Advancements in technology and research are allowing the notion of personalized medicine to quickly become a reality, according to Robert Meyer, president and CEO at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Personalized medicine is where the future of medicine lies, he says, especially given that advancements in research in the 10 years since the genome was sequenced has made it a more efficient and affordable process.
Phoenix Children's Hospital recently opened the Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine. The institute aims to fight and prevent diseases in children by studying their genetic makeup. The hope is that researchers at the institute will eventually be able to determine a patient's susceptibility to disease, predict his or her response to certain drugs and finally, match each patient with a personalized treatment.
However, setting up an institute in a realm of medicine that is still relatively new is a challenge. Here are four best practices for setting up a molecular medicine institute, according to Mr. Meyer.
1. Collaborating. Mr. Meyer says that collaboration is key. "The world of one institution, one place doing everything is not the model of the future, but collaboration is," says Mr. Meyer.
Phoenix Children's Hospital partnered with the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and the Translational Genomics Research Institute to ensure that it had access to expert research in the area of molecular medicine. Additionally, the institute's partnership with T-Gen provides it access to new drugs and compounds.
There are economic and intellectual benefits to collaborating, says Mr. Meyer, and also benefits derived from reputation. Daniel Van Hoff, MD, physician in chief, senior investigator and director of T-Gen drew a lot of talented researchers to the institute, he says.
Mr. Meyer recommends that before deciding on collaborators you have to do your due diligence. Researching and knowing who the leading companies in the field are is important, he says.
"With T-Gen, we did a national search and their name kept coming up," he says. That confirmed that Phoenix Children's Hospital would reach out to T-Gen for collaboration on this project. Also, it takes persistence to ensure that the affiliation model is successful and someone needs to be working on it constantly, he says.
2. Physician leadership. Building relationships with physicians and researchers is another important step, says Mr. Meyer, and should be done as early as possible.
"It took a year to make a business plan," says Mr. Meyer, "But we included donors as well as physician leadership in the planning which worked really well." Having physician leaders involved from early on in the planning stages led to their recruitment, he says.
3. Clear priorities. Make sure that your priorities are clear, Mr. Meyer advises. It is impossible to be all things to all people. Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine is just for children but will hopefully become a platform for other hospitals and institutes, he says.
4. Major financial commitment. Another important factor to keep in mind is that institutes like these involve a major financial commitment, Mr. Meyer says. "It is not for the faint hearted," he added. For Phoenix Children's Hospital, the institute has meant a commitment of $50 million over five years.
Keeping these factors in mind are important when thinking about setting up an institute for personalized medicine. "It takes vision and risk," says Mr. Meyer, "But this is where we will make big strides in the future of medicine," he added.
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Phoenix Children's Hospital recently opened the Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine. The institute aims to fight and prevent diseases in children by studying their genetic makeup. The hope is that researchers at the institute will eventually be able to determine a patient's susceptibility to disease, predict his or her response to certain drugs and finally, match each patient with a personalized treatment.
However, setting up an institute in a realm of medicine that is still relatively new is a challenge. Here are four best practices for setting up a molecular medicine institute, according to Mr. Meyer.
1. Collaborating. Mr. Meyer says that collaboration is key. "The world of one institution, one place doing everything is not the model of the future, but collaboration is," says Mr. Meyer.
Phoenix Children's Hospital partnered with the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and the Translational Genomics Research Institute to ensure that it had access to expert research in the area of molecular medicine. Additionally, the institute's partnership with T-Gen provides it access to new drugs and compounds.
There are economic and intellectual benefits to collaborating, says Mr. Meyer, and also benefits derived from reputation. Daniel Van Hoff, MD, physician in chief, senior investigator and director of T-Gen drew a lot of talented researchers to the institute, he says.
Mr. Meyer recommends that before deciding on collaborators you have to do your due diligence. Researching and knowing who the leading companies in the field are is important, he says.
"With T-Gen, we did a national search and their name kept coming up," he says. That confirmed that Phoenix Children's Hospital would reach out to T-Gen for collaboration on this project. Also, it takes persistence to ensure that the affiliation model is successful and someone needs to be working on it constantly, he says.
2. Physician leadership. Building relationships with physicians and researchers is another important step, says Mr. Meyer, and should be done as early as possible.
"It took a year to make a business plan," says Mr. Meyer, "But we included donors as well as physician leadership in the planning which worked really well." Having physician leaders involved from early on in the planning stages led to their recruitment, he says.
3. Clear priorities. Make sure that your priorities are clear, Mr. Meyer advises. It is impossible to be all things to all people. Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine is just for children but will hopefully become a platform for other hospitals and institutes, he says.
4. Major financial commitment. Another important factor to keep in mind is that institutes like these involve a major financial commitment, Mr. Meyer says. "It is not for the faint hearted," he added. For Phoenix Children's Hospital, the institute has meant a commitment of $50 million over five years.
Keeping these factors in mind are important when thinking about setting up an institute for personalized medicine. "It takes vision and risk," says Mr. Meyer, "But this is where we will make big strides in the future of medicine," he added.
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