A little over two years ago, President Obama laid out his vision for one of the nation’s most ambitious medical research programs—an effort to amass genomic data from at least 1 million Americans.
The big idea behind the president’s Precision Medicine Initiative is to use data from genomics, biosensors, blood tests, and other sources to tailor medical care more precisely—so medical decisions can be based on each patient’s unique combination of genetics, lifestyle, and environment.
Last year, the National Institutes of Health awarded a grant under this program to The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in San Diego that is expected to total almost $120 million over five years. It represents one of the biggest grants ever awarded to TSRI.
So how, exactly, is this supposed to work?
To answer this question, Xconomy is bringing together Steven Steinhubl, a cardiologist and scientist at the TSRI-affiliated Scripps Translational Science Institute, for a conversation with Clayton Lewis, the co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Arivale. It is part of the agenda we have lined up for the Xconomy Forum on the Human Impact of Innovation, set for April 19th at the Alexandria at Torrey Pines.
As the institute’s director of digital medicine, Steinhubl has the big picture. He is overseeing the research being done at Scripps under the president’s Precision Medicine Initiative. In Seattle, meanwhile, Lewis is working to apply this ocean of big data in a practical way, which he describes as “scientific wellness.” He is working with Arivale’s co-founder, Lee Hood (who is president and co-founder of Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology), to apply genome analyses and other biological data in precise ways to help individuals avoid disease.
Their onstage discussion, which I will be moderating, is intended to highlight the enormous impact that precision medicine is expected to play in our lives.
In organizing this afternoon conference, we asked, “What are the major innovations that promise to have the biggest overall impact on humans and how we live our lives?” Precision medicine is one. Self-driving cars is another. And the use of machine learning to extract useful information from big data is a recurring theme in many of the presentations.
What does this mean for you? What are the emerging opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs as these innovations unfold? What role can San Diego play in advancing these technologies?
For the answers to these questions, sign up here. Tickets are still available, and we’re looking forward to seeing you.
