Ryon Graf, Ph.D. is biomedical scientist, part of a team at Foundation Medicine developing precision medicine oncology diagnostics. His focus is the evaluation of tangible, quantifiable benefit to patients with the use of new technology: how often diagnostics and drugs work, for whom, and how much can they help patients. 

 

Prior to Foundation Medicine, Dr. Graf was part of the core team at Epic Sciences that saw the ideation, proof of concept, and clinical validation of a first-in-class circulating tumor cell test for AR-V7 in metastatic prostate cancer. He was the lead data scientist supporting the clinical studies and evidentiary build. The diagnostic improves treatment choice between existing FDA-approved drug classes, is now reimbursed by Medicare, and included in the NCCN standard of care guidelines for prostate cancer. 

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Dr. Graf received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from SBP Discovery Institute, conducting most of his thesis research at the nearby UCSD Moores Cancer Center under co-advisor Dwayne Stupack, Ph.D. He was also part of the HHMI-sponsored Med Into Grad clinical immersion program hosted by the UCSD School of Medicine, attending molecular and indication-specific tumor boards, pathology, clinic shadowing, rounds, and select medical courses.  

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As an undergraduate at UC Irvine, he studied genetics, art history, and photography. He was on the New University Newspaper staff and regularly contributed writing and photography. He received the Leon Award as the most promising young scientist in his graduating class and has been desperately trying to live up to that expectation ever since. 

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His research interests include liquid biopsies, biomarkers, real-world evidence, clinical trial design, evidentiary frameworks, and causal reasoning. His personal interests include swimming, surfing, photography, and writing embarrassingly bad haikus.