The term “personalized medicine” is bandied about extensively, and in many ways it is still more wish than reality. However, an afternoon symposium at AACC's Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo on July 30, “A Survey of Personalized Medicine: The PGx, PK and PD Of It All” (35204), will explore not only the potential of personalized medicine, but also practical examples of personalized medicine in action.
Drs. William Clarke, Gwendolyn McMillin, and Mark Marzinke will give up-to-the-moment updates on how personalized medicine is impacting cancer chemotherapy, antiepileptic management, and treatment of mood disorders and depression. This highly regarded trio will explore pharmacogenetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacokinetic factors in therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in these areas.
“We will highlight current recommendations and guidelines for clinical practice that promote opportunities for multifaceted, integrated treatment approaches to optimize patient care,” explained McMillin. “There will be a common theme throughout each talk wherein attendees may learn about new tools and/or new applications of old tools to improve therapy.”
Clarke and Marzinke are both faculty members at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where Clarke is director of clinical toxicology and Marzinke is director of pre-analytical chemistry and associate director of clinical pharmacology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. McMillin is medical director of toxicology and co-medical director of pharmacogenetics at ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City and an associate professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
This session was developed in cooperation with the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology, which aims to foster education, research, and practice in TDM and clinical toxicology.
McMillin added that she hopes “attendees will see that the pragmatism of personalized approaches can be applied to many disciplines, and will take this philosophy to expand and improve the pharmacotherapy support at their home institutions. We would like attendees to walk away with a mental checklist of pre-therapeutic options for evaluating therapeutic options for a particular indication, which could improve the success of therapy.”
Register online to attend this dynamic session.