Through a patient’s eyes, is “precision” medicine truly “personalized” medicine?
In the cover story “The Future of Medicine” in the January issue of National Geographic magazine, journalist Fran Smith and photojournalist Craig Cutler explore the remarkable promise of gene research and treatment. “It’s a very simple principle,” commented Razelle Kerzrock, an oncologist and director of the Moores Center for Personalized Medicine, in the article. “You pick the right drugs for each patient based on the tumor profile, not based on a part of the body or based on what type of cancer 100 other people have. It’s all about that patient sitting in front of you.” Precision medicine. Individualized medicine. Personalized medicine. The breakthrough treatment options made possible by gene research are already being branded by a number of different creative names. But while these