovation or outcomes from that perspective.

Speaker C: Yeah, you know I don't actually think we need to make a strategic shift. I think that our strategy, we are well poised to do exactly that. We have a really visionary CEO in a board that has um, gotten behind what he wants to do. And when you think about the three pillars of our strategy again, Moffitt Care, discovery and innovation. With a foundation of really strong accelerators, we're going to do it. And we have identified what we call home runs and making sure that those home runs really come to fruition. I think we have really gotten focused on execution and um, I'm excited about it.

Speaker B: Yeah, no great, uh, answer. I love it. Our final question, thinking about. We're here today because of the Cancer X leadership meeting. What are you most excited about? Cancer X and what Moffitt contributes there and what they've been able to do to help create it. But, but what we're going to achieve over the next couple of years of Cancer X.

Speaker C: You know I really love that question. I had not been part of cancer X, um, involved really the Last couple of years. I would say that this opportunity today has really shown me what amazing, smart, um, eager, enthusiastic people who have a personal story that just connects their business to what they want to do. It's really exciting. What I would love to be able to contribute to that and is helping those startup companies really see how to pitch to someone in finance.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Because it's one thing to pitch to somebody who um, who can see the problem, but you have to also be prepared to say, okay, this is my roi, this is my pricing model and defend it.

Speaker B: That's right.

Speaker C: And because if you don't get funding, it doesn't help. And so as I've talked with a couple of the people that have stopped me, I'm excited to help them because their ideas are amazing. You just need to give them the tools to say, ok, how do we be succinct? How do you um, articulate value? How do you actually make sure your tool does what it says it's going to do so that you create credibility with the people you're pitching to and then we're going to be willing to lean in.

Speaker B: Excellent. Now uh, as a cfo, you have a great perspective there, so fantastic. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Thank you.

Speaker B: And now Matthew Bednar. Matthew, thank you for joining us today.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: So from your perspective, what recent advances in innovations in cancer are you most encouraged by and why is it meaningful?

Speaker A: Yeah, as a non clinician I'm going to do my best to sort of speak a little bit like them because I'm constantly around it. But I think it's really at a broad level. Precision based medicine and molecular therapy. So things like CAR t um, where we're really using targeted therapies. We're shifting away from broad chemotherapy treatments that really sometimes um, might affect or even damage parts of the body that we don't intend to. But it's what we're trying to do to achieve the results of defeating the cancer. And this amazing research and results that our researchers are doing in buildings like we are in now are producing these therapies that really allow us to target, I almost equate it in the radiation therapy world. Like Proton. Proton specifically targets a tumor versus um, our Linax doing broad radiation therapies. So that's how I view really the evolution of, of these molecular therapies and precision based therapies that are just now starting to come about.

Speaker B: Yeah, excellent. So thinking about, I mean where, you know, we've talked a lot about the expertise that Moffitt has in some of these areas. I think you just, you just made me think of this. Um, what do you love about what, you know, your role, but also what Moffitt is achieving. Before we go on to the next question, what do you. Because it used me to think of that question.

Speaker A: Well, I mean, so I look at myself as sort of the blue collar professional because there's so many amazingly smart, genius people that really, um, pursue a Moffitt as their employer because of the amazing things that we're allowed to do and can do, the resources that we provide those people to produce those therapies and do that research. So when I say I'm a blue collar, I'm a, I'm a blocking and tackling administrator. So for example, we're building a lot of ambulatory, um, campuses. And the whole point of this is to bring that amazing clinical care and research closer to where patients. Critical to their success. Yeah. And so when I first started at Moffitt eight years ago, um, the CEO at the time asked me, as part of a strategic plan that we were building, what I thought of one of the pillars at the time which was expanding our brand. And I shared with him my thoughts and I said, you know, if we really feel like we're one of the best cancer centers in the world, and we are, then we need to be further out than just this campus where we are now. And so since that time, We've built almost 250,000 square feet of, uh, ambulatory space in addition to the new hospital that we have, the solid tumor hospital. But what that's done most excitingly is it's brought everything that we can do well within miles of where patients live. One of our campuses that we just opened in January, um, of last year, so it's right at a year old, we approximated eliminates about an hour and a half to two hours of driving time for people that live south of the Ruskin area, which is in the South Killsborough area of our market. So that alone the satisfaction that comes alongside that, because there's so much stress and anxiety that is associated with the disease, in addition to all the health impacts, et cetera, that for us to deliver care, provide us a place for infusions and radiation, um, and seeing their physician having their blood drawn those things closer to where they live, I mean, what a slam dunk win.

