About Episteme Prognostics, Inc.

Episteme Prognostics, Inc., is a precision diagnostic company developing a technology that predicts whether or not chemotherapy will work on a patient. Chemotherapy is the most widely used cancer treatment worldwide. Each year, 10–13 million cancer patients receive chemotherapy, and 7–9 million patients do not respond.[1] Failure to respond to a frontline chemotherapy can have adverse consequences. It makes the tumor more resistant, limiting future options, often leading to diminished physical condition and loss of eligibility for future therapies or clinical trials. Beyond the medical toll, it inflicts deep emotional distress, erodes quality of life, and creates financial hardship for patients, their families, and healthcare systems. At Episteme, we’re committed to changing this.

Leadership Team

Supported by experienced advisors and board members from leading institutions

Surajit Dhara, Ph. D.

Dr. Dhara is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Episteme Prognostics, is a renowned cancer biologist, best known for his invention of ATAC-array technology, which led to the founding of Episteme Prognostics. Before founding Episteme, Dr. Dhara led research teams in pancreatic cancer epigenetic clinical biomarker discovery, providing cross-functional team leadership and fostering multidisciplinary collaborations at MSKCC, Dartmouth Cancer Center, and NYU Langone Medical Center. He holds several patents, has numerous publications in high-impact journals, and has contributed chapters to academic books. Dr. Dhara graduated from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, and completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA.

Steven D. Leach, M.D

Dr. Leach, Co-Founder, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Episteme, is a world-renowned surgical oncologist and pancreatic cancer researcher, currently leading Dartmouth Cancer Center, a joint enterprise of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Dartmouth Health. He serves as a professor across multiple departments within Geisel and Dartmouth’s Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. Dr. Leach previously held the David M. Rubenstein Chair and was the inaugural director of the Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Research. Before Dartmouth, he spent 14 years at Johns Hopkins University as the Paul K. Neumann Professor in Pancreatic Cancer, Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, and Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs in the Department of Surgery. His numerous accolades include being named a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 2018 and election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023. Dr. Leach has also chaired the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Scientific and Medical Advisory Board and served on the Princeton University Board of Trustees. He holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a medical degree from Emory University, with a residency at Yale University, where he was Chief Resident in General Surgery and completed a research fellowship in Surgery and Cell Biology, followed by a surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Filling a Gap in Cancer Therapy Selection

Pancreatic cancer therapy selection is guided by mutation panel diagnostic tests. However, being matched to a targeted therapy does not exempt a patient from undergoing frontline chemotherapy. As a result, patients are still subjected to standard chemotherapy, and 60–70% fail to respond. Only after failing to respond to the first line chemotherapy, are they considered for targeted therapy as a second-line option. At that point though, the tumors have already developed resistance.

Episteme was founded in 2021 as a spin-out from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Dartmouth Cancer Center. The company is harnessing the power of epigenetics – the study of changes in gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence. The Founders of Episteme focused on pancreatic cancer, the most aggressive malignancy with extremely limited precision medicine options. In pancreatic cancer, chemotherapy is the only frontline treatment currently available, but resistance to chemotherapy has remained a major challenge, with scientists seeking answers for over the past many decades.

Episteme’s comprehensive diagnostic test powered by tCAM-seq technology aims to not only identify alternative targeted therapy opportunities, but also simultaneously provide guidance on whether to administer chemotherapy, all with the same single panel test.