Susan Tousi Part 2: Delfi's cancer dx technology and her career as a woman in life science

Excited to announce a new episode of the Geonomics Podcast: part 2 of my interview with the fabulous Susan Tousi, CEO of DELFI Diagnostics.

In this episode we discuss her unique career path starting out as a Penn State engineering grad then leading Eastman Kodak Company's printer business to leading Illumina's R&D and then commercial units and now CEO of Delfi.

Susan deep-dives on her current role at Defi, a company focused on whole genome sequencing for cancer detection: Delfi's first test targets lung cancer, the deadliest cancer with low screening rates. Susan explains the importance of early detection in improving survival rates (Delfi has a 75% stage I sensitivity👏👏👏). She also tells us about Delfi's plans to expand the use of their technology into other cancers and monitoring applications.

We round out the interview with Susan sharing her personal experience as a woman in the male-dominated life science industry, encouraging women to have confidence in their abilities and to pursue leadership roles:

"I was worried about not having done a startup in a while or being a first-time CEO, but I realized I had the fundamentals to be successful. So, don't doubt yourself. If you feel you have the fundamentals, go for it."

"In the early days at Illumina, there weren't many women in leadership roles. One of my colleagues texted me, "Apparently, the future of sequencing takes 30 men and one woman." I hadn't noticed it until then, but it was true."