Two things, thankfully, that have been brought to the forefront over the last two years is the importance of our health and the importance of medicine and medical procedures evolving to become more precise..The University of Calgary is well ahead of the curve with the Cumming School of Medicine’s focus on precision medicine..In a video produced by UCalgary, the narrative describes the road to precision medicine..“Let's first take a look at three eras of medicine. The first era, which we can call intuitive medicine, took place between the early 1950s and the early 1980s. In the era of intuitive medicine, practitioners were trained to identify common symptoms and would prescribe a general therapy for recovery.” .“However, this was typically done without truly understanding the disease.”.“Although we knew the therapy was generally effective, we did not understand in any detail why it worked. As intuitive medicine gave way, it was replaced by the era of evidence-based medicine. Science was now being fully integrated to treatments and therapies.” ."Imagine we want to test a new therapy to treat a disease. Evidence-based medicine tells us to test whether the new treatment works or not, we'll use a randomized, controlled clinical trial. We welcome 25 test subjects to be part of our randomized test group and find 18 of our subjects get better. In evidence-based medicine, these results would be considered a success.”.“But what about the patients who did not get better? This is where precision medicine comes in. Precision medicine is an evolution in thinking. It's understanding how factors like your family history, your genetics, your diet, your lifestyle affect each individual and culminate in a specific disease. .“The promise of precision medicine is the ability to precisely diagnose an individual. “.“Ideally, we will understand exactly what biochemical or physiological process caused the issue. And with this knowledge, we will be able to precisely match therapy that we know would work.”.“Precision medicine is particularly important today in conditions like cancer, heart defects and genetic diseases.” .“Prevention is always better than treatment.” .Precision medicine is the future of medicine, says Ed McCauley, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary.“Precision health is about finding the right treatment for the right person at the right time and we’re leading the way here at the University of Calgary,” said McCauley, at a reception recognizing a well-known Calgary philanthropist..“Philanthropy provides essential fuel to take our work from great to world-class, improving the health and well-being of our city, province and communities around the globe.”.“In recognition of a true champion of precision health, we are pleased to announce a new name for the Teaching, Research and Wellness building on UCalgary’s Foothills Campus: The Cal Wenzel Precision Health Building.”.“This name recognizes a new $16-million commitment to the Cumming School of Medicine by Mr. Wenzel and his family through the Cal Wenzel Family Foundation. It builds on more than a decade of philanthropic contributions to precision health by the family, totaling more than $20 million.”.“This exciting announcement is a reflection of, and a tribute to, outgoing dean of Medicine, Dr. Jon Meddings’ vision of precision health and leadership in this area.”."It's not uncommon to be criticized for making money and I'm a little perplexed when I hear that, because if I didn't make money, how would I be able to do what I’m doing?” said Wenzel at the reception. .“I often get the question, ‘Why do you donate? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’ The answer is, one, because we can. And two, it's our way of making a difference. And we really believe that. We've done very well in business in the City of Calgary, it's looked after us very, very well.”.“I learned from my parents who sometimes didn't have two nickels to part with, but every Sunday, if they had an extra dollar or $5 bill, it went into the collection plate at the church and that was obviously to help out the less fortunate people. It's just kind of inbred that we have to look after other.”.“I never thought I'd see my name on a building, so it's just very special to me. My mom and dad would be pleased.”
