Personalized health care is a medical model that attempts to tailor treatments to the unique needs of individuals by taking genetics and other factors into account. Family health histories are considered, as are other elements such as social and environmental factors.
The government hopes personalized health care will enable doctors to choose which treatments will be most effective, rather than using treatments that are likely to fail due to genetic or other factors.
The announcement will be made by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear on Tuesday morning at the University of Ottawa.
The ministers will be joined by representatives of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium and instructors from the University of Ottawa faculty of health sciences.
As a field, personalized health care is still in its infancy. The greatest advances have been made in cancer treatment, where patients can now be tested for certain genes that help doctors determine which therapy will be most effective.
A government source said this is a "cutting edge" approach to diagnostics and treatment that will help the hospitals waste less time and money on ineffective treatments. He said this is part of a larger federal push for more innovative health-care methods.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Jeff Davis
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