It’s Time to Realize the Full Potential of Precision Medicine. Our industry has learned a lot from addressing the challenges of COVID-19 diagnostics, treatment and vaccine development. These insights can now be used to realize the full potential of precision medicine including surveillance strategies, engaging community hospitals, leveraging medication management and addressing health disparities. I am delighted to chair Day 3 at the upcoming Virtual Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC), June 14-18, where we aim to tackle this range of topics.
Day 3 of the conference will take place on Wednesday, June 19, and includes top industry and academic thought leaders participating in the following sessions:

COVID-19 Testing as a “Screening” Tool in an Endemic Setting
• Chair: Mara Aspinall (Health Catalysts)
• Panelists: Ingo Chakravarty (Mesa Biotech), Julia Cheek (EverlyWell), and Dame Anna Dominiczak (University of Glasgow)
This session will focus on how we have overcome technical and logistical challenges to quickly and effectively design and implement successful surveillance programs. Not only has sequencing helped us monitor SARS-CoV-2 infection patterns around the world, but it has influenced vaccine, treatment and point-of-care strategies and assisted in getting “back to life” across work, school and travel settings.

Enabling Safer and More Cost-Effective Medication Treatment Plans
• Chair: Amy Compton-Phillip (Providence St. Joseph Health)
• Panelists: Steve Miller (Cigna Corporation), Steven Goldberg (Quest Diagnostics), and Michael Thompson (National Alliance of Healthcare)
To understand what new technologies, tools, and infrastructure are needed to enable safer and more cost-effective medication treatment plans throughout the healthcare ecosystem, we first need to understand how the use of pharmacogenomic testing and medication safety, as well as cost savings programs, will alter traditional pharmacy services. This panel – with stakeholders from across various sectors – will dive into this complex question.

Scaling Precision Oncology and the Role of Community Hospitals
• Chair: Jennifer King (GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer)
• Panelists: Dan Rhodes (Strata Oncology), Brandon Sheffield (William Osler Health System), Cecilia Schott (Novartis), and Lyudmila Bazhenova (UC San Diego)
As the pandemic absorbed healthcare resources from around the globe, diagnostic and molecular testing for cancer patients has been severely impacted. To move precision medicine into community hospitals we must ensure that solutions address diverse populations, technologies are easy to use and are accessible, and that we focus on training and education. Only then can these new approaches become effectively integrated into standard of care.

Achieving Precision Medicine’s Full Potential Through Community Engagement
• Chair: Monica McLemore (UCSF)
• Panelist: Jon Jacobo (San Francisco Latino Task Force), Carina Marquez (UCSF), and Kim Rhoads (UCSF)
U.S. healthcare is a sophisticated and complex, yet fragmented ecosystem. Tasks executed by physicians and healthcare professionals at large academic medical centers are very different than in the community hospital setting. This session will delve into how we can facilitate and advance further adoption of precision medicine, not only at large academic centers, but at multisite hospital networks and community hospitals. I am particularly excited to see a session focusing on this subject in this year’s conference program.

I’m also planning to attend these two sessions on Day 4:
New Variants Detection and Tracking (Track 4 | Day 4)
• Chair: Marcia Eisenberg (LabCorp)
• Panelists: Duncan MacCannell (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Charles Chiu (UCSF), Sharon Peacock (COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium), and Zhenyu Xu (SOPHiA Genetics)
Better decision-making starts with better data. Detecting and tracking new variants via sequencing surveys is critical to ensuring our knowledge of COVID-19 improves as the virus mutates. enhance the Understanding the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a continuous basis is critical to effectively fighting and controlling it.

Notably, there will be a Fireside Chat with Dr. Lee Hood (Providence) and Dr Francis Collins, NIH Director (Track 4 | Day 4) for a timely discussion of these topics.
Please join us for this most relevant virtual scientific conference where we address these critical topics and strive to identify solutions enabling improvements in our health care system. Registration to the virtual PMWC June 14-18 is provided at no-cost to participants.

Yours truly,
Mark Stevenson
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Thermo Fisher Scientific