Speaker B: That's fantastic. I think this dovetails into my next question. Very well then. What are you currently working on that you're most passionate about and how does it improve Cancer care or outcomes? And you kind of just answer it in a way.

Speaker A: Yeah. Ah, well, I mean, I would be remiss if I didn't say that. Right. So it's, it's, it health care, whether you're in geriatrics, pediatrics, which is. I've done those things. And then cancer care, it's all about access. I mean, we all know that, right?

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: We're patients.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Um, and a classic phrase in health care is that the demand is overwhelming the supply and that's probably just going to get harder as we get older. Um, less and less people are going into med school. They're projecting a nursing shortage into the future as well.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: How do we create access that is outside the box? So, for example, we started a virtual care service in 2018. Many places have. So we're not like alone in that. But I think where we are alone is we'll do over 70,000 visits this year in virtual care. And I think that the reality of that is we do very acute care at a moffitt. It's not easy stuff always that we're doing virtually, but we've accomplished that. And again, it's fantastic. Access, instant access, easy access for our patients and their families. And that's all in addition to what I've talked about, and that's building these campuses closer to where people.

Speaker B: Very impressive. And I think this, again, dovetails. This is all great because it dot tails in my next question. Um, what strategic role does your new Spiros outpatient center play in Moffitt's, um, broader approach to cancer care? But then also, um, what do you hope it achieves in the coming year?

Speaker A: Yeah. So it's going to check the standard box of again, bringing those services Right. Closer to where people live, uh, providing a location that's easier to get to. But I think when you think of sparrows more broadly coming from the Orlando area and thinking of the Lake Nona.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Medical. Yeah. Campus, which I think is a model that we can at least compare it to.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: From a vision standpoint, it's being able to say to these companies around the world, these innovation companies around the world, like, come and call Tampa home.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Come and work with us. You know, we want to be the smallest tenant on that campus.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: You want everyone else, you know, think about all these health care innovation companies and technology companies in the space that we want them to say, come call sparrows home so that we can work together to create those therapies, create those innovations, partner to bring those advanced, um, Methods of care to the patients and their families. So that's in a broad way. It's broad, but in a broad way. That's where I see the campus in 5, 10, 15 years.

Speaker B: That's fantastic. No, and I think, uh, even in, um, Dr. Jethuani's show yesterday, uh, an episode, we talked about how survivability does have a lot to do with access, um, and getting the right care at the right time.

Speaker C: Time.

Speaker B: And you're. And that's exactly what you're doing on a daily basis.

Speaker A: So prevention. Right. We're just really starting to talk about the prevention space. Not that it's always been a part of our mission, but I think it's more about how can we utilize these locations to bring preventative care, um, front and center for our patients and families, too.

Speaker B: Yeah. And there's a lot of stats running around and we've heard a lot of great stuff in the last couple of days of recording, but 40% of cancers can be cured or even stayed off by prevention.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, I was thinking about this while walking over. I, I feel like society is just becoming more and more educated on health.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Right. I mean, we're seeing it in trends relative to lung cancer as a result of smoking. We're seeing all the articles about alcohol.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: You know, and what it's showing to do to our bodies. And we're seeing in the trends of decreases in consumption that the population is really taking those examples to heart. Um, and how is that going to contribute to what we're trying to achieve here, which is to cure cancer.

