Community Learning Space

The infraNET Project and 
Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
University of Waterloo


present ...


Personalized Medicine : Today and Tomorrow

by

Dr. Richard Kim

Professor of Medicine and Physiology & Pharmacology, 
Scientist, Lawson Health Research Institute, 
Chair, Division of Clinical Pharmacology,
Director, Centre for Clinical Investigation & Therapeutics  

University of Western Ontario

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo

Seminar Series Sponsors
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
McKesson Information Solutions - Smart Systems for Health Agency
Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada

Presentation Archive 2008

Abstract
Unexpected withdrawal or health warnings for drugs such as tegaserod (Zelnorm) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) continue to point to deficiencies in the way new drugs are tested and studied in our patients. Personalized Medicine represents the integration of data about a patient s genetic makeup, specifically Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes that affect drug disposition or response, together with that of dietary and environmental influences and the patient s clinical or disease state, to identify treatment options more tailored to an individual patient. The hope is to move from iterative drug and dose selection to the individualization of drug therapies based on a predictive model of a patient s ability to handle and respond to drugs. Systematic integration of Omics technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) along with information management systems will be crucial to realizing the promise of individualized patient therapy.

About the Speaker
Dr. Kim received his MD from the U. of Saskatchewan in 1987. After his internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon in 1991, he did a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. On completion of his fellowship in 1994, he remained at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as a faculty member. In 2006, he moved his group to the University of Western Ontario. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Clinical Investigation & Therapeutics. His research interest is in understanding the molecular basis of interindividual differences in drug disposition with application to Personalized Medicine.

For more information
Shirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074

Seminar Hosts
This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.

The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in 1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding partners were: LivePage (now part of Oracle), MKS, Open Text, RIM, Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.

We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute for Computer Research, University of Waterloo.