Video lecture: Precision Medicine for ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia, by Dr Suzanne Vernon, 6 May 2016
In this educational seminar, Dr. Suzanne D. Vernon speaks about the Bateman Horne Center’s quest to bring precision medicine to ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia.
What is precision medicine and why do we need it?
Precision medicine is an approach that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person. The goal of precision medicine is to (re)define disease onset and progression, response to treatment, and health outcomes. How do we get there? With biomarkers that determine disease type and measures that detect responses to treatment.
Dr. Vernon has her master’s degree in Microbiology from Colorado State University and her doctorate degree in Virology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has co-authored 100 scientific papers and dedicated the past 20 years of her professional research career on identifying biomarkers and causes of ME/CFS.
Her career is highlighted by a number of “firsts”. As a team lead member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s CFS research group, Vernon conceived and organized a BIG DATA computational challenge. She recruited an eclectic team of molecular biologists and computational biologists to merge data collected in laboratory, clinical and epidemiology studies with the goal of identifying biomarkers to objectively define ME/CFS. Suzanne “built” the Research Institute Without Walls (RIWW), the first nonprofit patient-centered research initiative focused on identifying diagnostic biomarkers and disease-modifying treatment for ME/CFS. The RIWW attracted some of the brightest investigators from the best institutions into ME/CFS research.
Suzanne brings several of her connections and collaborations with her to the Bateman Horne Center where she is building a research program focused on identifying biomarkers, developing diagnostic tests, and uncovering evidence-based treatments for ME/CFS.