Speaker B: Yeah. And Dr. Wu brought up how you guys even have a food center here, um, and a food kitchen, and applaud you for that because I didn't know that going into this conversation, but I know how important food is and I've strictly watched my diet and alcohol intake and everything else for prevention, um, and long term health. But, um, I applaud you guys. And so obviously that's a big piece of what you do, too.

Speaker A: Yeah. I was just reading about UPFs ultra processed foods.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Um, and it's amazing what that list is because it's in every cupboard at home. Right? Yeah, it's in every, like, ironically, I

Speaker B: was reading about it yesterday even. I hate to say it, but Kraft macaroni and cheese and these things that people have on their shelves, which are horrible for your.

Speaker A: That's right.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I mean, we talk a lot about how can we, you know, not to come across disrespectful In a sense. But how do we educate our patients.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: To be better patients. Right.

Speaker B: Because it's old to be.

Speaker A: It's 50. 50. It's a relationship. Right. Um, a lot of people for years have talked about how our industry is a reactive based industry. Right. And we really want, we want to be, and we want our patients to be more proactive and that's where the prevention part of our mission comes into play.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And in the last minute or so, quick question, um, crystal ball, proverbial crystal ball. What do you see as a strategy, capability or shift that Moffitt can do or should do to navigate cancer um, care in two to three years from now?

Speaker A: Yeah. You know I think it's continuing to invest in these precision based medicines. I really. That's great. From a layman perspective, a non clinical perspective, the results have been amazing. And um, the progress that those researchers and clinicians have made investing in those types of treatments have just been. I mean Dr. Hu, our CEO will talk about it in his podcast. I mean the progress that we've made over the last five, 10 years is so much in contrast to what was done in the prior 20 or 30 years. And so you have to imagine that at Moffitt and other places like us that that research is going to continue and we're just going to see leaps and bounds in terms of progress combined again with the investment in education and prevention and um, educating our patients through things like virtual care. When to utilize us. Can we bring chemotherapies into the home environment? Again contributing to that access of care which we're talking actively about. Um, ah, as well as I think about it as someone who's soon to be 50, um, I think about my parents who are in their late 70s and 80s now. But it's only going to get better for those of us ah, that are at the ages where I am assuming that we also do our part in taking care of.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm 53, so I completely agree with you.

Speaker A: I completely agree with you and I think you didn't ask but the cancer X part here is amazing.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: We're working with a graduate group from the Cancer X pipeline last year. Um, I think that if I had to talk to the cancer X participants, what I would say to them is if you're going to work with a Moffitt that's an academic research based teaching, uh, organization that provides amazing care, we're traditionalists, um, by, by nature we don't move as fast as you do. Um, so what I would say to you is come prepared to help shore up some of those inefficiencies so that we can work together in a really fast, quick way and, um, revolutionize and evolve the level of care that we're able to provide now.

Speaker B: I love it. Matthew, thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker B: Appreciate it, man. Thanks. Well, that's a wrap from Tampa in the Moffitt Cancer center and Cancer X. Thank you all for listening. And I certainly want to offer a note of gratitude to leaders of Cancer X, Moffitt Cancer Center, Advocate Health, Fred Hutch, Amazon Web Services, Rush and other leading cancer centers, life science organizations and technology. Together, these voices provide a comprehensive view of how collaboration between providers, researchers and industry is shaping the next decade of oncology innovation. And a special note of thanks to Jake Reed, my head of media. Jake did a phenomenal job managing this remote podcast and also keeping all of us on track. And as always, a big thank you to all my listeners. We're grateful for you and you make us better with every broadcast. And please stay tuned in weekdays as we broadcast at 2:30pm Eastern, 11:30am Pacific. As always, you can find me at, uh, LinkedIn @justintbarnes or track me on Twitter HotAdvisor and use ThisJustinRadio so we can respond to your comments from the show if you miss any part of this broadcast. All of my this Justin radio shows are posted on Amazon Music, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Spreaker, and the TuneIn platforms. And also check out the content we published in, uh, the New Thought leadership page@justinbarnes.com thanks everyone. Have a great rest of your day.