David Washburn (0:03)
Today’s guest is Chad Bassett, Chief Operating Officer of BAMF Health. We cover a lot of ground—how the company got its Grand Rapids facility off the ground, the partnerships behind it, and their ambition to shrink clinical trial timelines and expand a national platform they’re calling Radio Nexus. It’s a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation, and I hope you enjoy it.
Welcome back to the MSU Research Foundation Podcast. Today I’m joined by Chad Bassett, COO of BAMF Health, which is building a true precision medicine platform. As a quick disclosure, BAMF is a portfolio company of the MSU Research Foundation—Red Cedar Ventures invested in 2022—and BAMF is also a partner and tenant at the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building in MSU’s Grand Rapids Innovation Park. This is not financial or legal advice—just a great conversation. Chad, welcome.
Chad Bassett
Thrilled to be here. Always good to visit the mothership in East Lansing.
David Washburn
Let’s start with you. Where did you go to school, what path brought you here—and who do you root for when Michigan plays Notre Dame?
Chad Bassett
This might end the episode early—I went to Notre Dame.
David Washburn
We allow guests from all places.
Chad Bassett
I grew up in Grand Haven, went to Notre Dame for finance, then Chicago with Bain & Company, focused on strategy consulting. From there, an MBA at the University of Michigan—so I’ve now offended everyone equally—and then into healthcare consulting with Deloitte.
West Michigan has always been home. I really think Michigan is one of the best places in the country to build a business and raise a family.
That’s where I met Dr. Anthony Chang at the Van Andel Institute. We met one night in Saugatuck at a place called Phil’s—great spot, old movie theater, paper table covers and crayons on every table—and over chicken and bourbon, Anthony sketched out a 40-year vision for intelligence-based precision medicine. I couldn’t poke holes in the logic, and I thought, When else do you get offered a chance like this? So… here we are. Two guys, a placemat, and a big vision. We’re about seven years into it now.
David Washburn
I love the mental image of that placemat being framed someday.
Chad Bassett
Hopefully. I worry it’s in a box somewhere after we packed up during COVID—but it might still be there.
David Washburn
Your website says you’re focused on “empowering patients to become people again.” That’s powerful. BAMF operates in theranostics—what does that mean?
Chad Bassett
It’s a terrible word, honestly. It’s “therapy” and “diagnostics” smashed together—but backwards, because diagnostics actually come first.
In radiopharmaceutical medicine, we image first to see exactly where disease is and how much is there. Then we treat using the same targeting molecule, this time carrying a therapeutic agent. It’s delivered by IV, circulates through the body, finds the target, and treats it directly—often with minimal damage to surrounding tissue.
Then we image again to see where the drug went, how effective it was, and what’s next. It’s incredibly precise and incredibly data-driven.
David Washburn
BAMF also operates some serious hardware in Grand Rapids. What’s inside that building?
Chad Bassett
At the core is a dual-cyclotron radiopharmacy operated by BAMF and MSU—two of GE’s most advanced cyclotrons housed inside a bunker of six-foot thick concrete. When the machines run, they produce radioactive gas, which moves through a maze underneath the building until it’s no longer radioactive—then it’s safely vented out rooftops on the seventh floor.
We actually release less radiation into the environment than exists naturally. Basically, we’re a very expensive air purifier.
David Washburn
That’s one way to put it.
Chad Bassett
The imaging side is equally powerful—a total-body PET/CT scanner that covers head to toe in minutes and offers 40x the specificity of standard scanners. We also have Michigan’s only PET-MR scanner.
Layer that into a therapy clinic that treats 30–40 patients a day and you end up with a highly specialized, tightly engineered facility. Every hallway width, every piece of shielding—it’s all by design.
Up on the seventh floor is our software and AI teams, along with teams in Kosovo and the Philippines. Their job is building the systems behind everything—automation, analysis, and access.
David Washburn
You’ve invested early in AI. How did that shape the platform?
Chad Bassett
We hired data scientists and AI talent while the building was still going up. The goal was to design systems that could capture and analyze patient data from day one.
We also had to build trust with patients—consent, data sharing, compliance—all of that was foundational. Now we’ve treated thousands of patients and processed thousands of images, and the tools are helping physicians make better decisions every day.
David Washburn
I imagine regulation isn’t easy.
Chad Bassett
If it’s a three-letter agency, we know them well. NRC, Board of Pharmacy, FDA—you name it.
Designing the facility was as much about regulation as technology. Even a misplaced wall could legally turn half a building into a pharmacy.
Michigan’s also a Certificate of Need (CON) state, which can slow things down. The policy goal is safety—but there’s real opportunity to modernize how innovation moves from lab to bedside.
David Washburn
Talk about Doug Meijer’s role in BAMF.
Chad Bassett
Doug’s story is well known—his prostate cancer diagnosis, imaging in California, treatment in Germany—and the realization that this level of care needed to exist here, at home.
Working with Doug, Dr. Anthony Chang, Dr. Norm Beauchamp, and others, the vision became clear: bring world-class theranostics to Grand Rapids in a way that’s affordable, scalable, and accessible.
And I’d be remiss not to mention Peter Secchia—one of MSU’s great champions—who was also part of those early conversations.
David Washburn
Now you’re expanding into Detroit.
Chad Bassett
Yes—and access is the reason. Cleveland patients were coming. Chicago patients were coming. Detroit patients weren’t. Two hours is the realistic travel limit for many people.
Detroit is the 10th largest metro in the U.S. and has populations disproportionately affected by cancer. We worked with the state and received a $25M appropriation to help fund the facility. Full buildout may approach $100M.
BAMF will be the anchor tenant at the Fail Jail redevelopment site—now part of Dan Gilbert’s innovation district—and we’re partnering with Ferris State on workforce development.
David Washburn
You’re also becoming a clinical trials platform.
Chad Bassett
Absolutely. This summer we’re launching trials with one of the country’s top five health systems—over 100 hospitals across 20 states.
Clinical trials can take ten years. We can stand a site up in six weeks.
We’re calling this platform Radio Nexus—a national network for radiopharmaceutical trials designed to shrink timelines and get better drugs to patients faster.
David Washburn
How big is the team now?
Chad Bassett
About 160. I used to know everyone. Now HR keeps me informed.
But every person here has a personal reason for doing this work—cancer, Alzheimer’s, something close to home. This isn’t just a job.
David Washburn
What did fundraising look like?
Chad Bassett
Hard—even if you’re curing cancer.
We raised a $1M seed round, $10M Series A, $30M Series B, and about $75M in Series C—just under $100M total. Not linear. Never linear.
Investors include MSU, Doug Meijer, the Arrington family (Prasco Pharmaceuticals), and others who believe in both the impact and the business.
Our belief is simple: Patients first. Team second. Investors benefit naturally.
David Washburn
Tell us about the Foundation for Medical Advances and Breakthroughs.
Chad Bassett
It started when patients began donating—saying, Pay it forward.
The Foundation does three things: Access – Helping patients afford care. Education – Teaching physicians and raising awareness. Research – Funding small, fast “yes-or-no” trials to test ideas quickly.
Theranostics today is approved for prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, and Alzheimer’s—but we believe it has potential for nearly every cancer type.
David Washburn
My guest today has been Chad Bassett, COO of BAMF Health. Chad, where can people learn more?
Chad Bassett
bamfhealth.com—and yes, we’re on TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
David Washburn
Excellent. Chad, thanks for being here.
