Imagine this: instead of paying your doctor for visits and treatments due to illness, paying your doctor for days that you are well.
To be honest, many of the ideas behind Tomorrow’s Health have been around for a long time.
1 – The basis of human genetics in disease: It has been known for hundreds or even thousands of years that there are diseases that are “inherited” from parents and grandparents. However, it wasn’t until the discovery that DNA is the medium through which our traits are inherited that we began to understand the importance of DNA in human disease. We are learning more and more about the intricate role that genetics can play in less obvious “inheritable” diseases, such as predispositions to cancer and different types of infectious disease.
2 – The idea of preventive medicine: In the last century, many strides have been made on this front. Research has now shown that certain preventive measures can be significant: not abusing alcohol to avoid liver disease; not smoking to avoid lung disease; eating healthy foods and exercising to avoid a variety of ailments. However, the idea of personalizing preventive medicine is just now beginning to take shape.
3 – Individual genetic testing: The availability of specific genetic tests has been around for a while, and is really starting to blossom now. However, the ability to perform FULL genome (genetic) testing has just recently become available, with less than 1,000 genomes being sequenced so far. This is an exciting development.
Up to this point, however, genetic testing has been specific and preventive medicine has been general. Specialized human genetics clinics are developing, large hospitals are gearing up to bring genetics on-board, and research is accelerating to provide the information that will soon be in great demand.
Our vision at Tomorrow’s Health is unique. We want to combine full genome sequencing (Personalized medicine) with a focus on Preventive medicine – where both are combined in an everyday clinic. We want the majority of visits to the clinic to be when you are well (not sick) and where you can consult with your doctor on things you can do to prevent serious illness. Imagine this: instead of paying your doctor for visits and treatments due to illness, paying your doctor for days that you are well.
