Washington State University’s College of Medicine says it is partnering with a Seattle company to teach its students about the concept of personalized medicine.
The college on Tuesday announced its initial class of students will be given the chance to enroll in a program that includes a mapping of their individual genetic data. Other biological data will be gathered about them, along with information about their personal lifestyle choices. Then, they’ll be paired with personal coaches who will help develop individual wellness plans.
The medical work will be done by Arivale, a Seattle company whose chief translational science officer is Dr. Jennifer Lovejoy.
“Data in and of itself is not going to change behavior or lifestyle, but when you combine that sort of personalized data with coaching, we can actually really transform lives and lead to the optimizing of wellness,” Lovejoy said.
The benefit for medical students will not just be personal, says Dean John Tomkowiak. He says they will also learn about this cutting edge science and how to apply it to their patients. He says WSU is the first medical school in the nation to offer this kind of wellness instruction to its students.
Arivale co-founder, Dr. Lee Hood, says it’s important for today’s doctors to learn not only how to treat disease, but also how to prevent it.
“Today, 98-percent of the health care dollars go into studying disease," Hood said. "I think in a 10-to-15-year period, we’ll appropriately reverse that to focusing on wellness. And I predict the market cap of the wellness industry will come to far exceed that of the disease industry, the current health care industry.”
The Arivale program is also available to the public. Lovejoy says about 1,500 people have gone through its programs with more people signing up in Washington, Oregon and California. The consumer price for the first year, which includes the initial individual genomic sequencing and monthly calls from personal coaches, is $3,500.