SPOKANE – “The Future of Healthcare: Prediction, Prevention and Personalized Care” is the topic of this year’s Washington State University Spokane Robert F.E. Stier Memorial Lecture in Medicine presented by LeRoy Hood, MD, PhD, president and co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology.
The Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center, WSU Extension and the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research offer this free public lecture set for 3 p.m. Dec. 8, in the Providence Auditorium at Sacred Heart Medical Center, 101 W. 8th Ave., Spokane, with reception to follow.
Dr. Hood, a pioneer in systems medicine and the systems approach to disease, will bring to our local community an understanding of how our current reactive medicine will change over the next 10-20 years. He sees the future of healthcare including greater emphasis on using our own genetic material to predict those diseases we are likely to contract and having the capability to target personalized prevention strategies and treatment options. The “P4” model, which includes predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory medicine, depends on a whole system approach. Hood will discuss moving towards this P4 model, in which our blood is the window into health and disease, and its implications for health care and society.
Immediately preceding this presentation, Hood will engage in a discussion with community medical care providers interested in biomedical research and invention. Interested physicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical research coordinators and other medical care providers are invited to attend at the Deaconess Health & Education Center Room 265, 910 W. 5th Ave., Spokane, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Both events are free but seating is limited. Please RSVP by Nov. 30 to the E. WA AHEC at (509) 358-7640 or ahec@wsu.edu.
About Leroy Hood
Dr. Hood’s research has focused on fundamental biology (immunity, evolution, genomics) and on bringing engineering to biology through the development of five instruments. These instruments constitute the technological foundation for modern molecular biology and genomics. He has applied these technologies to diverse fields including immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, molecular evolution and systems medicine.
Hood has been driven by the conviction that the needs of frontier biology should drive the selection of technologies to be developed, and once new technologies are developed they can revolutionize biology and medicine. In 2000, he co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington to more effectively continue pioneer systems approaches to biology and medicine. He has also played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin and Rosetta. He is currently pioneering systems medicine and the systems approach to disease. Hood’s lifelong contributions to biotechnology have earned him numerous prestigious awards and honorary degrees. For more biographical detail, please contact Kaarin Appel.
About the Stier Memorial Lectures in Medicine:
The Stier Lectures are coordinated by the Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center, a unit of WSU Extension at WSU Spokane. The lectures are funded by an endowment established by Alton R. Stier, M.D., and Robert A.(Bud) Stier, M.D., in honor of their late father.
The series features annual presentations from key leaders in medicine who represent the current state of the art and science and whose works have increased professional and public understanding of new technologies and challenging issues. The lectures serve the medical profession and the public to increase dialogue and stimulate interaction around innovative ideas and biomedical technologies.
About the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research:
The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 to promote the understanding of biomedical research, and the applications and implications of that research.
NWABR’s member organizations include over 80 universities, research institutes and hospitals, voluntary health associations, professional societies and biotechnology organizations in Washington and Oregon. Their goals are to educate the Northwest community about the process by which research advances and to empower citizens to make informed choices on issues related to biomedical research.
For information about the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research contact Susan Adler, executive director at (206) 957-3337 or susan@nwabr.org.
