In recent years, dramatic advances in molecular biology, genomics, and related technologies have resulted in greater understanding of cancer at the molecular level. It is now possible not only to identify the genetic and molecular variations in each patient’s cancer cells, but to apply the results from the tumor profile, in
some circumstances, to begin to inform treatment strategies that target the molecular underpinnings of the specific disease in each patient.
“Precision medicine,” also known as “personalized medicine,” is the term used for this transformative new model of health care that involves the selection of diagnostic tests that have the potential to identify changes in each individual patient’s cancer cells. The use of that knowledge may help to prevent and treat cancer through the development of treatment strategies to target these specific molecular alterations. Ultimately, the goal of precision oncology is to improve patient outcomes. 1
I attended a conference session recently on this topic where an esteemed speaker panel took the audience though their vision of a time in our future when we could have a simple blood test on the way to our doctor’s office and arrive at the appointment to find our doctor fully prepared with a diagnosis and the ideal medication would already be identified based on our genetic makeup and perfectly formulated to avoid side effects for which you we are susceptible. Imagine this on a larger scale to speed up drug development, to create more precise therapies, faster and less expensively and apply this approach to improve the lives of people worldwide, at lower cost.
Perficient is helping clients such as the University of Colorado to establish a fully integrated informatics “highway” for precision medicine using the Oracle Health Sciences Translational Research Center platform to address formidable challenges such as:
- Data Integration – the most foundational challenge is the need for an integrated data infrastructure spanning fully the genotype and phenotype (i.e., molecular and clinical attributes) of research subjects and patients
- Individual Data Records – relevant data from the basic science, translational, clinical research, and health care domains need to be fully integrated at the individual data record, in order to produce “personalized medicine” models.2
Join us at #OOW14 to hear Michael Ames, MBI, Associate Director, Health Data Compass, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado and my colleague Lesli Adams, MPA @LesliAdams during the session “Creating a Digital Healthcare Safety Net with EHA and OBI for Care Transitions” located at the Marriott Marquis – Salon 10/11; Wednesday, October 1, 11:30am – 12:15pm.
We are an Oracle Platinum partner and we’ve gained valuable expertise from nearly 2,000 Oracle projects with our clients the past 15 years and we have amassed vast amounts of best practices and ideas to share. Stop by and visit with our Healthcare experts at the Healthcare Solutions in Industry Central (Marriott Hotel Atrium Lobby) at the Perficient kiosk (HMH-003) for a demo of the Translational Research Center.
Not attending #OOW14? Join our webinar Combining Patient Records, Genomic Data and Environmental Data to Enable Translational Medicine Wednesday, October 15, 2014 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CT.
Sources:
1 http://www.n-of-one.com/about/what-is-precision-medicine.php
2 Michael Ames, MBI, Associate Director, Health Data Compass, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado
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