Mountain View, CA - December 17, 2009 - El Camino Hospital today announced that Paul R. Billings, MD, PhD, FACP, FACMG, acting director and chief scientific officer of the Genomic Medicine Institute (GMI) at El Camino Hospital and an internationally recognized authority on genetic testing, will be presenting at Silicon Valley’s first-ever Personalized Medicine World Conference (PMWC2010). El Camino Hospital, the first community hospital to offer a personalized medicine solution, also will be gold sponsor of the event, which will be held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View January 19-20, 2010.
"Personalized medicine has arrived, which is an exciting development for patients, particularly here in Silicon Valley where people expect the most advanced technology to be available," says Dr. Billings, who will be providing an update on the progress El Camino’s GMI has made to date. "Through our Genomic Medicine Institute, El Camino Hospital intends on becoming the leading center nationwide in the delivery of personalized care to patients."
Dr. Billing’s featured presentation, "From Bench-Top to Bedside: Speeding Personalized Medicine’s Translation," will describe the challenges faced in delivering biologically tailored tests and treatments, and illustrate how the GMI at El Camino Hospital is innovating and collaborating to improve and speed personalized medicine’s translation from bench-top to bedside.
"I’m pleased that in the past year, the GMI has been able to establish cutting edge personalized medicine solutions for physicians and patients," Dr. Billings says.
One of the most innovative projects at the GMI is the new Family History Initiative, an effort to capture medical histories and information for entire families. "Analyzing this information and providing controlled access to family members and their physicians will help our patients and their kin receive individualized care," says Dr. Billings.
PMWC2010 has been much anticipated in the medical community. "We’re particularly excited about this conference because it brings together some of our current partners, thought and industry leaders to discuss developments in genomic medicine," notes Billings. The conference will cover a wide range of topics such as:
- the impact of new genomic and proteomic technologies on diagnostics and therapeutics in cancer and other major diseases
- new challenges policy makers and regulators are facing in order to keep up with rapid advances and availability of new molecular tests
- how established biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are adopting their strategies to incorporate personalized medicine.
The sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. both days of the conference (Jan. 19-20, 2010).
About the GMI
El Camino established the Genomic Medicine Institute, a partnership with DNA Direct in March 2009. In doing so, El Camino became the first community hospital in to integrate genomic medicine into healthcare delivery.
The GMI was created to offer the support physicians and patients need to make informed decisions about genetic tests and genomic therapies that can lead to earlier intervention, more effective disease prevention and improved care, including being able to prescribe the treatments that will work best for each patient. Through DNA Direct, El Camino provides genetic information services, including individual phone consultation for physicians and genetic counseling for patients, as well as Web-based tools.
Dr. Paul Billings is the acting director and chief scientific officer of the GMI. A noted teacher and researcher who has focused on both the scientific and policy implications of using of genetic information in medicine, Dr. Billings provided the academic support for the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act, which became law in 2008. He has received numerous research grants for his work from various organizations, including National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation.
