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    Fighting Cancer is Now Personal

    Fighting Cancer is Now Personal

    CancerGenomics_Personal_800X800

    Attacking cancer is now personal

    Personalized cancer treatment seems like a no-brainer.  Of course it’s personal. Cancer is a diagnosis that comes with a myriad of new emotions, definitions, fears, and questions. So, yes, it is personal. At every level, it’s personal. At Intermountain Precision Genomics, located in St. George, Utah, scientists, physicians and a team of professionals are offering personalized medicine with precision results.

    About Intermountain Precision Genomics

    Intermountain Healthcare patients have been benefiting from precision medicine since 2013 and now, with partners and systems in place, precision medicine is available to a broader audience. Oncologists from all over the United States can join with us to add precision medicine to patient care.

    Intermountain Precision Genomics started with a vision of colleagues and friends at Intermountain Healthcare. Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, Derrick Haslem, MD, and Gary Stone, operations officer, saw the coming shift of change in medicine with genetics and determined that they had two choices: to follow the wave of that change or lead it. They came together to implement Precision Genomics at Intermountain Healthcare, a not-for-profit hospital system in the intermountain west. 

    Intermountain is uniquely positioned to play an important role in groundbreaking efforts surrounding precision medicine. According to Stone, “This is scientific revolution. We get to think differently about the underlining scientific methodologies behind how we deliver medicine. Intermountain Healthcare is on the forefront of finding innovative ways to transform healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. Precision Genomics achieves this in a very innovative way.”   

    Attacking cancer - making it personal

    Using a test called the ICG100 Intermountain Precision Genomics offers personalized treatments based on a patient’s specific genetic makeup. With the goal of extending life and increasing the quality of life for patients, Intermountain contracts with partners like Syapse, DNAnexus, N-of-One and TOMA to make it possible to sequence, store and interpret data, treat, and track patient outcomes.

    Syapse Founder and President Jonathon Hirsch created a software platform to support Intermountain Precision Genomics.  Hirsch noted, “The unique thing about this software platform is that it presents the information to the physician in a way that they can act on it.  It presents complex genomic data to the physicians with the capability to receive drug recommendations, clinical trials information and most importantly, the ability to then select, prescribe and procure a specific drug.”

    What’s next for personalized precision medicine?

    When asked about the future of precision medicine Dr.  Nadauld responded, “We are taking a muliti-disciplinary approach to precision medicine, where we grow beyond the confines of cancer.  We are including cardiovascular medicine, the neurosciences, neonatal medicine, infectious diseases and other cross-disciplinary approaches.”

    For now, Intermountain Precision Genomics is adding another word to the cancer vocabulary in terms of personalized medicine: hope.  When it comes to treatment options for people who are running out of hope, Precision Genomics at Intermountain is extending life and improving the quality of life of stage four cancer patients through personalized precision medicine.  

    For more information about Intermountain Precision Genomics visit: www.precisioncancer.org or join the conversation on Facebook.