Duke Health and Duke University will co-host the first-ever North Carolina meeting of the Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) on May 24-25. Hundreds are expected to attend from across the spectrum of healthcare, representing a variety of companies, technologies, researchers and medical centers with leadership roles in precision medicine.
The theme of the conference, held annually since 2009 in California’s Silicon Valley, is “Translating the Power of Precision Technologies into Better Health Care.” The gathering will spotlight the explosion of biomedical technologies, driving initiatives that enable the translation of precision medicine into direct improvements in healthcare.
More than 30 sessions will be held, featuring a total of more than 100 speakers from the healthcare and biotechnology sectors. Among the numerous conference topics are how data science can advance precision medicine, the importance of patient engagement, the impact of technology to drive genomics and medical practice, updates on data and regulatory policies, metabolomics in precision medicine, the emergence of single cell genomics, monitoring infectious disease, and mobile health and how it is changing healthcare.
“It was a great choice to bring the conference to Duke and to allow us to highlight what is happening on our campus, regionally and on the East Coast,” said Geoffrey Ginsburg, MD, PhD, program co-chair and director of the Duke Center for Applied Genomics & Precision Medicine. “Duke has been at the forefront of precision medicine and its leadership has embraced it both scientifically and clinically. Precision medicine is a national agenda with the launch of the NIH’s Precision Medicine Initiative, and there is no question this field has led and will continue to lead to novel insights into disease biology, innovative technologies, and a paradigm shift in healthcare to focus more on prediction and prevention. For anyone at Duke or in the Triangle area who is in science or the practice of medicine, there will something of great interest and value at the conference. Partnerships are key to the success of precision medicine.”
The conference will be held at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is scheduled to speak, along with Frances S. Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health. Joining Ginsburg as program co-chair is Ralph Snyderman, MD, chancellor emeritus.
Tal Behar, co-founder and president of PMWC International, says PMWC’s expertise in showcasing practical content that helps close the knowledge gap between different sectors and catalyzes cross-functional fertilization and collaboration can benefit both Duke and the hundreds who attend.
“The Duke University Health System is a recognized leader in precision medicine – an institution that others turn to in search of knowledge, answers to questions, information, and learnings – and so is an optimal location for PMWC to have a meeting outside of the Silicon Valley,” Behar said. “Replicating the success of our conference at a site like Duke will bring the leaders of Duke together with both local and global stakeholders across precision medicine, which holds the promise of tremendous value in identifying and realizing opportunities and discussing challenges that are still ahead to accelerate the adoption of Precision Medicine into mainstream healthcare.”
Featured speakers from Duke include:
Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, dean of the School of Medicine and Duke University Chancellor
of Academic Affairs.
Robert M. Califf, MD, professor of medicine at Duke and former commissioner
of the Food and Drug Administration.
Kim Blackwell, MD, Professor of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute.
Lawrence David, PhD, Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology,
Center for Genomic and Computational Biology.
Charles Gersbach, PhD, Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering,
Duke Cancer Institute.
Matthias Gromeier, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Neurosurgery and Molecular Genetics
and Microbiology, Duke Cancer Institute.
Mary Klotman, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine; Dean-elect Duke University
School of Medicine.
Vandana Shashi, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics.
John Strickler, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute.
Christopher Woods, MD, Professor of Medicine, Global Health and Pathology
Registration ends May 23, but a price discount is available for those who register by May 3. See the link below for complete details.
Information about winners of this year’s Luminary and Pioneer Awards