Peter Liu (CEO and Co-founder, Oxford Cancer Analytics)
Peter is a physician, scientist, and Forbes 30 under 30 recognized entrepreneur with a decade of experience in cancer and molecular biology research and health innovation implementation. His cancer and medical innovation experiences span four continents, including working at the World Health Organization on medical device implementation for non-communicable diseases. He was President of the Oxford University Scientific Society, the oldest society of its kind in the world, and the Executive Director of BRIGHT International, a health innovation think tank focusing on strategic implementation of medical innovations. He completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the University of Toronto and a DPhil (PhD) in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford, where he was recognized as an Oxford-Hoffman International Scholar and Jesus College Graduate Scholar for academic merit.
Can you explain your job as if you were speaking to a five-year-old?
Cancer is a top cause of human deaths worldwide and most cancers detected at the late stage are not curable. However, the deadliest cancers often have no symptoms, making early detection difficult. A simple blood test that detects cancer early can save lives by enabling treatments to begin at the early stage when cancer is still curable. Developing such a test has been a major challenge until Oxford Cancer Analytics (OXcan) introduced a unique protein-based approach. Our mission at OXcan is to create a new generation of simple, affordable, and widely available blood tests to screen more people, detect cancers earlier, and save lives.
What excites you most about your job?
I have the privilege to work with the top people in the world in cancer biomarker discovery, implementation, clinical medicine, commercialization, regulatory affairs, and more. Working with these exceptional colleagues and bright minds challenges me daily to learn and grow. Even more exciting is our combined vision to pioneer a new generation of protein and blood-based tests for cancer detection to save lives and improve patient outcomes.
Which trend will change the future of medicine?
During this year’s JPM Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, innovating in the post-genomic era was a major theme, specifically referring to an increasing recognition and focus on proteomics. At OXcan, we have been innovating proteomics in liquid biopsy since our inception in 2020, recognizing the critical role unique proteomics data will play. This foresight and early dedication to proteomics has established OXcan as one of the pioneers in proteomics and protein-based liquid biopsy testing. A focus on proteomics has allowed us to discover novel biomarkers that achieve top accuracy for some of the deadliest cancers that urgently require earlier detection to enable curative treatments.
Looking back, which trends have you missed or underestimated?
We identified exclusive proteomics data and tailored AI as key missing pieces to enabling the next leap in liquid biopsy and for such blood tests to detect specific cancers, especially low-tumour burden and early-stage diseases. This eventually received recognition from globally recognized oncology and proteomics experts. However, the industry itself required more convincing given that DNA detection has been a dominating theme in the industry, so you can never be sure whether your vision is 100% correct. Looking back, the importance of focusing exclusively on proteomics data and tailored AI has certainly been underestimated by many. In 2025, we now see that the industry has recognized the importance of proteomics in the post-genomics era, and it surprised me the stark contrast between the tremendous advocacy required for our approach half a decade ago versus the clear adoption of this new paradigm in the space today.
Which MedTech initiative or startup deserves more attention?
Early disease detection and diagnostic initiatives have traditionally been viewed as less lucrative and perhaps less important and investable medtech initiatives compared to therapeutics. However, as modern healthcare shifts towards a proactive rather than reactive approach, early disease detection is becoming a highly sought after area by both the general healthcare and consumer population as well as pharma companies alike. In addition, with oncology therapeutics increasingly focusing on targeted and immune therapy, companion diagnostics to assess and predict treatment response, as well as identifying suitable cancers to treat, will be strongly dependent on the diagnostics test available, making liquid biopsy and diagnostics important initiatives to focus on.
Where would you put a million dollars?
I would use a million dollars to establish a dedicated protein-based cancer detection blood test
production facility to further reduce cost, increase accessibility, and improve deployment.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
I have been fortunate to receive advice from some exceptional individuals from different walks of life. One excellent piece of advice a few have offered is to plan, act, and execute with intentionality. Having a strong vision and objective in mind, knowing exactly what the group or an individual wants to achieve, and ensuring clarity enables focus in an often complex and distracting world.