- Award presented November 29 at Harvard personalized medicine conference -
BOSTON, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Ralph Snyderman, M.D., Chancellor
Emeritus at Duke University and Founder and Chairman of Proventys, Inc.,
receives the 2007 Leadership in Personalized Medicine Award today from the
Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) for his efforts in advancing
predictive and targeted therapies on a national scale.
The annual PMC award recognizes the contributions of a visionary
individual whose actions in science, business, or policy have advanced the
frontier of personalized medicine. Dr. Snyderman accepts the award today at
12:15 p.m. at the Harvard Medical School - Partners HealthCare Center for
Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG) and Harvard Business School conference,
Personalized Medicine: A Call for Action, in Boston, MA.
(http://www.hpcgg.org/PM/2007/index.jsp)
"The PMC Leadership in Personalized Medicine Award publicly recognizes
those individuals who support and contribute to the innovative and deeply
collaborative nature of personalized medicine," said Mara G. Aspinall,
President of Genzyme Genetics, Vice Chair of the PMC, and Chair of the
committee that selected Dr. Snyderman. "Dr. Snyderman has helped advance
the frontier of personalized medicine across a broad front, including
clinical care, business, and as an outspoken supporter of the new
paradigm."
Personalized medicine is the use of molecular analysis to better manage
a patient's disease or predisposition to disease in order to achieve
optimal clinical outcomes by helping physicians and patients choose the
approaches best suited to the patient's genetic and environmental profile.
Dr. Snyderman was appointed as a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator,
assistant professor of medicine and immunology, and Chief of Rheumatology
at the Durham Veteran's Administration at Duke University Medical Center in
1972. Since the beginning of his career, he has recognized the important
role that emerging technologies play in the advancement of medicine. His
dual focus on both the intricate biological relations between the human
body and disease pathogens, and the centrality of technology in driving the
future of healthcare led Dr. Snyderman to actively advocate for an
interrelated and integrated healthcare system.
Dr. Snyderman left Duke in 1987 to join Genentech, Inc., as Vice
President, later becoming Senior Vice President. While at Genentech, he led
the development and licensing of several novel therapeutics and supervised
300 staff members working in pharmacology, clinical research, and
regulatory affairs. The monoclonal antibody that is now marketed as
Herceptin was put into preclinical development under Dr. Snyderman's
leadership as Sr. V.P., Medical Research and Development at Genentech.
As the Chancellor of Health Affairs at Duke from 1989 to 2004, Dr.
Snyderman drew on his experience in biotechnology and healthcare delivery
to conceive, pioneer, and implement a comprehensive healthcare approach
based on the concept of "Prospective Health Care." The foundation of this
healthcare approach is strategic, personalized, and predictive health
planning, rather than reactive treatment. As a successful and integral part
of the Duke Health System for six years, "Duke Prospective Health" uses
technology to provide individualized and integrated healthcare for
patients. This approach, led by Snyderman, has made the Duke Health System
one of the leading academic health systems in the United States and has
firmly placed it at the leading edge of personalized medicine.
In addition to his pioneering work at Duke, Dr. Snyderman has worked
continually to put personalized medicine on the national agenda by
developing concepts for its implementation and by convening key leaders of
the major stakeholders in healthcare -- payers, legislators, patients,
physicians, economists -- and engaging them in a dialogue about this new
trend in medicine. Snyderman also made individualized healthcare a focus of
his tenure as both the Chairman of the Association of American Medical
Colleges' (AAMC) Council of Deans (1999 - 2000) and Chair of the AAMC (2000
- 2001), understanding the importance of educating new physicians and other
healthcare professionals about personalized medicine.
Today, Dr. Snyderman continues to develop and advance his concept of
prospective healthcare. After stepping down as Chancellor for Health
Affairs at Duke, he founded the Center for Research on Prospective Health
Care (CRPHC). In addition, Snyderman is the Founder and Chairman of
Proventys, Inc., a company providing physicians and researchers with
clinical decision support systems that integrate data from advanced
clinical databases to develop personalized risk assessment tools.
(http://www.proventys.com/index.html)
"Dr. Ralph Snyderman has been a driving force for personalized medicine
nationally," said Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center
for Genomic Medicine, Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke
University, and a PMC Board Member. "As a leader of one of the largest
academic health systems in the United States, he has been a strong and
consistent voice to improve the fundamental basis of healthcare delivery
and to promote personalized medicine."
Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., Executive Director of the PMC stated when
announcing the award at the conference, "The PMC recognizes the impact
personalized medicine will have on the healthcare system, works to overcome
the obstacles that may prevent its implementation, and develops strategies
for its widespread adoption. We applaud the innovative and influential work
of those pioneers, such as Dr. Snyderman, as well as previous awardees Dr.
Janet Woodcock, Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer of the FDA, and
Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health, who are also
dedicated to moving this effort forward."
About the Personalized Medicine Coalition
The Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC), representing a broad
spectrum of academic, industrial, patient, provider, and payer communities,
seeks to advance the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine
concepts and products for the benefit of patients. For more information on
the Personalized Medicine Coalition, please visit
http://www.PersonalizedMedicineCoalition.org.
Contact:
Christine Mackenzie
Feinstein Kean Healthcare
617-577-8110
cmackenzie@fkhealth.com
SOURCE The Personalized Medicine Coalition
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Related links:
http://www.hpcgg.org/PM/2007/index.jsp
http://www.proventys.com/index.html
http://www.PersonalizedMedicineCoalition.org
CONTACT:
Christine Mackenzie of Feinstein Kean
Healthcare, +1-617-577-8110, cmackenzie@fkhealth.com
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