Quest Diagnostics CEO Jim Davis Talks Outlook

Summary

Bloomberg Talks — Quest Diagnostics CEO Jim Davis Talks Outlook

Date: February 10, 2026
Host: Katie (Bloomberg)
Guest: Jim Davis (Quest Diagnostics CEO)

---

Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth interview with Jim Davis, CEO of Quest Diagnostics. The discussion dives into Quest’s current growth drivers, the rising importance of consumer health and wellness, emerging trends in diagnostic testing such as Alzheimer's and oncology, and Quest’s strategy for business evolution. The conversation is focused on how diagnostics are shifting from chronic disease management to proactive prevention and the company’s innovations and partnerships in both arenas.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Growth Drivers in Diagnostics

[00:37 - 02:03]

• Chronic Disease Management:

  • Chronic conditions like Type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and rising cancer rates (notably among younger populations) are increasing demand for diagnostic testing.
  • Diagnostics play a key role in not only identifying disease but guiding therapy selection and monitoring progression.

• Consumer Health & Wellness:

  • Prevention is a rapidly growing priority: consumers increasingly seek health data before symptoms arise.
  • Jim Davis highlights Quest’s partnerships with innovative health platforms (Function Health, Whoop, Aura) aiming to make lab testing accessible and routine for wellness-focused consumers.

Quote (Jim Davis, 01:14):
"Prevention is all about doing something before the symptoms set in... We are really powering the wellness industry today."

---

2. The Role & Growth of Consumer Health

[02:03 - 03:22]

• Financial Impact & Growth:

  • The consumer testing segment—including direct and partner channels—brought in around $250 million last year, out of $11 billion total revenue.
  • Despite its smaller share, this segment grew over 30% last year, with expectations of continued 20%+ growth.

• Business Transformation Aspirations:

  • Currently, about two-thirds of Quest’s business is related to diagnosing, treating, and monitoring disease; just a third is prevention and wellness.
  • Jim Davis expresses a strategic ambition: reverse this ratio over the next decade to focus predominantly on prevention and wellness.

Quote (Jim Davis, 03:11):
"Honestly, I hope over the next decade we can flip that. I really hope that we can be 2/3 prevention and wellness and then a third chronic care management."

---

3. Trends in Diagnostic Testing: Alzheimer’s and Early Detection

[03:22 - 04:46]

• Alzheimer’s Disease:
  • There is a significant shift toward using blood-based biomarkers (for amyloid plaque and tau) over traditional cognitive testing and imaging.
  • These blood-based tests offer earlier and more accessible detection, which is crucial for leveraging new therapies effective in early disease stages.
  • Access to memory care specialists is limited; these advances can accelerate diagnosis and treatment.

Quote (Jim Davis, 03:44):
"Today, what we're seeing is there’s blood based biomarkers... and you’re actually going to detect Alzheimer’s at a much earlier stage than what you would see in imaging."

---

4. Cancer and Oncology Testing

[04:46 - 06:00]

• Quest’s Oncology Portfolio:
  • Quest owns the largest anatomical pathology business in the U.S., providing cancer diagnoses from tissue samples daily.
  • Comprehensive post-diagnosis offerings include therapy selection and tests for minimal residual disease (MRD), through the Haystack Oncology acquisition.
  • MRD testing helps detect small amounts of remaining cancer post-treatment.
  • Testing for initial cancer detection also includes common screenings like PSA and various cancer markers.
  • Oncology accounts for roughly $1 billion of Quest’s $11 billion annual portfolio.

Quote (Jim Davis, 05:17):
"We have the largest anatomical pathology business in the country... and we have a test, you mentioned the Haystack, minimally residual disease testing that looks for very, very small remnants of the cancer that may remain either post surgery or post chemotherapy."

---

Notable Quotes

• On Health Prevention Focus:

  "Prevention is all about doing something before the symptoms set in."
  — Jim Davis, [01:14]

• On Company Vision for Prevention:

  "I hope over the next decade we can flip that. I really hope that we can be 2/3 prevention and wellness and a third chronic care management."
  — Jim Davis, [03:11]

• On Diagnostic Advances for Alzheimer’s:

  "You’re actually going to detect Alzheimer’s at a much earlier stage than what you would see in imaging."
  — Jim Davis, [03:44]

• On Quest’s Cancer Strategy:

  "We have the largest anatomical pathology business in the country...we make diagnoses of cancer every single day."
  — Jim Davis, [05:17]

---

Key Segments & Timestamps

• Growth drivers in diagnostics: [00:37 - 02:03]
• Consumer health partnerships & future goals: [02:03 - 03:22]
• Trends in test demand: Alzheimer's focus: [03:22 - 04:46]
• Oncology and cancer business strategy: [04:46 - 06:00]

---

Conclusion

Jim Davis’s conversation highlights Quest Diagnostics’ dual engines of growth: addressing the ongoing need for chronic disease management and rapidly expanding its position in consumer-focused, preventive health. He underscores that while prevention makes up a smaller slice of business now, Quest aims to make it the majority in the future, propelled by technological innovation, partnerships, and early detection—especially in areas like Alzheimer’s and cancer. The structural transformation of their business model is fundamentally about making healthcare more proactive, accessible, and patient-driven.

