About Us

Mr. Rai is a founder and serves as CEO and Chairman of Cancer Check Labs. Mr. Rai has been involved in the development of its technology since 2010. The extraordinary increase in circulating tumor cell (CTC) capture capability utilized by Cancer Check Labs presents opportunities to realize previously inconceivable diagnostic and therapeutic applications in oncology and represents a disruptive breakthrough in cancer technology. Mr. Rai is passionate about curing cancer because he lost his younger sister, his only sibling, to cancer and has served since 2012 as the President of Cure Sonia, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Cure Sonia battles cancer through funding research programs at leading centers such as Stanford, USC, MD Anderson, and the City of Hope, providing financial patient assistance to underprivileged families undergoing treatment, and supporting bone marrow drives by having run over 300 drives across 60 cities directly registering over 10,000 donors across the country. Mr. Rai was nominated in 2022 for the National Board of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) because of his contributions combatting cancer. Mr. Rai previously was the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Mobclix, the leading real-time bidded (RTB) mobile advertising exchange that at the advent of the in-application (Apple App Store and Google Play Store) advertising market grew to over 15 Billion monthly mobile ad impressions, 180,000 publisher partners, and a $50 Million annual revenue run rate in under two years catalyzing the acquisitions by Velti and subsequently Telefonica (NYSE: TEF). Mr. Rai has over twenty years of venture capital, private equity, and hedge fund experience at firms including Riverside Partners, Crosslink Capital, and American Industrial Acquisition Corporation. During that time, he has acquired and invested in dozens of companies. A select few include: LSTAT (Life Support for Trauma and Transport, an ICU built into a smart stretcher) which was acquired from Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), to save lives on the battlefield during the golden hour (the first 60 minutes from point of injury); Magma Design Automation, an electronic design automation software tool for deep sub-micron semiconductor development, that went public (NASD: LAVA) and was subsequently acquired by Synopsys (NASD: SNPS); and National Display Systems, a leader in flat panel surgical displays subsequently acquired by Novanta (NASD: NOVT). Mr. Rai is an active angel investor and has been involved in startups throughout his career. He has served on several company Boards including: Fastbite, a rapid, on-demand food delivery service acquired by Square (NASD: SQ); Muzik, a leading developer of smart wearable technology solutions; Braidio, a leading enterprise software platform to enable knowledge sharing in the workplace; and OpenSense, an innovative enterprise software company backed by Bloomberg that enhances email to become branded sales and marketing collateral. Mr. Rai has been a judge and mentor for numerous business plan competitions including those held by Stanford Bases and the University of California at Berkeley; he has been featured as a guest lecturer for courses at the University of California at Berkeley and Boston College, and has been featured as a speaker and panelist for various organizations including Ernst & Young, Asian Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ), Opal Financial Group, and TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) where he has served as a Charter Member. Mr. Rai holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated early as a Regent Scholar.

Mr. Cahan is a founder and serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Cancer Check Labs. Mr. Cahan has been involved with and personally invested in the development of the technology utilized by Cancer Check Labs since 2011. Mr. Cahan has extensive operational experience in healthcare, healthcare software and systems, data management including HIPAA, supply chain, inventory management, and automated scheduling protocols within a variety of healthcare environments including hospitals, clinical centers, surgical facilities, and labs. Previously, Mr. Cahan also served as Interim CIO for Jackson Healthcare, a multi-billion-dollar health conglomerate that serves over 7 million patients in over 1,300 facilities. At Jackson Healthcare, Mr. Cahan rebuilt and reorganized the top leadership of the IT and software development departments to develop a new strategic project roadmap that enabled the company to successfully grow into one of Atlanta’s largest private companies. Prior, Mr. Cahan was also a founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Care Logistics, a Jackson Healthcare subsidiary. Mr. Cahan oversaw the product from inception and creation to commercialization and steady growth. Care Logistics managed patient flow and throughput processing in hospital operating systems to achieve operational efficiency across all departments simultaneously. Prior, Mr. Cahan was a founder and VP of Research and Technology of Surgical Information Systems (SIS), a software solutions company for surgical environments. SIS dominates its industry with 80% of Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), which includes over 10,000 operating rooms (ORs) across 2,300 healthcare facilities, choosing SIS. As a member of the Executive Board, Mr. Cahan was integral to steering the direction of the company. Mr. Cahan built the system architecture, developed a significant portion of the initial codebase, guided the commercialization strategy for its market entry, and profitably grew the company to over 100 people. After building SIS into a stable cash flow positive business, Mr. Cahan also helped to facilitate a company exit for $65 Million. Mr. Cahan served as a Partner at Dane Investment Group. Given Mr. Cahan’s broad industry and operational experience, while at Dane, Mr. Cahan was asked to turnaround Dexter’s Farm, one of Georgia’s largest produce, egg, and dairy distributers suffering from a lack of workflow processes and actionable data integration. Mr. Cahan was appointed CEO, purchased the company through a leveraged buy-out (LBO) during an economic downturn, and grew revenues from $15 Million to $44 Million generating over $3 Million in profits turning around the company in less than two years. As a serial entrepreneur and ardent angel investor, who has been starting his own businesses since he was seven years old, Mr. Cahan draws on his wealth of experience to architect and build technology companies. He has provided seed capital, mentoring, business planning, and strategic advice to companies developing healthcare software, medical devices, cloud solutions, data analytics, automated marketing software, and media streaming services. He has advised and chaired several boards throughout his career Mr. Cahan studied Computer Science at Drexel University. Mr. Cahan enjoys options trading and is an avid bridge player who has won two National Titles

