Health Care

The 2016 Leaders in Health Care Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Medical Technology

Winner: Harlan Robins, Adaptive Biotechnologies

By Karen West February 25, 2016

harlan-web

This article originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.

WINNER
Harlan Robins
Cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Seattle

Harlan Robins is solving scientific puzzles to improve the way the health care industry diagnoses, monitors and treats diseases around the globe. His company, Adaptive Biotechnologies, has pioneered a patented immunosequencing technology that leverages next-generation sequencing to profile T-cell and B-cell receptors of the adaptive immune system.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is bringing the accuracy and sensitivity of its platform into laboratories around the world to drive groundbreaking research in immune-mediated diseases, such as cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious disease.

The most challenging aspect of Robins job is not having enough time in the day. It really goes without saying that health care in general is a stressful field, he says. Whether you are a scientist or a physician, there is never enough time in the day to do what needs to be done. On top of that, getting people to believe in a new approach, which once seemed impossible but is now a reality, adds a whole new level of complexity. Its 120 percent all the time there are no defined work hours.

Robins is inspired by being able to translate the science from our research platform to help inform diagnostics and therapeutics that can actually help people.

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