On behalf of PMC, I am pleased to provide a link to the audio recording of the keynote address that U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Director Dr. Eric Green delivered to an audience of journalists, policymakers, and business leaders at the National Press Club during the Coalition’s State of Personalized Medicine Luncheon Address on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
During his presentation, Dr. Green reminded us that the applications for personalized medicine and, by extension, the opportunities PMC has to effect positive changes to health care practices for the benefit of patients and health systems, have expanded tremendously since the first sequencing of a human genome was completed as part of the Human Genome Project in 2003.
As Dr. Green explains in his keynote address, scientists have taken advantage of increasingly cost-effective sequencing technologies to sequence millions of human genomes in the past two decades. The resulting insights have unlocked extraordinary new opportunities for patients in areas such as cancer, rare diseases, and pharmacogenomics. Recent technological advances in areas such as multi-cancer early detection and gene and cell-based therapies promise to expand the horizons of genomics and personalized medicine even further.
In 20 years, Dr. Green explains, we have gone from having “a blurry idea of what genomic medicine looks like to having a clear idea” of the ways in which targeted prevention and treatment plans will impact patient care now and in the future, sometimes with previously unimaginable benefits.
Thus, the stage is set for the second half of PMC’s 20th anniversary year in 2023, when the Coalition will continue to pave the way for the future of personalized medicine through educational, advocacy, and evidence development programs that will help ensure that every patient has the opportunity to benefit from the right medical interventions at the right times.