Dr. Arun Balakumaran, MD, Ph.D., serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at Cancer Check Labs, contributing his deep expertise to advance the company’s mission. As the Chief Medical Officer at Replay, a pioneering company at the intersection of genomics, medicine, and technology, Arun leads with innovation and strategic insight. His extensive background includes transformative roles, such as the former Chief Medical Officer at Allogene and the Product Development Lead at Merck, where he was a Merck Distinguished Scientist that worked on Keytruda, a broad spectrum cancer drug. Trained in clinical and laboratory research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Balakumaran has built a robust foundation in medical science. He is particularly noted for his breakthroughs in oncologic cell therapy and his instrumental role in securing FDA approvals for key cancer therapies, including Pembrolizumab. Dr. Balakumaran also lends his expertise to another innovative diagnostic company as a scientific advisory board member, driving the development of revolutionary diagnostic technologies. With over 40 peer-reviewed publications in eminent scientific journals, Dr. Balakumaran combines a creative mind with a collaborative spirit to significantly enhance the early detection and treatment of cancer.

Mr. Ciardella is the Chief Financial Officer of Cancer Check Labs. Mr. Ciardella brings over 40 years of finance, compliance, and operations experience to the company. Mr. Ciardella held positions at hi-tech computer and medical companies such as ZOLL Medical Corporation (Division CFO from 2014 to 2023), NDS Surgical Imaging (CFO from 2004 to 2013), and Dolch Computer Systems (CEO, COO, CFO from 1990 to 2004). Mr. Ciardella previously has experience at Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ), National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM), and Deloitte and Touche. Mr. Ciardella’s experience includes public accounting, GAAP, compliance, and corporate securities. Further, Mr. Ciardella has extensive experience establishing, building, and managing global manufacturing operations. Mr. Ciardella has raised over $100 million of equity capital, led structured debt financings, equipment financings, grown successful management teams, scaled up operations, expanded several companies and divisions globally, and consummated multiple liquidity events exceeding board, investor, and management expectations. Mr. Ciardella grew up in Palo Alto, California and witnessed the early days of Silicon Valley and the technology changes that shaped it. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Ciardella helped entrepreneurs grow successful companies, build scalable infrastructure, motivate management teams, and maximize shareholder value Mr. Ciardella holds a BS degree in Accounting from California State University.

Dr. Charles Matthews, a board-certified radiation oncologist, serves as Chief Medical Officer for Cancer Check Labs, collaborating actively with the organization and its partners. He trained at Johns Hopkins University and holds a dual MD/MBA degree from there, specializing in radiation oncology. Dr. Matthews is also a graduate of Duke University, with notable achievements including receiving a NIH Medical Student Grant. Currently, he serves as Medical Director of Hospital Cancer Services for Christus St. Michael, W. Temple Webber Cancer Center. His responsibilities encompass overseeing medical administration, leading tumor boards, implementing standards of care, and conducting specialty training and education. Dr. Matthews is widely published and draws national audiences in radiation oncology, with particular interests in breast, genitourinary, and thoracic cancers.

