Karen Knudsen: From Scientist to One of the Most Powerful Leaders in Oncology

In this episode of OncoInfluencers, host Gevorg Tamamyan speaks with Karen Knudsen, PhD, CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and one of the most influential leaders in oncology today.

🎙️ In this interview, we explore:

✓ Her early scientific foundation - from yeast genetics to DNA damage and cell-cycle research
✓ Team-building across urology, oncology, radiation oncology & pathology
✓ Leading cancer services at Jefferson Health and scaling a 3-hospital system into 16
✓ Bringing clinical trials into communities and advancing access to quality care
✓ Transforming the American Cancer Society: new mission, new vision, new structure
✓ Redefining ACS around research, advocacy, and patient support
✓ How policy, navigation, transportation & lodging change patient outcomes
✓ Her move to the Parker Institute and its high-risk, high-gain immunotherapy model
✓ How PICI identifies breakthrough ideas and turns them into companies and clinical trials
✓ The mentors who shaped her

00:00 Introduction
01:07 First experiences at the National Cancer Institute
02:13 Early research in yeast genetics & retrotransposition
03:43 Transition to prostate cancer research & translational science
04:21 Discovering androgen control of the cell cycle
05:20 Learning team-building across clinical disciplines
06:10 Running an NCI-designated cancer center
06:47 Growing Jefferson to a 16-hospital system
08:40 Transforming ACS: new mission, vision, structure
10:08 The Parker Institute model: science → translation → companies
11:44 Host reflects on her extraordinary journey
12:38 How leading ACS differs from leading PICI
13:22 ACS before transformation & why it needed reinvention
14:02 Why ACS mattered personally to her as a healthcare leader
15:21 Building ACS as a unified national patient-focused organization
16:10 Strengthening ACS CAN and policy impact
17:43 Defining ACS success: “ending cancer as we know it, for everyone”
19:43 Transitioning ACS to new leadership after successful transformation
19:59 PICI at 9 years old vs. ACS at 100+ years
20:24 How early innovation funds shaped her approach
22:18 What she believes is the key to her success
24:07 Her mentors and what they taught her
26:22 Building unified cancer care across multiple systems
39:34 Thinking 5 years ahead, not just today
30:00 Her mentees in academia, industry & leadership
31:45 The books that shaped her (science, business, literature)
36:46 Advice for the younger generation

#OncoDaily #KarenKnudsen #ParkerInstitute #CancerImmunotherapy #ImmunoOncology #CancerResearch #TranslationalResearch #OncologyLeadership #HealthInnovation #CancerCare #BiotechLeadership #CancerPolicy #PatientAdvocacy #ClinicalTrials #ProstateCancerResearch #CancerEcosystem #ScienceLeadership #WomenInSTEM #BiomedicalInnovation #FutureOfCancerCare

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