Medicine’s New Era
Promoting health and preventing disease. That’s our mission
at the Indiana University School of Medicine, a mission built
on our dedication to research.
Now, in the first years of a new century, and the first years of
the genomics revolution, we have powerful new research tools that
we believe will dramatically improve our ability to promote health
and prevent disease. Those new research tools will help us unlock
the secrets of the genome, the three-billion-letter “book
of life” contained in our DNA.
We believe the results will transform medicine in the coming years.
What changes can we expect? First, think of medical care personalized
for you. Genetically, humans are all very much alike. Yet each of
us has small variations in our genes that affect how susceptible
we are to various diseases or how well we respond to various treatments
for those diseases. It is no secret that a drug that works wonders
for one patient may do nothing for another. Now we are starting
to understand the genetic differences that are responsible for these
individual responses. The result will be individualized diagnosis
and treatment.
Second, the genomics revolution is making it possible to better
understand and treat diseases that once seemed beyond our comprehension.
We’ve known for many years that genetics plays a role in nearly
all diseases. We have learned a great deal about diseases where
one altered gene can have devastating consequences.
Since 2000, with the generous financial support of the Lilly Endowment,
the School of Medicine has been building a stronger foundation for
that research with the creation of the Indiana Genomics Initiative.
We are investing in the complex, and expensive, tools of the revolution
– from tiny wafers that can spot the actions of thousands
of genes simultaneously – to mass spectrometers that can tease
out the structure of proteins – to supercomputers that can
help us understand vast amounts of biological data.
But even more importantly, we’re investing in our researchers.
We have a strong team of scientists and physicians who are dedicated
to our mission and the research that makes it possible. And more
first-rate researchers are joining us, because they’re excited
about the possibilities of research at the School of Medicine, at
Indiana University and across the state of Indiana.
A new era of medicine is coming, and it will be created with our
laboratories, with our computers, and most of all with our creativity
and dedication.
Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, is IUSM’s executive associate
dean for research affairs. She also plays the leading role in the
School’s development of the Indiana Genomics Initiative.
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