OSU to Host Personalized Healthcare Conference in October

As the nation prepares for sweeping transformations to healthcare, experts, policy makers, academic leaders, consumers and patient advocacy groups will come together at Ohio State this October to discuss the latest breakthroughs in personalized healthcare.  The theme of the conference, which is scheduled for October 1-2, 2009, is “Transforming Healthcare through Personalized Medicine.” 

Participating speakers will include renowned experts from OSU, Duke University, Boston University, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Institute for Systems Biology.

“We are in the midst of a transformation in medicine and this year’s conference explores many of those changes, along with the great potential for predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory health care,” says Dr. Clay Marsh, executive director of the OSU Center for Personalized Health Care. “At the same time, we are providing a timely forum to address many issues high on the agenda of the current policy reform debate,” adds Marsh, who also is senior associate vice president for research in the Office of Health Sciences, and vice dean for research in the College of Medicine.

Personalized healthcare utilizes gene-based information to understand a person’s individual requirements for maintaining health, preventing disease and tailoring therapies.  In addition to this gene-based analysis, it incorporates information concerning an individual’s environment, health-related behaviors, cultures and values. 

For more details, see the release from OSU.