(South) San Francisco, CA. Since 2008, the Personalized Medicine Conference has addressed challenging themes in genomic health through presentations and discussions between prominent scientific leaders in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical communities. In partnership with San Francisco State University’s Department of Biology, SF State Alumni and the City of South San Francisco, the conference has showcased world-class science and striven to be the bellwether of the latest and greatest in personalized, genomic and precision medicine. The conference has also been a valued networking opportunity for students and accomplished professionals alike, mirroring similar meetings serving the professional Biotech community.
On June 2, 2017, San Francisco State University’s Department of Biology will host Personalized Medicine 10.0, a look back at the best topics and speakers over the last decade. The title for the upcoming meeting, Has It Changed Your Life?, will review past conference topics, assess predictions of the past, and look to the future of personalized medicine in the coming decades.
Aside from the stunning science itself, a wide variety of topics have been addressed, including clinical advances and applications, study design, business opportunities, regulatory issues and the ethical and cultural impacts of personalized medicine. This year the conference will revisit themes in bioinformatics, data management, oncology, epigenetics, genomics of rare diseases, nth generation sequencing technologies, the microbiome, unprecedented developments in gene therapy and genome editing, and project where the business and science of personalized medicine will be in the future.
At Personalized Medicine 10.0, an example of milestone precision medicine development will be portrayed by opening keynote speaker Amylynne Santiago Volker, founder of the Nicholas Volker One In A Billion Foundation, and mother of the first person whose life was literally saved by genetic sequencing. Once a luxury in the very best funded research and corporate laboratories, DNA sequencing will soon become a routine diagnostic tool. But it isn’t yet, and, as Ms. Volker notes, we need to make tremendous strides in getting health providers to use these tools appropriately and interpret the results accurately, and insurance companies to pay for the procedure and subsequent care.
The annual conference began as a consociation between the San Francisco State University’s Department of Biology Chair and Professor of Genetics, Michael A. Goldman, PhD, and three SF State Alumni, Dan Maher, Ken Hitchner, and John Wulf, whom all worked together at Genentech Inc. during Biotech’s beginnings. In reflection of the growth of the conference in the past decade, conference cofounder Ken Hitchner of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. commented, “We feel we have put together agendas and casts of speakers that rival many of the top notch meetings around.” And with each year dedicated to a different theme of genomic application and located in a leading hotbed of biotech and pharmaceutical industries, the conference has experienced a continuous, star-studded stream of new and returning scientists and professionals, participating and presenting their work. In celebration of the tenth gathering of the Personalized Medicine Conference, speakers include:
• Keith J. Bowman, Ph.D., Dean, College of Science & Engineering, SF State University • Esteban G. Burchard, M.D., M.P.H., Harry Wm. and Diana V. Hind Distinguished Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences II, Professor, Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• Colin Collins, Ph.D., Vancouver Prostate Centre
• Michael A. Goldman, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Biology, SF State University
• Mohan S. Iyer, Chief Business Officer, Second Genome, Inc.
• Richard M. Lawn, Ph.D., Executive Director, Scientific Affairs, Audentes Therapeutics
• David W. Martin, M.D., CEO, AvidBiotics [tentative]
• Kevin Mullin, Speaker Pro Tempore & Chair, Select Committee on Biotechnology, California State Assembly
• Christos J. Petropoulos, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, Monogram Biosciences, Vice President, LabCorp Inc.
• Fyodor Urnov, Ph.D., Altius Institute of Biomedical Sciences, GSK
• Amylynne Santiago Volker, President/Founder, Nicholas Volker One in a Billlion Foundation
• John J. Sninsky, Ph.D., Vice President, CareDx
• Jennifer Summit, Ph.D., Interim Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, SF State University
• Charis Thompson, Ph.D., Chancellor’s Professor and Chair, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Center for Science, Technology, and Medicine in Society, University of California, Berkeley, and the London School of Economics
• Leslie E. Wong, Ph.D., President, San Francisco State University
• Eileen Yang, Senior Manager, Corporate Citizenship, Genentech, Inc
Registration is open to all, including students, researchers, industry executives, health professionals and interested members of the community. Registration and tickets information may be found at the Eventbrite page, bit.ly/SFStatePMC10, or at the conference website, http://personalizedmedicine.sfsu.edu, or by direct contact at dnamed@sfsu.edu. Please inquire for special academic rates or to sponsor this event.
