Stanford Medicine magazine reports on precision health

New tools and technology are leading medical researchers at Stanford Medicine to think big. Really big.

“For as long as people have been caring for the sick, we have been playing a frantic game of catch-up, working to cure illness after the fact,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, in the new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine.

“Now, for the first time in our history, we are starting to see the possibility to not just win the race against the clock, but to win it before it even begins — to prevent disease before it strikes and cure it decisively if it does. This is the power of precision health.”

In the special report in Stanford Medicine magazine’s winter issue, you’ll read how Stanford researchers and clinicians are working toward this goal.

“Our vision,” said Minor, “is that a doctor can tailor every therapy specifically to what’s known about a patient: their genetics, their metabolomics, all their -omics, their imaging, everything about them. At Stanford, we want to live in a world where health-care providers aren’t left on their own to somehow aggregate all that information. Instead, information technology helps a doctor to confidently tell the patient, ‘You are going to benefit most from doing the following.’ We know it will take a sea change in training the doctors of the future, but the benefits will be massive.”

The magazine also includes an excerpt from the best-selling memoir When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi, MD, in which the author reflects on life in light of his impending demise. At 35, the Stanford neurosurgeon faced terminal cancer.

Special report highlights

Highlights of the special report include:

• An article describing the aims of precision health and the tools being used to carry it out.
• A feature on how insights from neuroscience could customize care for people with anxiety, depression and other psychiatric conditions.
• A Q&A with news icon Tom Brokaw about dealing with cancer and what it taught him about the U.S. health-care system. The online version includes audio of the complete conversation.
• A story about a family coping with the risk of premature birth and about research uncovering how to predict and prevent it.
• An article describing ways nanotechnology is being used to see, monitor and destroy cancer cells.
• A feature about revolutionizing the practice of medicine by drawing on massive pools of data hidden in electronic medical records to individualize treatments.
• A piece on Stanford’s Letter Project, which helps you specify to doctors and family how you’d like to live your last days.
• An additional feature explains how new laboratory techniques for growing drugs originally derived from plants could reduce shortages and lead to more effective compounds.
   

The magazine is available online. Print copies are being sent to subscribers. Others can request a copy at (650) 723-6911 or by sending an email to medmag@stanford.edu.