How a Marine Recon Officer Is Leading a Cancer Startup
Former Marine Justin Hoot is applying lessons from the military and Booth to the high-stakes mission of diagnosing cancer.
- By
- November 09, 2026
- Military
Justin Hoot was serving as a Marine reconnaissance officer in Washington, DC, when he got the call that his sister had been diagnosed with colon and lung cancer. Until then, she’d been a fit 23-year-old working as a geologist and ski instructor. Now, doctors said she’d need surgery within days if she was going to survive.
“I felt so frustrated and helpless,” remembers Hoot. “Here I was leading dangerous missions, and yet, I felt like I couldn’t do anything to help my sister.”
As much as he valued his military service, his sister’s diagnosis propelled Hoot to leave active duty to enroll in the MBA/MS in Biomedical Sciences, a joint-degree program from Chicago Booth and the University of Chicago. In his first year, he joined the new biotech startup Slideflow Labs, applying lessons from the military to try to improve cancer diagnoses. His team won the 2026 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge.
Hoot remains involved with the military through the Marine Corps Reserves and with fellow veterans through the Booth Armed Forces Group on campus. This year, he was named a Pat Tillman Scholar, a prestigious award given annually to approximately 50 service members and veterans nationwide exemplifying leadership, service, humility, and impact. “I’ve always wanted to help save people,” Hoot says. “The work I’m pursuing in the cancer space is just a different way to do that.”
From Junior Lifeguard to Marine Recon Officer
Growing up in Hermosa Beach, California, Hoot recalls, his favorite childhood toys were rescue helicopters and fire trucks. From fifth grade through high school, he participated in a junior lifeguard program, learning to run, swim, and save people in sometimes cold and uncomfortable conditions. “It made me enjoy doing hard things with other people,” Hoot says.
During college, he was working at a surfboard rental shop when someone yelled, “Shark!” With no lifeguards nearby, he grabbed a surfboard and ran into the water to save a swimmer from a rare shark attack, making the news that night. “Of course I was scared, but I trained for that moment,” he says. “If not me, who else was going to save him?”
When his mother was diagnosed with several chronic enteroviruses that left her bedridden for long stretches, it motivated Hoot to study biology as an undergraduate at Lafayette College. He did research in immunology and, after graduation, joined a startup that used genetically modified bacteria to attack cancer cells. Though the technology was successful, the company could not commercialize it, demonstrating to Hoot how crucial the combination of science and business is to a successful venture.
His boss at the startup was a former marine and inspired him to join the military. “I really wanted to test myself and understand my limits,” says Hoot, who did that repeatedly in three years of training and then three years of active duty as a reconnaissance marine. Recon officers specialize in leading small, elite groups undetected into difficult areas, often behind enemy lines, to acquire crucial information to aid larger deployments.
That could involve parachuting into the ocean or scuba diving for hours in pitch darkness before hiking hours through a jungle—wet, hungry, and tired—to take photos and upload information by satellite. In addition to physical endurance, it requires incredible mental toughness, Hoot says. “You have to be a thorough planner, a flexible operator, and have a lot of contingency plans because things can go wrong pretty easily.”
Of more than 150 people in his class at recon selection, Hoot was one of only 17 who made it through to recon training. “It made me feel like I could climb Mount Everest—like if I set my mind to it, I could do anything.”
Justin Hoot on a high-altitude, low-opening parachute training jump.
Hoot at a scuba diving training for the Marine Corps.
Hoot and his unit on a reconnaissance training mission, after parachuting boats and skydiving into the ocean.
Hoot and his Slideflow team receiving first place from NVC judges.
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From the Classroom to a Cancer Startup
Hoot has applied the same mix of bravado and humility to his time in the joint-degree program, diving in with both feet so he can make an impact in cancer diagnosis. His first semester, he took the elective Entrepreneurship in Healthcare and Life Sciences with biotech founder Brian Coe, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship. “I learned how to start a biotech company and about all the resources available at Booth to help me do that,” he says.
These resources include the Chicago chapter of Nucleate, a global student-led group of biotech innovators, and the Collaboratorium, a recurring networking event sponsored by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Through these programs, Hoot would meet and cement a working relationship with one of Slideflow Labs’ cofounders: UChicago graduate student Sid Ramesh, MD, ’24, SM ’24, who was pursuing a new form of cancer diagnosis along with his fellow cofounders.
Their startup analyzes biopsy results using AI to determine whether a patient needs chemotherapy to prevent cancer recurrence. “I saw the painful effects of chemotherapy on my sister, which was in many ways the worst part of cancer,” Hoot says. “If you could avoid it, you could save a lot of heartache, money, and lives.”
As head of business development, Hoot leverages both his Booth experience and military training to solve day-to-day business problems. Before commanding a mission with his first platoon, he had only six months to train them in skills that would ordinarily take a year. “It forced me to rapidly identify what’s important, what’s not, and to prioritize actions to make our teams successful.”
He applied the same triage principles to Slideflow to develop a business plan for the New Venture Challenge, which ultimately won the Rattan L. Khosa, ’79, First-Place Prize of $575,000. “It’s really easy to get lost in the fog of everything,” he says. “But we’ve learned how to create structure out of ambiguity to focus on the task at hand.” Now, the company is developing partnerships with a hospital and biotech company to test and expand the technology.
Hoot is grateful to his NVC professors Steven Neil Kaplan and Mark Tebbe for their invaluable mentorship and for giving Slideflow the opportunity to compete. He also credits professors Keith Crandell and Jason Blumburg, who taught him how to commercialize an idea and raise venture funding in the course Lab to Launch.
While his sister is recovering from her own cancer, Hoot looks forward to using his combined skills from business, science, and the military to save more lives with a renewed sense of agency. “What I learned from the Marines is that I like to be in the heart of things, working with other people to solve difficult problems,” he says. “Booth and UChicago enabled so much opportunity for me and really taught me that anything is possible.”
Jason Blumburg, Keith Crandell, and Mark Tebbe are adjunct professors of entrepreneurship at Booth. Steven Neil Kaplan is the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
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