Centre for Innovation in Medicine, an NGO acting on the European health area, organized the 6th edition of its annual Personalised Medicine Conference on 16th of December (10 am CET). The theme of this year is “The biological revolution of the 4th industrial revolution”. For the second year in a row, the conference was virtual. We strongly believe that in this pandemic context, only great ideas can cross state borders and it is our duty to facilitate the informational transfer.

Two sessions revolving around this theme:

  • “The genomic advances that made a difference in the pandemic and best practices in viral surveillance” – starting 10 CET
  • “Personalized Medicine in the Romanian Cancer Control Plan” – starting 12 CET

The first session started with a Fireside Chat featuring Prof. Angela Brand and Dr. Marius Geantă. More details, here.

Angela Brand is Full Professor at MERIT (Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology), Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Director of the European Centre for Public Health Genomics (ECPHG) as well as Dr. T.M. Pai Endowed Chair on Public Health Genomics and Adjunct Professor at the School of Life Sciences at Manipal University, India. She has been the pioneer of Public Health Genomics in Europe and has coordinated and established National Task Forces in more than 15 EU Member States (MS) within the last years (PHGEN, www.phgen.eu).

Followed by an expert panel on viral surveillance. Speakers:

Dr. Vinod Scaria

Dr. Vinod Scaria is a biologist, medical researcher pioneering in Precision Medicine and Clinical Genomics in India. He is best known for sequencing the first Indian genome. His group also contributed to uncovering the first reports of COVID-19 reinfection in India and a comprehensive resource on reinfections. He pioneered research into the genomic characterization of COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections and he has also been instrumental in creating a comprehensive genomic surveillance programme for SARS-CoV-2 in the state of Kerala which has been able to provide early insights into variants and influencing policy.

 

Dr. Marius Geantă is a pioneer in the field of personalised medicine in Romania and Central Eastern Europe and is involved in some pan-European innovative healthcare projects, such as Information Technology: The Future of Cancer Treatment, DigiTwins Consortium, International Consortium for Personalised Medicine, Public Health Genomics Network, PECAN, Building Blocks for Personalised Medicine.

He is President and Co-Founder of the Center for Innovation in Medicine, a non-governmental organisation based in Bucharest, Romania, focused on innovation in the healthcare sector. The aim of the Center for Innovation in Medicine is to shorten the time between the emergence of innovations in the medical sector and their application so that they can benefit patients both in Romania and elsewhere.

From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Geantă recognized the vital role of viral genomic surveillance in controlling the pandemic. He and his team proposed a genomic surveillance system, personalized for the Romanian health system, based on genomic sequencing and data analysis for public health decisions.

The second session will start at 12 CET (13:00 Bucharest time) and it will consist of a discussion with Romanian KOLs:

 


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