2016 AAAS Annual Meeting (February 11-15, 2016)

February 10 - 15, 2016

Precision Medicine, Global Reach: Health Solutions From the Big Data Revolution

Precision and Personalized Medicine This symposium examines the ways that big, open, interoperable data and technology are transforming society, science, and medicine and giving new hope for solutions to complex health conditions. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Unique opportunities exist today to think differently with new technology, big-data analysis, and interconnected networks and achieve solutions never before imagined. The big data revolution is democratizing the scientific process by empowering its human dimensions, transforming research and medicine from an expert-centered focus to a patient-centered one. This symposium opens with the White House perspective on the Precision Medicine Initiative to empower citizens with online access to their own medical records, which is investing $215 million in research to advance customized care. New diagnostic methods (e.g., unbiased next-generation sequencing) use DNA fragments to rapidly screen patients for millions of diseases, creating opportunities for treatments tailored to individual genetics. Yesterday’s science fiction concepts may become today’s solutions, shining light on complex, chronic conditions from cancer to Lyme disease.