# My "Why" - The Story of My Father | Simplify Genomics

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/feed/177505
- Entity ID: wefunder:feed_item:177505
- Published at: 2024-11-15 02:24:38 UTC
- Updated at: 2025-07-17 23:45:47 UTC

## Author
Travis Lacey

## Subject
Simplify Genomics

## Content
Hello everyone. It’s Travis Lacey, CEO and co-founder of Simplify Genomics. Although I’ve been in the healthcare industry for almost 30 years, the grave importance of my work did not completely dawn on me until a recent battle my dad had with cancer. I wanted to take a moment to tell the story of why this Simplify Genomics’ platform is so powerful and important to me.Four years ago, my dad was diagnosed with late-stage cancer and the outlook was bleak. He was initially going to undergo standard chemotherapy and I convinced him to get genomic profiling completed. After speaking with his doctors, he received a genomic test and qualified for immunotherapy. Once he began immunotherapy, he had immediate results – his tumor shrank by 50% in three months and seemed to melt away in six months with little to no side effects from the treatment. No one fully understands why, but my dad was a “super responder” and to this day he is cancer free. To be clear, the testing he received was on his tumor biopsy and not the testing we currently specialize in at Simplify Genomics. However, since not everyone metabolizes immunotherapy well and many have very severe side effects, the testing we do at Simplify Genomics allows us to better understand the genes that influence drug metabolism or those that might help us predict adverse side effect profiles.While this is a happy story, it also demonstrates my personal drive behind Simplify Genomics. My dad’s experience showed me that everyone could benefit from far more personalized, data-enriched healthcare. Understanding who responds best can have a major impact on treatment options. This “insider” knowledge and access that possibly saved my dad’s life should be widely available. It showed me that we must solve the genomic data problem, and with our platform we are working to make genomics accessible to the masses.Currently, there is very little ability to make actionable sense of the genomic data, and clinicians can’t pinpoint the best treatment for individuals. They can’t identify “super responders” or “non-responders” and analyze their genetic data against others. My dad asked his oncologist how many patients with a similar clinical diagnosis had been given the same immunotherapy and had the same super response with minimal side effects. I knew the answer would be “nobody knows,” but that should not be the case. With the Simplify Genomics technology platform and the right data we can test, categorize and search out who has similar profiles and how they could be optimally treated. We could find other patients with the same clinical profile as my dad, the same drug and same phenomenal outcomes, and could analyze their genomic data to replicate the outcome for future patients.We now have that power. Our platform could unlock genetic stories like my dad’s success to identify patterns and similarities across patient responses and help others to find the best treatment path for their genetic profile. It gives clinicians the ability to leverage raw data to make personalized healthcare a reality. It is my “why” and if you have family or friends impacted by cancer or other chronic or acute diseases, we believe Simplify can play a part in the future of personalized healthcare.