Experts focus on scientific complexities of individual and population health at iCOMOS 2016

How do we balance the needs for individualized health care with the public health programs serving communities - especially in the context of environmental pollution and climate change? Given a fixed set of resources, maximizing the potential of both is challenging, indeed.

This subject is one of the focus areas at the International Conference on One Medicine One Science (iCOMOS) at the University of Minnesota April 24- 27, 2016.

The biological revolution linking genotypic variation to health and disease has created vast potential for tending to the health of individuals based on personal health risks, drug sensitivities, nutritional needs, and yet-to-be-discovered variables. Individualized medicine requires large investments and resource commitment to address individual needs. Public health, based on scientific knowledge of generalized health risks and rewards, requires investments and commitments to population and health impacts of local and global environments. Given a fixed set of resources, maximizing the potential of both is challenging at best.

The scientific complexities of individual and population health is examined by such experts as:

Susan M. Wolf, J.D. Professor of Law, Professor of Medicine, University on Minnesota on ethical challenges of translating genomic research into public health benefit.
Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. New York University professor of bioethics on the ethics of personalized medicine vs. public health
Elaine Ostrander, Ph.D. NIH Distinguished Investigator on the science behind personalized medicine
Mark Feinberg, M.D. Ph.D President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative on the challenges and opportunities with vaccines.
Adam Berger, Ph.D Senior Fellow, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services discusses the President's Precision Medicine Initiative.

iCOMOS 2016 includes presenters and participants in human health, veterinary medicine, public health, food policy, food production and food safety, infectious diseases, environmental health, and agriculture. Speakers and participants from more than 30 countries will participate.