Research Paper on:
Personalized Medicine

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
below. Citation styles constantly change, and these examples may not contain the most recent updates.?? Personalized Medicine Research Compiled By Kathie  Easter - properly! The concept of personalized medicine encompasses the goal that healthcare can be  individualized, which is envisioned as means to optimize care, taking it to a new level of quality. The technologies associated with this trend have resulted in "an extraordinary repertoire of  technical and computerized tools," which have "enabled an unprecedented rate of discovery of common disease genes" (Hirschfield, Amos and Siminovitch 2010, p. 651). The vision of "personalized medicine" refers to  the fact that current technology makes it possible for a patients "personal genetic and environmental information" to be used "to predict individual risks of disease and responsiveness to drugs" (Salari  2009, p. 1). Since 2007, three companies (Navi-genics and 23andME located in California and decode Genetics of Iceland) have been offering consumers whole-genome testing, which means that patients arrive at  their primary care physicians office with a copy of their report and an extensive list of questions (Salari 2009, p. 1). This is particularly true if an individual genetics report  includes either "ambiguous or alarming results needing expert interpretation" (Salari 2009, p. 1). However, this creates a problem, in that many healthcare  providers are not trained to interpret such information and may feel poorly prepared to deal with the issues that are raised by genetics and genomics. One study has indicated that  one-third of physicians interpreted a single-gene test for colorectal cancer susceptibility incorrectly (Salari 2009, p. 1). Therefore, one of the first ramifications of the trend towards personalized medicine is that