Giving Thanks to Madison this Season

“Geography is destiny,” author Abraham Verghese wrote in a recent novel.

Those words ring particularly true for Exact Sciences. Our company has thrived thanks to the state of Wisconsin, and our state’s strong education institutions and hard working people.

Thinking back to 2009, Exact Sciences was essentially a fledgling start-up predicated on little more than an idea to develop a noninvasive, accurate screening test for colorectal cancer, the number two cancer killer in the U.S., capable of helping to detect colorectal cancer early when it is highly curable or even preventable.

Five years later, the tireless work of our more than 200 Madison-based team members has turned that idea into a reality. In August, Exact Sciences’ Cologuard became the first and only FDA-approved noninvasive stool DNA screening test for colorectal cancer. The test is covered by Medicare, available by prescription in all 50 states and included in the American Cancer Society’s Colorectal Cancer Prevention and Early Detection national guidelines.

Cologuard might still be a figment of the imagination were it not for Wisconsin’s strong entrepreneurial culture, scientific muscle and talented minds.  We feel passionately that entrepreneurialism is an important part of improving Wisconsin’s economic prospects and increasing employment rates and pay for workers in our state. Exact Sciences is proud to be part of the growing Wisconsin entrepreneurial community that is having a positive impact on the state we call home.

It hasn’t been difficult to hire University of Wisconsin graduates and attract the best and the brightest to Wisconsin. By the end of 2015 we expect to hire at least 125 new employees in Wisconsin.

Additionally, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health partnered with us on Exact’s 10,000–patient pivotal study that formed the basis for Cologuard’s FDA application.

I see new examples each day of ways the innovative, energetic spirit of Wisconsin’s people can transform and grow a company. However, one of the truly remarkable qualities in Exact Sciences’ Wisconsin team members is that they bring the same passion and dedication to making the local community a better place to live and work as they do to their careers.

During this past year, employees in Exact Sciences’ customer support team began volunteering their time and expertise for an Urban League-led customer service and sales training program for unemployed members of our community. Members of the Exact Sciences team regularly visit the Urban League to teach participants presentation and customer service skills, conduct mock interviews and provide job application and resume building advice. Trainees are also invited to Exact Sciences headquarters to tour the laboratory and Customer Support Center where they learn about the work our scientists, lab technicians and customer service associates do each day. Additionally, Exact Sciences and its employees raised more than $79,000 this year for United Way of Dane County.

Bottom line—Geography has been destiny for Exact Sciences. In every sense, Wisconsin and its people are at the heart of what has enabled Exact Sciences to develop into a company with a purpose. And for that, I couldn’t be more grateful.