Data-Driven Diagnostics are CEO’s Core Competency

Lung diseases have been placed front and centre of the medical community in the last year and a half, given the emergence of COVID-19 and its various impacts on breathing difficulties. Understanding lung disease is key to beating them, and that is part of the work carried out by Biodesix Inc., a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company helping to answer critical clinical questions. The firm is also home to Mr Scott Hutton, recipient of the title of CEO of the Year, 2020 – The USA. Join us as we highlight Mr Hutton’s personal and professional success, as well as take a closer look at what Biodesix Inc. has to offer as a business.

When it comes to tackling any new lung disease, there are a great many things to consider and query before real strides can be made. Physicians, researchers, and biopharmaceutical companies alike all have to consider critically-important clinical questions that will help to shine a light on how a new disease operates, and what systems it targets when it infects a new person. Take COVID-19 for example. Before vaccines became a reality, there was a wealth of research and careful consideration to understand the virus and how it operates. It is this kind of research and understanding that is the primary focus of the work carried out by Biodesix Inc.. Since its inception, the firm has been a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company that has sought to help answer critical clinical questions faced by physicians, researchers, biopharmaceutical companies, and medical professionals when dealing with lung disease.

In seeking to answer these questions, the mission of Biodesix Inc. becomes increasingly clear: to improve every patient’s lung disease care by empowering physicians with swift, comprehensive, and actionable insights. Understanding how diseases and infections work is imperative to understanding how to beat them and give a patient their life back. Biodesix Inc.’s vision is to be a trusted partner that the world relies on for data-driven diagnostic solutions in lung disease and beyond. In working to achieve this mission and see this vision become a reality, Biodesix Inc. operates in several key areas. These include leveraging a technology-agnostic approach and a proprietary AI platform to provide a holistic view of each patient’s disease state, solving complex diagnostic challenges in lung disease, and believing that every patient deserves a personalized approach to improving their care.

Taking care of those fighting against a lung disease is no easy feat, but Biodesix Inc. always strives to be a trusted partner with end-to-end diagnostic solutions for every eventuality. Technology is key in this fight and it has certainly come a long way, even just in the last few years. Advancements are being made all time, but Biodesix Inc.’s core belief is that no single technology can answer all diagnostic research questions that may arise. Working alongside biopharmaceutical partners, the firm employs a personalized and integrated approach to technology-agnostic service delivery. Uncovering the wealth of information around disease biology requires access to many technologies, and Biodesix Inc. works with many different technologies, or “omics” to ensure that the patient gets the best care imaginable.

Just some of these technologies allow the firm and its biopharmaceutical partners to carry out diagnostic research to uncover novel insights about tumour biology and the patient’s immune response to cancer for biopharmaceutical therapeutics in clinical developments. Using technology to help uncover new insights and information about a patient’s status can not only help them with understanding the disease, but also the care plan. The blood tests carried out by Biodesix Inc. are helping to provide physicians with swift and actionable biomarker results to support an individualized and personalized care plan like no other.

Overseeing all of this outstanding work is the recipient of today’s title of CEO of the Year, 2020 – The USA: Mr Scott Hutton. Mr Hutton has served diligently as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Biodesix Inc. since January 2020, and it has been quite the first year for him, as he led the company through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and listed on  NASDAQ the morning of October 26^th, 2020. Scott Hutton accomplished this in the face of  a global pandemic and the most tumultuous election year in US history. Prior to holding the role of CEO at the firm, Mr Hutton had previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer from March 2018 to December 2019. On top of this, the outstanding Mr Hutton has served on the board of Eximis Surgical since February 2018,was an Observer on the board of Aqueduct Critical Care from September 2014 to January 2017, was an Observer on the board of Visualase from October 2012 to July 2014 and served on the board of the Colorado BioScience Association from April 2011 to April 2013. His experience seemingly knows no bounds, having plied his leadership skills in a myriad of roles, and for a wealth of companies and corporate entities. However, there have been two uniting threads throughout his professional career that have carried him from success to success, and seen him rise to a position where being named CEO of the Year, 2020 – The USA is a fully deserved success.

These two threads are a passion for solutions, and a passion for high calibre leadership. Together, these skills have meant that Mr Hutton has been able to carve out a reputation for himself as being an outstanding leader that is driven to find and empower solutions. Mr Hutton joined the team at Biodesix Inc. from Spectranetics Corp, a U.S.-based global leader in vascular intervention and lead management solutions, and he was based at Medtronic plc before that, a global healthcare products company and manufacturer of medical devices and supplies. His knowledge and insight around the healthcare industry has also been a staple of his career in leadership, enhanced by his Bachelor of Arts degree in Health and Kinesiology from Purdue University. Almost ten years ago in July 2011, Mr Hutton was awarded the Medtronic Wallin Leadership Award for his focus on talent development, business performance, and his personal and intentional demonstration of leadership.

Mr Hutton is an outstanding leader, and one who understands what it means to be effective in his role of inspiring others involved in the research and understanding of lung disease. At a time where lung disease is one of the most dominant news stories of our time, the work of Biodesix Inc. is more important than ever, and there can be no better leader to guide the firm than Mr Hutton. His leadership, dedication, and business performance have meant that this award could not go to a more deserving individual, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for both Mr Hutton himself, and the wider work of Biodesix Inc. as a business at the forefront of data-driven diagnostic solutions.

Bobbi Coffin can be contacted through Biodesix, Inc.