Precision medicine attracts growing interest
- Lisa Rautenbach
Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience will kick off the first three-day short course on Precision Medicine in Africa, on the 19 of February 2017.
The comparatively high cost of health care, the high burden of communicable and growing burden of non-communicable disease, and a sluggish economy continues to put pressure on the South African government to use available financial and human resources in the most effective manner.
The buzz about Precision Medicine and how it can be used to enhance clinical practise is growing locally. Precision medicine is an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention, which couples established approaches with molecular profiling to create diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic strategies precisely tailored to each patient's requirements
According to Michèle Ramsay, professor in the Division of Human Genetics, and Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, a key indicator of the increased interest in precision medicine, is the number of funding opportunities which are growing significantly in the African context. However divergent understandings of precision medicine and a lack of resources and appropriate infrastructure to develop large research projects leave much of this funding opportunity untapped.
“Given this new wave of innovation in medicine, the Institute has a vital role to play in enabling precision medicine through research. Building capacity and resources in this area are critical. As a key initiative we have conceptualised and developed a short course in precision medicine to play a leading role in developing this capacity locally.” says Ramsay
Together with the Division of Human Genetics, the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience will kick off the first three-day short course on Precision Medicine in Africa, on the 19 of February 2017.
The course intends to introduce health professionals including clinicians, academic clinicians, dieticians, research investigators, postgraduate students & health related counsellors, and people working in the Health Industry to the concept of precision medicine and some of the issues related to developing a precision medicine agenda in Africa. It will highlight how an enhanced understanding of the human genome and its function could have an impact on modern clinical practice.
Register online at http://wits-enterprise.co.za/c/precision-medicine-in-africa before 6 February. The venue for the short course is The Mount, 9 Jubilee Road, Parktown, Johannesburg. For more information: jocelyn.gayenga@wits.ac.za or 011 717 6631