Mr. Kanakia serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Cancer Check Labs. He brings over 20 years of professional experience as a strategic leader for global banks, consulting firms, and financial service organizations, specializing in strategic planning, risk management, organizational efficiency and enterprise-wide automation. Prior to joining Cancer Check Labs, Kanakia was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America where over his tenure he led teams involved in capital markets, credit cards, mortgages, wealth management, capital planning, risk, and compliance. During his tenure, he also oversaw model risk management reporting to the Board of Directors; trained hundreds of colleagues on risk management practices; and regularly assessed strategic opportunities to expand business lines and improve regulatory compliance processes. Previously, Mr. Kanakia was an executive at Capital One where he managed teams involved in commercial lending, credit card underwriting, and capital planning. As a strategic leader, he served at the helm of teams responsible for modifying commercial loan pricing, as well as enhancing risk management procedures to align with industry best practices. Mr. Kanakia began his career at KPMG where he served as a consultant to such leading Fortune 500 brands as Pfizer, General Electric, Haliburton, Pepsico, and Hershey. He holds a Masters in Operational Research from Columbia University, and earned a Bachelors in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lara Mehanna is the Chief Marketing Officer of Cancer Check Labs. She has over 25 years of marketing experience, during which she has launched numerous innovative technologies and brought brand messages to market across channels and platforms on behalf of publishers, brands, agencies, and tech companies. Before joining Cancer Check Labs, Ms. Mehanna spent more than six years at National Cinemedia, where she built the market for consumer digital products and leveraged digital data to connect brands to movie audiences across devices. She also played a pivotal role in launching an influencer marketing program to help small and medium-sized businesses grow their brand presence on social platforms. Previously, Ms. Mehanna led sales strategies, go-to-market development, and omnichannel media approaches for DataXu and Jumptap. Earlier in her career, Ms. Mehanna led the global search business for AOL. During her tenure during the early days of the Internet, she forged media partnerships and spearheaded consumer search solutions, achieving a first-of-its-kind, revenue-generating business offering. A breast cancer survivor, Ms. Mehanna has been recognized as a Ford Warrior in Pink Model of Courage for supporting, inspiring, and connecting with women in her community battling breast cancer. She has launched fundraising activities for organizations such as Cancer Couch, and shared her experience with yoga and its impact on her cancer journey at Wanderlust retreats. Ms. Mehanna serves on the board of She Runs It, where she regularly mentors the next generation of marketers.

Physician-scientist James Davie, MD, PhD serves as Cancer Check Labs’ Laboratory Director. He brings 35 years of research knowledge and expertise to Cancer Check Labs. Dr. Davie is a Texas and Illinois-licensed pathologist with board certifications in Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology. Dr. Davie holds a dual MD-PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He received his board-certified training and fellowship in pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where Dr. Davie was also involved in medical informatics and digital pathology research and development. Dr. Davie has personally designed or upgraded over 11 highly complex CLIA testing laboratories with many of them specializing in anatomic and clinical pathology. He also designed and directed the construction of one of the largest pathology laboratories in North Texas. Dr. Davie played an instrumental role during the Covid-19 global pandemic by co-founding and serving as Medical Director for Reditus Laboratories, LLC, the largest independent pathology laboratory in central Illinois, which performed millions of critical tests. As a medical scientist, Dr. Davie has developed numerous proprietary pathology testing methods and continues to direct an active pathology research and development program at multiple laboratories.

Mr. Farah serves as VP of Sales for Cancer Check Labs. Mr. Farah is a successful serial entrepreneur who has driven sales for a number of enterprises. As a veteran executive and marketing expert, Mr. Farah possesses extensive experience building large scalable businesses and establishing lucrative strategic alliances Mr. Farah was previously COO and CMO of a Nutraceutical Supplement and Distribution Company where Mr. Farah successfully increased the company’s revenues from $1 Million to $50 Million and built a formidable distribution network of 124,000 distributors in only three years. Mr. Farah previously co-founded U.S. First Energy (USFE). Mr. Farah was instrumental as CFO and CMO of USFE, to help the company become the exclusive retail sales vendor for one of the largest energy companies in the world. Mr. Farah oversaw the development of commercial contract value to over $400 million, while procuring a residential base of 50,000 customers, and became the top sales broker of First Choice Power. After USFE, Mr. Farah helped launch The Power Company on November 29th, 2010 as a founding member. TPC has procured over 350,000 customers. Mr. Farah’s additional healthcare expertise includes establishing collaborations between Phoenix Health Care and Pediatric Adolescent Medicine resulting in Phoenix Health Care growing to one of the premier accredited outpatient opioid treatment and recovery centers. During his tenure, Pediatric Adolescent Medicine expanded to three locations and 16,000 patients. Mr. Farah previously managed large-scale projects with Johns Hopkins where he helped administer their lab as the phlebotomist for ARIC (Atherosclerosis Research in Communities Study) and CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study), a campaign that Mr. Farah orchestrated. During Covid, Mr. Farah developed a team to launch over 200 CLIA compliant collection locations which processed up to 4,000 specimens per day to over 100,000 specimens per month. Mr. Farah’s team also implemented the systems necessary to improve the labs’ processes to keep up with the demand. Mr. Farah has a B.S. from Shepherd University, graduating with a double major in Biology and Chemistry.

