Roche NAVIFY Mutation Profiler
NAVIFY Mutation Profiler & AVENIO Tumor Tissue CGP
Role
Principal UX Designer, Clinical Workflow Architect
The Cancer Detection Challenge
Currently the only way to know that a tumor exists (or an excised tumor is coming back) is to visually confirm a tumor is large enough to be seen by the human eye. This is problematic as there are no early warnings available, when you can actually do something about cancer.
Solution: Liquid Biopsy Technology
Next-generation sequencing to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) via a small blood sample (aka "liquid biopsy") is a minimally invasive method for tumor detection, genotyping, early detection, and monitoring therapeutic response.
What is ctDNA?
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is tumor-derived fragmented DNA in the bloodstream. When isolated, it can be used as a "liquid biopsy" and may be taken at various time points to monitor tumor progression throughout treatment.
TL;DR: Lots of things shed DNA in your blood, including tumors. You can isolate and amplify that DNA.
Software Challenge
The assay kit is just a small piece of the ctDNA detection puzzle. Processing the data from lab work, modeling user interactions, sequencing output, and analyzing that data into actionable results is incredibly complex. My role was to make this complexity invisible to clinicians through intuitive design and seamless workflows.
My Role & Contributions
Transforming Precision Oncology Through Design
As Principal UX Designer at Roche, I led the transformation of NAVIFY Mutation Caller and Profiler—two critical tools that help oncologists identify cancer-driving mutations and match patients with targeted therapies. When I started, clinicians faced a daunting 47-step workflow across six systems, requiring 3+ hours to analyze a single patient's genomic data.
Through extensive ethnographic research across five cancer centers and collaboration with 15+ stakeholder groups—from molecular biologists to FDA regulators—I reimagined this complex process as an intuitive 5-screen experience that delivers actionable insights in just 20 minutes.
Strategic Partnership with Flatiron Health
A key achievement was establishing and leading the collaboration with Flatiron Health, the leader in real-world clinical oncology data. This partnership fundamentally enhanced how NAVIFY interprets variants by connecting genomic data to actual patient outcomes.
By integrating Flatiron's extensive database of real-world evidence—covering millions of cancer patients' treatment journeys—we transformed NAVIFY from a pure genomics tool into a comprehensive clinical decision support system that shows oncologists not just what mutations exist, but how similar patients responded to specific treatments in real clinical settings.
Innovation in Data Visualization
Instead of overwhelming users with thousands of mutations, I pioneered an "Evidence Ladder" visualization system that prioritizes variants by clinical relevance and treatment options. This fundamental shift in how genomic data is presented became the industry standard.
Clinical Workflow Optimization
Created adaptive interfaces that seamlessly switch between research exploration and FDA-validated clinical workflows. Built a scalable Angular-based design system that became the foundation for all Roche clinical products.
Team Building & Leadership
Established UX as a core discipline at Roche, growing the team from 1 to 8 designers. Created design principles and processes that became the standard across the organization's entire clinical product portfolio.
Strategic Partnerships
Collaborated with Flatiron Health to integrate real-world clinical data, enabling more comprehensive variant interpretation and connecting genomic insights to patient outcomes.
Transformative Impact
Rare Variant Detection
Annually
Globally
(3hr → 20min)
We would not have been able to launch the product we did without Paul's contribution with UX and his tireless effort with user input.
— Project Leader, NAVIFY Product Launch
Most importantly, every minute saved in analysis represents a cancer patient getting potentially life-saving treatment recommendations faster—turning complex molecular data into hope for families when they need it most.
Research & Development Focus
Our clinical genomics platform represents years of focused research into cancer detection and treatment optimization. Through advanced DNA analysis and machine learning, we've created tools that transform complex molecular data into actionable clinical insights.
Curation Time Reduction
Streamlined workflows and intelligent automation reduce manual variant interpretation time
Platform Features
NGS Clinical Reporting Workflow
Data Input
NGS variant data from sequencing platforms
Mutation Interpretation
Automated significance assessment per AMP guidelines
Treatment Insights
Links to actionable therapies and clinical studies
Clinical Reports
Concise reports for personalized treatment strategies
My Role in NAVIFY Mutation Profiler
As the lead designer on the NAVIFY Mutation Profiler and AVENIO clinical platforms, I was responsible for creating intuitive workflows that enable labs to efficiently interpret NGS data and deliver concise clinical reports, reducing curation time by 75% through thoughtful UX design.
Initial UX Research
Established user mental models through interviews, shadowing, user testing, and other UX research methods to understand how oncology software should flow.
Detailed Lab Research
Visited labs to understand how users currently interpret results, learning their existing systems and lab structure.
Iterative Prototyping
Built iterative prototypes of all system aspects, testing and learning from each interaction.
Design Documentation
Created comprehensive "Design Documents" that informed engineers exactly what to build down to the pixel level, leading to efficient sprints.
Live screenshots from the NAVIFY Mutation Profiler platform showing variant analysis and clinical reporting workflows
Technical Specifications
AVENIO ctDNA Kit Performance
Clinical Impact Metrics
Design Outcomes
The end result of this multi-year design process was a platform that seamlessly guides clinicians from sample input to actionable results, with customers consistently delighted by the user experience.
Key UX Achievements
- •Streamlined complex genomic workflows into intuitive user journeys
- •Created comprehensive design documentation system for efficient development
- •Established user research methods that became company standards
- •Delivered regulatory-compliant interfaces for clinical workflows
Product Portfolio
Pre-analysis
AVENIO ctDNA Targeted Kit V2 with 17 genes optimized for lung and colorectal cancer research
View ctDNA ProductPost-analysis
Navify Mutation Profiler - Cloud-based NGS analysis and clinical decision support
View Mutation Profiler