UCSF Praises President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative
U.S. President Barack Obama’s commitment to precision medicine in his Jan. 20 State of the Union Address is a major step in the right direction for medicine, drug development and health worldwide, according to the leader of UC San Francisco, one of the world’s leading health sciences universities.
“Over the past decade, we have seen enormous advances in both biomedical research and in the technology needed to mine the results of that science,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “The convergence of these disciplines will revolutionize how we envision wellness and medicine in the future.
Precision medicine aims to use advanced computing tools to convert the vast amount of molecular, clinical and epidemiological data worldwide, commonly known as “big data,” into new diagnostics, therapeutics and insights into both rare and common diseases.
Ultimately, the goal is to use those insights to understand why individuals respond differently to disease and therapies, develop more precise diagnostics and medications for them, and deliver those therapies faster and more cost-effectively to the right patient, in the right dose, at the right time.
“Achieving that vision will require a cohesive effort by biomedical researchers, clinicians and nations around the globe,” Hawgood said, including participants from academia, industry, government and non-profits. “President Obama’s initiative is an important first step toward that goal.”
UCSF has played a prominent role in developing the field of precision medicine, including co-chairing the committee that authored the definitive white paper on the subject for the National Academy of Science in 2011. Since then, UCSF has developed a precision medicine platform that serves as an overarching strategic vision for the campus going forward. That vision brings together the knowledge gained across the continuum of biomedical research and care, from basic researchers to translational scientists, clinical practitioners and social and behavioral scientists in all four UCSF schools – dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy – and to patients and the community.
UCSF is the nation's leading university exclusively focused on health. Now celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding as a medical college, UCSF is dedicated to transforming health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with world-renowned programs in the biological sciences, a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and top-tier hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.