Dr. de Mora serves as Senior Cell Biologist at Cancer Check Labs. Dr. de Mora is an accomplished scientist, engineer, and medical researcher with over a decade of experience developing diverse medical and scientific projects that deliver solutions to create impact and address global challenges. Dr. de Mora has developed multiple medical technologies and devices during his career. Dr. de Mora worked on the initial version of an innovative cartridge-based renal dialysis system to enable home treatment and improve quality of care for renal dialysis patients. The project became Quanta Dialysis, a home hemodialysis console, and was granted an FDA 510(k) clearance in December 2020. Dr. de Mora was previously the Director of Development for the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Foundation. He lead the judging of the world’s premiere synthetic biology competition. Dr. de Mora assembled a team of 165 judges to evaluate more than 300 teams from 42 countries. The competition has resulted in over 150 companies including several with valuations over $1 Billion, such as Ginkgo Bioworks, Benchling, and OpenTrons. Dr. de Mora led the development of an arsenic biosensor system that won multiple prizes during the 2006 iGEM competition. Arsenic contamination in drinking water is one of the world’s most critical public health issues. In order to address this, his team genetically engineered a strain of E. coli to detect arsenic and produce a pH-color response. His work was profiled in Wired Magazine and was described in several books on the origins of the field of synthetic biology, including Biology is Technology by Rob Carlson and Synthetic Aesthetics by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. Dr. de Mora’s work inspired iGEM teams to address major global challenges, including developing technologies that address plastic degradation in the oceans, combat declining honey bee populations, and rapidly detect pathogenic fungal infections. Dr. de Mora worked on the development of BioBrick genetic regulatory measurement techniques during his Ph.D. This work eventually became the foundation for the largest interlab measurement study in the field of synthetic biology with participants from over 200 labs worldwide. During his postdoctoral research, he further developed an ex vivo zebrafish heart culture model and created a high-throughput histological sectioning technique. Dr. de Mora was selected for the Synthetic Biology Leadership Accelerator (Synbio LEAP) Fellow, was awarded a Lessells Travel Scholarship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh to visit Harvard Medical School, and had his career profiled in Science Magazine. Dr. de Mora holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management from the University of Edinburgh. Dr. de Mora was also the first person in the United Kingdom to be awarded a Ph.D. in Synthetic Biology, also from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Gregory Osmond serves as an advisor for Cancer Check Labs, and has been actively involved in the test validation and operational model being commercialized. Dr. Osmond is a triple board certified pathologist, with board certifications in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Dermatopathology. He has expertise in developing and implementing digital technologies in the laboratory, as well as laboratory regulation compliance. Dr. Osmond completed his Medical Doctorate degree from Duke University School of Medicine, and thereafter completed residency and fellowship training programs at Duke University Medical Center and the Combined Harvard Dermatopathology Program (Beth Israel Deaconess, Brigham & Women’s, and Massachusetts General Hospitals) respectively. During residency he also completed a GME concentration track focusing on innovative business models and regulation surrounding implementation of novel technology in the laboratory. Dr. Osmond first developed his passion for healthcare services, and specifically cost-effective diagnostics, while serving as a missionary in Honduras. The majority of the Honduran communities where Dr. Osmond lived had an almost complete lack of accessible diagnostic services, resulting in many he knew to suffer and die of significant disease without ever receiving a diagnosis. This was juxtaposed against a 3 day experience where Dr. Osmond interpreted for US Airforce physicians in these same communities while they were assessing patients for cataracts, and subsequently performing surgery that restored sight to individuals that had been completely blind. Upon returning to the United States, Dr. Osmond began to pursue a career path into population health and medical diagnostics that included a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Brigham Young University, and a subsequent Master in Public Health degree from the University of Utah prior to entering medical school. Dr. Osmond has 10 years of experience since completing medical training, where he has served in numerous medical leadership capacities, leading operational, safety, and quality improvements. These included laboratory leadership roles at Sanford Health Bismarck as the head of Dermatopathology and Immunohistochemistry, overseeing an increase in annual skin revenue growth from 1.6% to 69.5%, and Intermountain Healthcare Saint George Regional Hospital as the Laboratory Director and President and owner of the pathology physician group, where Dr. Osmond turned an annual revenue decrease of -3% to a 300% increase over a 3 year period. Dr. Osmond was previously the co-founder, Chief Medical Officer, board member, and physician group president of Pathology Watch, a venture-backed AI and technology enabled pathology services company. He oversaw medical compliance, laboratory directors, and consulted with engineering, marketing, and sales teams regarding product development and commercialization strategy. Pathology Watch grew to encompass laboratories in 7 states and had approximately $15 Million in annual recurring revenue before being acquired for $130 Million by Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX:SHL; ADR: SKHHY). Dr. Osmond has been involved in multiple healthcare and technology related startups and companies, and has also served as a research and clinical mentor to medical students and public health students at various institutions.