Episode 6

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Published on:

15th Jan 2026

Dan MacHugh: From Bench to Boardroom

In this episode of Precision Signals, Sean Khozin speaks with Dan McHugh, investor at Yosemite, about the systems that mediate between scientific discovery and patient impact. Dan’s path runs from Stanford bioengineering and the Greenleaf Lab to Bain & Company, Emerson Collective, and the co-founding of Tune Therapeutics. Across these roles, he has operated at the boundary between deep biological science and the capital and policy structures that determine whether that science ultimately reaches patients.

The conversation examines how incentives, reimbursement, and regulation shape the fate of cancer therapies, sometimes in rather unpredictable ways. It also explores Yosemite’s founding by Reed Jobs, Dan’s longstanding friendship with him, and how trust, time horizon, and shared mission have shaped a hybrid model that combines venture investment with grant-based risk-taking.

This is a discussion about cancer, but it is equally a discussion about architecture: how systems are designed and what they reward.

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About the Podcast

Precision Signals
Decoding the Systems Behind Breakthroughs in Healthcare and Biomedicine
Precision Signals is a podcast from the CEO Roundtable on Cancer about decoding biomedical progress: what’s real, what matters, and what’s next. We talk with scientists, regulators, investors, and builders operating across the messy interface of research, healthcare, and policy. Some are moving the system from within; others are reshaping it from the outside. All of them bring signal in a world crowded with noise.

About your host

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Sean Khozin, MD, MPH

Sean Khozin, MD, MPH is a physician-executive and board-certified oncologist internationally recognized for his pioneering work on advancing the use of artificial intelligence and novel data science solutions in cancer research and drug development. As Chief Executive Officer of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer and its independent AI research organization, Project Data Sphere, he leads initiatives that bridge cutting-edge technology with clinically-meaningful applications to accelerate cancer research and care.

Dr. Khozin is founder of Phyusion Bio LLC, an advisory and venture creation firm specializing in precision therapies and AI-powered solutions. His entrepreneurial track record includes co-founding Hello Health (acquired by Myca Health) and serving as CEO of CancerLinQ, where he orchestrated its strategic acquisition by ConcertAI.

His regulatory and industry expertise spans leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson/Janssen R&D as Global Head of Data Strategy and at the US FDA, where he served as founding Executive Director of INFORMED—the agency's first data science incubator—while helping establish the Oncology Center of Excellence. Earlier in his career at the National Cancer Institute, he spearheaded clinical research on molecular profiling strategies for targeted therapy development.

Dr. Khozin maintains his academic connections as a Research Affiliate at MIT and serves on multiple boards advancing the intersection of cancer research and artificial intelligence in biomedicine.