Plenary session

15.00 - 17.00 hrs

Personalized Medicine for Health and Prevention

Personalized Medicine (PM) aims to provide an adequate and desirable response to diversity; to differences among people rather than similarities. In our vision, it is more than genetic or otherwise technical tailoring of a certain treatment to an individual. In personalized medicine, ideally all person-related aspects are taken into account by health care professional(s) at different stages of care.

At the Spring Meeting we will have two outstanding speakers who have long been working in the field of PM. They will focus on different aspects of PM. Professor Harald Schmidt from Maastricht University will speak about the end of medicine as we know it, and Professor Paolo Villari from the University of Rome, will speak about PM from a health technology assessment perspective.

In the last part of the plenary session, facilitated by our Junior Council, there will be an opportunity for PhDs and PostDocs to present their work and international ambitions in the form of a Pecha Kucha and to compete for a travel awards. 

 

Professor Paolo Villari
The evaluation and the implementation of genetic/genomic applications: an Health Technology Assessment exercise?

Given the rapid development of genomic technologies, there is a critical need for a solid evaluation process to guide their appropriate translation into clinical practice. At the same time, there are some genetic/genomic applications with proved efficacy, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness that should become citizens’ right and be implemented in clinical and public health practice. The existing frameworks for the assessment of genetic and genomic applications rely mainly on the technical and clinical aspects. In a time of limited resources, however, it appears clear that an evaluation limited to technical performance and clinical outcomes is no longer sufficient for an effective 'research translation'. The presentation will address the issue that both the evaluation and the implementation of genetic/genomic applications are an Health Technology Assessment exercise, focusing on clinical outcomes, patients preferences, cost-effectiveness data, delivery models and feasibility aspects. Barriers to the implementation will be discussed, including gaps in knowledge and attitudes of public health professionals.

 

Professor Harald Schmidt
The end of medicine as we know it.

With a double degree in Medicine and Pharmacy, Harald Schmidt has a passion for systems medicine, i.e. to re-define what we call "disease" from a descriptive symptom-based to a mechanism-based approach by using big data, innovative target validation and rapid repurposing of registered drugs for new clinical applications. As an ERC proof-of-concept investigator he follows up on his ERC Advanced Grant to perform high risk/high potential benefit research in areas of major medical need, such as the development and commercialisation of a first-in-class neuro-protective therapy in stroke. He chairs the COST action OpenMultiMed contributing to the Big Data-based evolution of Medicine, coordinates the H2020 project REPO-TRIAL and leads the clinical work packet in the H2020 programme FeatureCloud. Together with Jan Baumbach he is co-editor-in-chief of the 2018 founded journal Systems Medicine. His multi-national (Germany, USA, Australia, Netherlands) research experience in Academia, Industry (Abbott) and Biotech (Vasopharm) has led to high impact publications (Hirsch 87) with high socio-economic relevance such as drug and diagnostics patents, spin-offs and patient benefit. He is a dedicated teacher and supports enthusiastic young researchers to achieve leadership positions themselves.

Travel Award Competition

This year the Amsterdam Public Health (APH) Personalized Medicine program will have an award available for junior researchers whose work exemplify the APH research institute. If you have interesting research ideas or findings, that make you a strong international representative for APH Personalized Medicine, you should apply.

Applications for this award are open for all junior researchers affiliated with APH (not restricted to the Personalized Medicine program) whose research could qualify as being personalized medicine research.

The best proposals will receive an invitation to present the research in the form of a ‘Pecha Kucha’ at the plenary session. The winner of the award will be announced at the end of this meeting. The APH Personalized Medicine Award comes with 2,000 Euros (1st prize), 1,000 Euros (2nd prize) and 500 Euros (3rd prize) to support travel to an international meeting (e.g., conference, workshop) or to an international group. The money needs to be spent in 2019.

Being a representative may take the form of an international conference visit, where you present your APH-affiliated work. Also supported are visits to groups abroad, if such a visit will help you to establish a valuable collaboration or gain skills and knowledge that, in a broader sense, may also benefit Personalized Medicine research in Amsterdam. Eligible are PhD-students and postdocs (up to 4 years post-degree) that are affiliated with APH.

More information about the Pecha Kucha format can be found here: https://www.pechakucha.org/