Ezra, the Cancer Screening Startup, Is Bringing Bryan Johnson’s Longevity Secrets to the Public
Ezra founder Emi Gal shares his insights on how full-body MRI scans could transform early cancer detection & how Bryan Johnson helped spark the longevity movement.
This Q&A is part of The Profile’s new series, ‘BUILT FROM SCRATCH: Conversations with founders who created something out of nothing.’ My goal is to make the Q&As as practical as possible. Any and all feedback is welcome.
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From the moment Emi Gal sold his advertising technology company, he knew he wanted to start another business — one that had nothing to do with advertising. This time, it was personal.
Gal’s mother had been diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer that had spread to her liver. “She was diagnosed late,” he tells The Profile. “From that moment, she only had about a year left with us. I realized the most important thing we can do for people when it comes to cancer is help them detect it early.”
Determined to tackle the problem, Gal spent the next two years researching. He pored over cutting-edge studies and met with top scientists in the field, exploring innovative approaches to cancer screening. He cycled through dozens of ideas but each fell apart after under some scrutiny.
Then, he came across a paper comparing MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans with other imaging modalities. The study concluded that MRI was the most effective. With his background in computer science, Gal wondered, “Why aren’t we conducting full-body MRIs for everyone?”
The answer was clear: MRIs are expensive and time-consuming, which is why they’re typically used to scan specific body parts rather than the entire body. But that also meant there was an opportunity — a business could solve this problem by making MRIs faster and more affordable.
In 2018, Gal launched Ezra to provide full-body MRI screenings for early cancer detection and other abnormalities. Later that year, he raised $4 million in seed funding and officially launched the company in January 2019.
Today, Ezra has raised $44 million from investors including FirstMark Capital, Healthier Capital, Allianz Life Ventures, Credo Ventures, Seedcamp, LDV Capital, and Accomplice.
In this Q&A, Gal discusses how full-body MRI scans could transform early cancer detection, how his work with Bryan Johnson influenced Ezra’s development, and why longevity is a critical frontier.
This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Tell me about your first Ezra prototype before you went to investors with the pitch for the company.
GAL: I wanted to show that MRI works. I built a prototype for an AI that was able to analyze and detect lesions in the prostate that looked suspicious to screen for prostate cancer. With that prototype, I went to investors, and said, ‘We're going to launch with a prostate MRI, and then we're going to do a full-body scan after that.”
The goal was to take this proof-of-concept AI model, launch it as a product with a prostate MRI scan, and then use the success of that to launch the full-body scan.
We launched the Ezra prostate MRI on Jan. 7, 2019, and we found cancer in the very first person who got scanned.
Since this was your first screening in which you found cancer, how did you tell the patient?
Our medical director called me and said, ‘This is the first scan, and this person has cancer.’
We had some processes and methodologies for communicating, and we called him and told him that we discovered a prostate lesion. He told us, ‘Oh that’s so interesting because I have an elevated PSA.’ (PSA stands for ‘prostate-specific antigen,’ which is a protein produced by the prostate gland.) Elevated PSA is a blood biomarker that tends to be higher in people with prostate cancer. He never thought anything of it, and then he followed up with a urologist and ended up getting treated.
You started with one specific MRI scan. Tell me exactly what Ezra does today.
We have created a way to screen for cancer and 500 other conditions in all of the organs in which you cannot currently screen for cancer. Ezra looks for cancer and all of these conditions in 13 organs.
We designed it not to replace the existing standard care screening procedures, but to be complementary to those standard care screening procedures.
Here’s how it works: You sign up on ezra.com, you choose a scan in a facility where you want to get scanned, and then you visit the facility. We don't own and operate facilities. We partner with existing imaging facilities, and as a result of that, we're a very scaled business.
You get a scan at that facility using an Ezra scanning protocol and Ezra software powered by Ezra AIs, and then the radiologist at the facility reads the scan based on our radiology templates, which are supported by our AI tools.
We then get the images and the radiology reports from the facility, and we have another AI called Ezra Reporter that takes radiology reports and translates them into plain English.
We then deliver that report to you. If we find something significant, you will get a call before you get the report.
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How many people do you scan annually, and what percentage receive reports indicating cancer detection?
We've scanned tens of thousands of people since we started, and we have found cancer in 6% of our members. Notably, we find clinically significant things in about a third of our members. So a third of our members will have disc herniations, hernias, aneurysms, fatty liver disease, and endometriosis. In some cases, those can be life threatening.
