Jack Challis | 2003 Goldwater Scholar
Jack Challis, a 2003 recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship, is the Director of Healthcare Analytics for Lucence Diagnostics in Singapore. He focuses on making genomic cancer diagnostics available for cancer patients around the world and improving screening, diagnosis, treatment selection, treatment monitoring, and recurrence monitoring for residual disease. He collaborates closely with research institutes and healthcare providers in the United States.
Jack credits the Goldwater Scholarship with allowing him the freedom to follow his interests, specifically in healthcare data science. “I am enormously lucky that I was able to complete my scientific education without having to take on debt to fund it,” he says. “That financial freedom allowed me the breathing room to follow my curiosity where it led, which after some meanders have led into building enabling tools for cancer research and treatment.”
After earning bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Kentucky, Jack completed a Ph.D in Theoretical Physics at Yale University. In 2011, he co-founded and built CliniCast, an oncology software company that enabled better data decisions in oncology. The company was acquired by Elekta in 2015.
Jack says that his year of study funded by the Goldwater Scholarship propelled his jump into becoming an active participator in scientific research. “That year started a long journey in my scientific life from being primarily excited about novelty (new methods, novel experiments) to being primarily excited about the outcomes and questions being asked,” he says. “I believe the shift to practical outcomes would have pleased Senator Goldwater given his lifelong interest in technology’s ability to raise living standards.”