about us
“The greatest need we have today in the human cancer problem, except for a universal cure, is a method for detecting cancer before there are any clinical signs or symptoms.”
Sidney Farber, M.D.
Father of modern chemotherapy
November 1962
pioneering the detection of early cancer
Harbinger Health is pioneering the detection of early cancer and enabling foundationally new approaches to cancer screening, diagnosis and management. Incubated within Flagship Pioneering for three years before launching in 2021, Harbinger combines advances in artificial intelligence with proprietary insights into the biology of the beginnings of cancer to identify cancer before it is visible or symptomatic with the aim of developing a low-cost, multi-cancer blood test.
A harbinger is a “forerunner, that which precedes and gives notice of the coming of another.” We not only are working to identify the harbinger – the biological programs present in the earliest forms of cancer – but seek to be the harbinger, to be the forerunner which will usher in the future of healthcare.
At Harbinger, we intend to lead in shaping this future – creating a proactive paradigm so that people can live cancer-free for longer, adding years to life and life to years. We envision a future where, instead of keeping cancer from spreading, it could be kept from forming, making a cancer diagnosis a routine health problem to be addressed rather than a life-altering event to be feared with profound implications for people, healthcare systems and societies.
Our answer to the problem of late cancer detection and unacceptable patient prognoses starts with our proprietary solutions for the future of cancer pre-emption. Beginning with blood-based tests, we will enable cancer detection before it is visible. By identifying biological programs rooted in cancer's origins, we can enable identification of early stage and pre-disease. Through this new pathway for cancer diagnosis and early therapeutic interventions, Harbinger Health has the potential to fundamentally change cancer care, for everyone.
Gisela Paulsen
Gisela Paulsen is Chief Operating Officer at Harbinger Health. She is a global leader in the life sciences industry, with extensive experience scaling life science companies and leading operations, strategy, product development and commercialization.
In her previous role as the President & Chief Operating Officer of Oncocyte, a precision diagnostics company operating in the U.S. and Germany, she oversaw Commercial; CLIA Lab Operations; portfolio and program management; quality; regulatory; procurement and supply chain; people and culture; legal; information technology; facilities; and supported the CEO Office. She was focused on all operational aspects to scale and ready the company to launch a six-product portfolio to accelerate and maximize value creation. Prior to her role at Oncocyte, Gisela served as General Manager of the Precision Oncology business unit (legacy Genomic Health) for the $1B+ cancer screening and diagnostic test leader Exact Sciences. Previously, she was Senior Vice President & Global Head of Product Development and Clinical Operations at Genentech. Gisela is a former Entrepreneur In Residence for DigitalDX, an impact VC fund focused on early-stage diagnostic and artificial intelligence (AI) companies. She also currently serves as a board director for Delphi Diagnostics, a startup focused on breast cancer survival.
Gisela is the Vice Chair of the Healthcare Businesswomen Association and former Director of CuriOdyssey. She has chaired nominating, strategy, and digital transformation committees. She served as a Genentech Foundation board director and was the former co-chair for Genentech Women Professionals. In 2019, she was named one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life-Sciences Industry by PharmaVOICE.
Gisela holds a Master of Science in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, and a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, from Uppsala University, Sweden.