We screen people who are asymptomatic. If you have a known disease and you're investigating it, we don't scan you. That's not what Ezra is designed for. Ezra is designed for just getting a comprehensive look inside the body to see if there's anything going on. We’re the way to see if everything is fine before you're symptomatic.
Tell me about your work with Bryan Johnson, the entrepreneur and longevity enthusiast who launched Blueprint, an anti-aging experiment focused on reversing biological age.
I've known Bryan for many years, since before he was famous. He reached out to me in 2020, and he said, ‘I'm doing this thing where I’m trying to reverse my aging process, and I need a partner to do my MRI scans with.’
He had heard about Ezra, and he just emailed me out of the blue. We jumped on a Zoom, and we became fast friends because we were both a little bit of biohackers.
We started working together on building what essentially became a very, very custom Ezra scan specifically created for Bryan. He's done over 100 hours of MRI scanning over the past four or five years, and all of his scans are done at Ezra partner facilities.
What went into his custom scan?
Last year, we had the idea: What if we made this scan available to anyone? It's an expensive scan, but from a technology standpoint, what if we made it available? It’s called the Ezra Blueprint, and it provides the most advanced look inside the body. (The Ezra Blueprint scan is available for $5,995).
It provides the most advanced look inside the body. The protocol is two, 60-minute MRI scans, a low-dose chest CT, a coronary calcium, and more.
From it, you’ll get 14 reports. You get all of the standard Ezra cancer screening. You get a neurodegenerative assessment. You get multiple sclerosis, dementia, and Alzheimer's risk assessment. You get body composition. You get fatty liver. You get muscle composition and fatty content in muscle. You get a heart disease assessment, and a very advanced hips and knees assessment — so if you have any muscle tears or or meniscus tears and so on. And you also get a bone density assessment.
It's the most advanced thing money can buy.
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You started this company before longevity became mainstream — why do you think it has gained so much popularity in recent years, and what does the future of longevity look like?
I think Gen Z is very into health — staying healthy, being healthy, looking good, feeling good. I think it's become a thing where people don't drink alcohol anymore, especially the younger generation. It's amazing, right? Alcohol is such a poison.
I think it started with the Gen Z-ers, and it’s permeated into millennials and the rest. That’s creating a positive reinforcing flywheel.
There are also a number of people that should get credit for making health, wellness, and longevity more mainstream: Peter Attia, Bryan Johnson, Andrew Huberman, and Mark Hyman. They've gone all in on the importance of healthspan and lifespan and good diet, exercise, no alcohol, and no smoking. And then some of them, like Bryan, have really taken it to an extreme, more as a public experiment.
Bryan is probably the healthiest man alive, and he's 47. If you look at all of his metrics, the things he's doing are working because he has the best biomarkers of any person alive. So, you can show now, with data in the public field, that healthspan is possible. I really believe in this future of 100 healthy years for 8 billion people. I think that’s within reach.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Solve a deeply personal problem: Great startups often stem from personal experiences. Gal’s motivation came from his mother’s late-stage cancer diagnosis, which drove him to build Ezra.
Start with a proof of concept before scaling: Before pitching investors, Gal built an AI prototype to detect prostate cancer via MRI. This proof of concept validated his idea and secured funding. As a founder, test your idea on a small scale first — prove it works before going all in.
Find an industry bottleneck and fix it: MRIs were known to be expensive and slow, which limited their widespread use for early detection. Ezra tackled this by making scans faster and more affordable. Identify inefficiencies in your industry and build a business around solving them.
Leverage AI and automation to enhance efficiency: Ezra didn’t just offer MRI scans — it built proprietary AI tools to improve scan interpretation and report clarity. If you’re building a business today, explore how AI can streamline operations, reduce costs, or enhance customer experience.
Partner with industry leaders to accelerate growth: Bryan Johnson, a high-profile longevity entrepreneur, became an early adopter of Ezra. This not only validated the company but also expanded its visibility. Strategic partnerships with influential customers or experts in your field can fast-track your credibility.
Build for scalability from day one: Instead of owning MRI facilities, Ezra partnered with existing imaging centers, allowing rapid expansion. When designing your business model, think about scalability — can you grow without heavy infrastructure investments?
Focus on impact, not just profit: Ezra is a mission-driven company aimed at saving lives through early detection. Founders who build companies with a strong purpose often attract more loyal customers, employees, and investors.
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Love the insights thank you polina and emi !
Another great interview Polina!