Vincent S Gallicchio
Clemson University, USA
Title: Personalized medicine: The future of clinical practice - Will it lead to better patient care?
Biography
Biography: Vincent S Gallicchio
Abstract
Personalized Medicine (PM) is a model that proposes the customization of healthcare - with medical decisions, practices,rnand/or products being tailored to the individual patient. Use of genomic information plays a major role in certain aspects of PM. Th e term was fi rst coined in the context of genetics (though it has since broadened to encompass all sorts of personalizationrnmeasures). To distinguish from the context in which medicine has always been inherently “personal” to each patient, PM commonly denotes the use of technology or discovery enabling a level of personalization not previously feasible or practical.rnAdvances in medical and human genetics have enabled a more detailed understanding of the impact of genetics in diagnosis,rntreatment and prognosis of human disease. Large collaborative research projects such as the human genome project have laidrnthe groundwork for the understanding the role of genes in normal human development including physiology revealing SinglernNucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) account for the genetic variability between individuals. Th is information has made possiblernthe use of genome association studies (GWAS) to examine genetic variation and thus understand the risk for many commonrndiseases. A number of topics have emerged that have targeted personalized medicine they are: Pharmacogenomics, proteomicsrnand metabolomics. For example, the management of cancer identifi ed the presence of genes associated with the induction ofrna number of human cancers. Th is list has grown in signifi cance amplifi ed recently with the actions made in personal healthrnby the actress Angelina Jolie. PM also has identifi ed a number of notable concerns and opportunities. One such concern is thernindividual cost of PM for those individuals who do not have personalized health care insurance. Legislation in the form of thernGenomics and Personalized Medicine Act has been introduced in the Congress of the United States to address issues involvingrnscientifi c barriers, adverse market pressures and regulatory obstacles. Importantly, the passing of the Aff ordable Care Act andrnits affi rmation by the Supreme Court of the United States will allow the utility of PM to continue in the US. Finally, in order torneducate future physicians the advent of PM is infl uencing medical education with the development of sub- specialties in PMrnby a growing number of medical schools in the United States. Th e transition to PM is proceeding even as experts continue torndebate whether does this new information actually improve health care?