We are excited to host the 20th Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) in Pittsburgh on September 23-24, 2021.

“Pittsburgh hosts one of the largest integrated academic-community hospital networks (UPMC and University of Pittsburgh) in the United States. Combined with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the region is a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship in precision medicine, with advanced biomedical research and computing being implemented into patient care. Pittsburgh has advanced precision biobanking, a genome center with associated computational biology, is home to AllofUs Pennsylvania, and has one of the nation’s largest studies implementing pre-emptive pharmacogenomics in healthy individuals. In collaboration with UPMC, Pitt and CMU, investigators are driving studies on how to use machine learning and artificial intelligence in biomedical discovery and clinical decision support. Lastly, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh were among the first teams that were developing a Covid-19 vaccine, the PittCoVac, and participated as an active site in COVID-19 vaccine trials”. -Dr. Adrian Lee, Professor and Director of the Institute for Precision Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and UPMC is the Conference Chair.

The Pittsburgh medical community is in a unique position to capitalize on the research and clinical expertise in the city and lead the nation in precision medicine. UPMC, Pitt, and CMU have large funded programs in precision medicine and UPMC Enterprises recently committed $1B to life science investments. Areas of expertise not only include precision oncology, drug development, and targeted therapies, but also approaches to big data and pre-emptive pharmacogenomics. The Pittsburgh area is a unique location for the next PMWC conference.

We are witnessing dramatic technological innovations and advancements resulting in a rise in new initiatives that help propel the translation of precision medicine into improvements in health care. For example, the increase in the use of genetics in all areas of medicine is requiring new approaches to genetic testing/counseling and associated computational systems to handle and analyze data. The unique collaboration between UPMC, Pitt and CMU helps researchers and clinicians discover and exploit clinically actionable individual features of risk for disease, optimal treatment, disease course, and response to treatment.

These technological and medical advances are reflected in the robust two-day agenda for PMWC Pittsburgh Sept. 23-24, 2021.

Adrian Lee: “The call to action is to overcome the many barriers that prevent precision medicine from being widely deployed, with one of the major barriers being the need for greater education of researchers and health care professionals” Read Adrian Lee’s full interview on the PMWC blog.

Agenda highlights include:

• 2-Track Program with sessions on recent successful applications in precision medicine and technological advancements, with one of the tracks fully dedicated to provide companies an opportunity to showcase in a 15-minute presentation new innovations and technologies

• Lineup of 60+ highly regarded speakers featuring pioneering researchers and authorities across the healthcare and biotechnology sectors

• Luminary and Pioneer Awards, honoring individuals who contributed, and continue to contribute, to the field of Precision Medicine

• 500+ multidisciplinary attendees, from across the entire spectrum of healthcare, representing different types of companies, technologies, and medical centers with leadership roles in precision medicine

A Sneak peek promises an exciting upcoming conference with topics such as:

• Population Health Programs
• Advancing Pharmacogenomics
• Data-Sharing Policies
• Adoption of Molecular Profiling in Clinical Oncology
• Barriers to Health System Implementation of Molecular Profiling
• Progress and Challenges of Predictive Immunology Biomarkers
• Novel Clinical Trial Design
• Diversity & Engagement
• COVID Lesson Learned
• Covid & Cancer Vaccines
• mRNA Beyond COVID
• Neonatal Sequencing and Pediatric Critical Care

Please join us and an exciting lineup of speakers which includes among others Ugur Sahin & Özlem Türeci (BioNTech), Stephen Kingsmore (Rady Children’s Hospital), Julie Johnson (University of Florida), Laura Esserman (UCSF) Sheri Schully (All of Us Research Program, NIH), (see more speakers) on September 23-24 for PMWC 2021 Pittsburgh.

I look forward to seeing many of you at PMWC 2021 Pittsburgh.

Adrian Lee, Ph.D.
Pittsburgh Foundation Chair and Director,
Institute for Precision Medicine,
University of Pittsburgh and UPMC