Category: public health
The Shift From Personalized Medicine to Precision Medicine and Precision Public Health: Words Matter!
Advances in genomics and other ‘omic’ technologies have ushered in a new era variably called “personalized” or “precision” medicine, which takes into account individual genetic and other sources of variability in disease treatment and prevention. In the past decade, we have seen a significant growth in interest and usage of the terms personalized and precision Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentRare Diseases, Genomics and Public Health: An Expanding Intersection
Rare Disease Day is celebrated on the last day of February each year. On that day, millions of patients and their families around the world share their stories in order to raise awareness about rare diseases and their impact. There are thousands of diseases that are individually rare but collectively common. In the United States, Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentNational Family History Day 2015: Thinking globally and acting locally
Though you probably will not find greeting cards in stores celebrating this fact, Thanksgiving has been known as National Family History Day in the U.S. since 2004. The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and many federal, state and private partners have marked each year with events and announcements promoting the collection and use of family Read More >
Posted on byPrecision Medicine vs. Public Health: a False Dichotomy?
The recent focus on precision medicine has attracted criticism from the public health community that firmly believes that health is determined by far more than health care, and that more sophisticated medical technologies may not adequately address important determinants of population health. There is no argument that a focus on the wider environmental, structural and Read More >
Posted on byInfectious Diseases: Precision Medicine for Public Health
Until now, most medical treatments have been designed for the “average patient.” As a result of this “one-size-fits-all” approach, treatments can be very successful for some patients but not for others. Precision Medicine, on the other hand, is an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in people’s genes, environments, and lifestyles. The Precision Read More >
Posted on byPrecision Medicine, Implementation Science and Public Health: How Do We Scale Up From 1 Million to 300 Million?
Planning for the 2015 Presidential Precision Medicine Initiative is in full swing. After the initial announcement in January 2015, several workshops were held to help in design and execution of the longitudinal cohort study of 1 million persons. The workshops covered important topics including a Building a Precision Medicine Research Cohort, Scientific Opportunities, Digital Health Data, Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentPrecision Public Health and Precision Medicine: Two Peas in a Pod
The 2015 US Precision Medicine Initiative promises a new era of biomedical research and its application in health care. The initiative is enabled by rapid advances in biomedical sciences, including genomics and bioinformatics, as well as the progress in communication, information technologies and data science. Targeted cancer therapies are a near term goal for Read More >
Posted on byThe Success of Precision Medicine Requires a Public Health Perspective
The announcement of a new major US Precision Medicine initiative comes more than a decade after the completion of the Human Genome Project, the ambitious project that culminated in sequencing all 3 billion base pairs of our genome. Continuous improvement in the quality of sequencing, dramatic reduction in price, and ongoing advances in multiple sectors Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentWhat is a “rare disease”? Polio eradication and primary immunodeficiency
During the last two decades, surveillance and strategic vaccination campaigns deployed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) have reduced polio incidence worldwide by more than 99 percent. Wild poliovirus (WPV) cases are now uncommon, with only 222 new cases reported worldwide so far in 2014.* Endemic transmission is now limited to areas of just Read More >
Posted on byEvery Cause Needs a Champion: Jean Chabut as a Public Health Genomics Pioneer
Cham·pi·on noun \ˈcham-pē-ən\: someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause, etc. Most public health programs can point to a key person or group who was instrumental in assuring not only the program’s successful introduction but also its long-term viability. Jean Chabut was that champion for public health genomics in Read More >
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