Transcript

[Apple Card Announcer]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every Purchase. That includes 3% daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple. Watch at Apple through this special referral offer. When you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify, you must apply at Apple Co getdailycash Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News Talk.

[Katie]

Us through the main growth drivers that you see when you take a look over the course of this year.

[Quest Diagnostics Executive]

Yeah, first, Katie, thanks for having us on this morning. You know, in terms of the growth drivers, we really think there's two or three major things going on. One, unfortunately, is still all of the chronic care disease management that's occurring in the country. You know, type 2 diabetes at an all time high, autoimmune disorders, cancer rates, younger and younger patients being diagnosed with cancer, colon cancer in particular. So all of this is leading to a lot of testing, as you can imagine, and helping people diagnose, helping people figure out what the right therapy they should select, and then actually monitoring the disease. Now at the other end of the spectrum, and this is really a more recent phenomenon, is all the new testing from a consumer health standpoint. So, you know, prevention is all about doing something before the symptoms set in. And between our own consumer health offering and then partnerships that we've developed in the industry, we are really powering the wellness industry today. So our relationships with Function Health, our relationships with Whoop with Aura, we're trying to make lab testing ubiquitous to consumers, especially those that really have a focus on prevention and wellness. But really it's those two things, Katie, that are really driving the growth.

[Katie]

Well, I'm glad you brought up consumer health. And some of the partnerships you have Whoop and Aura being some of them, you also have partnerships with HIMS and Function Health, I see as well. How do you see that part of the business evolving? How meaningful of a growth driver is? Can that be?

[Quest Diagnostics Executive]

Yeah. So to put all of that in context, between our own direct business, our own consumer direct business, plus our partnerships with all those that you mentioned, it's about a $250 million segment. And you know, we did $11 billion last year. So it's meaningful. What's more meaningful is that segment grew at over 30% last year and we expect it to continue to grow, you know, you know, north of 20% this year. And again, what we're seeing is just taking more interest in their health with this notion of let's prevent disease, let's try to get in front of that. You know, if we look at our business today, about 2/3 of it is diagnosis of disease, you know, treatment of disease, treatment, monitoring. And really only a third of our business is prevention and wellness, general health and wellness testing. Honestly, I hope over the next decade we can flip that. I really hope that we can be 2/3 prevention and wellness and then a third chronic care management.

[Katie]

When you zoom out a bit, what are you seeing in terms of trends when it comes to what types of tests are being asked for and ordered?

[Quest Diagnostics Executive]

Yeah, Alzheimer's, Katie, is a very, very important set of tests that we now offer. You know, before blood based biomarkers came to fruition with respect to Alzheimer's, really the gold standard were cognitive tests that physicians perform and then would move that patient directly into imaging, whether that's a PET CT image or an MRI image. And today what we're seeing is there's blood based biomarkers for amyloid plaque, for what we call these tau bundles. And you're actually going to detect Alzheimer's at a much earlier stage than what you would see in imaging. And some of the new therapies that have been brought to market by ECI and by Lilly, these therapies generally work really, really well at the earliest stages of disease onse. So these biomarkers are playing a very, very important role. Today we position these blood based tests with primary care physicians as well as neurologists. You know, today if you have symptoms of Alzheimer's, it can take upwards of six to eight months to get in to see a memory care specialist. And patients just don't want to wait that long because again, there's therapies available if you are diagnosed, because you think.

[Katie]

About what's going on at some of your peer diagnostics companies, oncology testing has been driving just rapid growth. So how does Quest position itself in that space? I know that you recently bought Haystack Oncology, for example, but is that an area where you would consider additional deals?

[Quest Diagnostics Executive]

Yeah, first, Katie, it's a very, very important part of our business today. Most people don't know, but Quest Diagnostics has a very large anatomical pathology business. Anatomical pathology is when specimens are cut outside, cut from the human body. They're tissue samples. And so we have a very, we have the largest anatomical pathology business in the country where we make diagnoses of cancer every single day. Now, once you have that tumor specimen, there's several follow on tests that are very important, the first being what type of therapy should be used to treat that cancer after treatment or potentially right after surgery. The next question is, did the surgeon get it all or did the chemotherapy eradicate that disease? And we have a test, you mentioned the haystack, minimally residual disease testing that looks for very, very small remnants of the cancer that may remain either post surgery or post chemotherapy. So it's a growing portion of our portfolio of testing today. Now, in addition, we offer a lot of routine cancer tests, PSA screening, all sorts of different types of cancer markers at the screening phase. So all told, cancer of our $11 billion portfolio today, cancer in its entirety is about a billion dollars of our portfolio. Bloomberg Daybreak is your best way to get informed first thing in the morning, right in your podcast feed. Hi, I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Each morning we're up early putting together the latest episode of Bloomberg Daybreak US Edition. It's your daily 15 minute podcast on the latest in global news, politics and international relations. Listen to the Bloomberg Daybreak US Edition podcast each morning for the stories that matter with the context you need. Find us on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen.