The Emerging Landscape of Medicine and Health Care

President and Co-founder, Institute for Systems Biology

Summary

Advances in genomic and systems technologies have led to the emergence of personalized medicine as a paradigm shift in health care. Rapid sequencing of DNA and proteomes has facilitated a systems approach to medicine that allows the identification of the multiple variables contributing to health and disease. Technologies under development will allow more rapid diagnosis of diseases at increasingly granular and individual levels, which will in turn provide opportunities for more personalized, effective, and less expensive treatments. The combination of these factors has created what has been termed P4 medicine — predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory. If society and policy makers are able to fully capitalize on the opportunities offered by P4 medicine, the quality of health care can be improved, costs can be reduced, and innovation will be catalyzed to fuel wellness and health care for the future.