Personalized Health Care 

Creating the Future of Medicine – One Person at a Time

At The Ohio State University Medical Center we're focusing on personalized health care to provide better outcomes in all of our mission areas: patient care, research and education. From the laboratory to the bedside, the clinic to the classroom and beyond, our focus on personalized health care unites all of us around a cause that is improving the lives of those we serve, both today and in years to come.

OSU Medical Center is committed to advancing technologies and treatments that deliver personalized health care to every patient.

“Personalized health care combines the basic scientific breakthroughs of the human genome with computer-age ability to exchange and manage data. Increasingly, it will give us the ability to deliver the right treatment to the right patient at the right time – every time," according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt. 

“We’ve identified personalized health care as one of the top priorities at HHS,” Leavitt said in March 2007. Citing the Human Genome Project, a global research effort that identified genes in human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), as the first step, Leavitt added, “The work that remains is sweeping, from the most fundamental science to the details of healthcare practice.”

Our Promise

Long before Leavitt’s remarks were uttered, Ohio State University Medical Center had already confirmed our commitment to personalized health care during our brand launch in October 2006. We expressed our brand promise: We are committed to improving people’s lives through personalized health care.

A year earlier, the framework for this vision began with the creation of the Center for Personalized Health Care (CPHC) – the organizational hub for multiple Medical Center initiatives that are leading the advancement of personalized health care here at Ohio State and nationwide.

“As an academic medical center, we are seeking to develop a body of knowledge and drive its application to fundamentally transform the way health care is delivered,” explains Daniel Sedmak, MD, executive director of the Center.

Uniquely Qualified 

Ohio State University Medical Center is uniquely qualified to advance personalized health care because of the foresight and tireless efforts of many who laid the foundation for today’s successes, Henry Zheng, PhD, administrative director of the center, explains. A few examples of past initiatives that are making significant contributions to our advancement of personalized health care include:

• Recruitment and retention of key faculty members whose research in personalized health care are well established nationally
• Creation of the Information Warehouse, allowing for the collection, storage and analysis of vast amounts of research data
• Opening of the Biomedical Research Tower, providing the best environment for integrated basic research that can be more quickly translated to clinical settings
• Implementation of electronic patient records allowing for the delivery of personalized health care
• Development and continued growth of biodepositories that support molecular-based and genetics-based research that are the fundamental components of personalized health care
• Development of a Center for Clinical and Translational Science that will propel clinical research and its incorporation in best clinical practices
• Creation of Ohio State’s Your Plan for Health managed care product, which encourages University employees to play an active role in determining their current state of health and taking measures to maintain their health

National Landscape

Ohio State University Medical Center research, which experienced a rapid rise in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding from 2000 to 2006 (from $58.9 million to $100.3 million), also expects to participate in new NIH “Roadmap” initiatives and funding related to Personalized Health Care.

In a recent summary of its strategic plan, “NIH Roadmap for Medical Research,” the NIH outlined these priorities for scientific study, many of which align directly with Ohio State’s own personalized healthcare initiatives:

New Pathways to Discovery – emerging/necessary research areas such as biological pathways (including metabolism) and networks, structural biology, molecular libraries and imaging, nanotechnology, bioinformatics and computational biology

Research Teams of the Future – individual creativity and collaborative team efforts supporting interdisciplinary research, high-risk research and public-private partnerships

Clinical Research Enterprise – efforts of regulatory policies, multidisciplinary training, development of new networking and diagnostic tools, and facilitation of the establishment of academic homes for clinical and translational research.

“We believe the Center for Personalized Health Care here at Ohio State has a unique opportunity to be a national leader in the advancement of personal health care in central Ohio and throughout the country,” says Zheng.

Delivering on Our Brand Promise:
Research and discoveries translate to better patient care

In October 2006, Ohio State’s Medical Center launched its personalized healthcare brand — our promise to deliver the right care for the right person at the right time.

While personalized health care involves our daily interactions with patients, it also relies on our ability to take discoveries and innovations from basic and clinical research to our patients so that we can improve care and help create the future of medicine.

Here is a brief sampling of how we are creating the future of medicine on a daily basis.

Better Care for Those with Parkinson’s Disease and Neurological Disorders
As many as one million Americans are affected by Parkinson’s disease, a progressive nervous system disorder most often diagnosed near age 60 with symptoms that can include tremors, rigidity and movement problems.

Matthew During, MD, PhD

During the summer of 2007, Ohio State University Medical Center clinical researchers announced results of the world’s first-ever gene therapy clinical trial in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The gene therapy significantly reduced patients’ symptoms, suggesting surgery to deliver a modified gene directly to the brain could be a safe new treatment option for several neurodegenerative diseases.

The therapy re-established normal chemistry in the brain and improved quality of life for patients who have exhausted other available medical treatments, says Matthew During, MD, PhD, Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics.

Meanwhile, Atom Sarkar, MD, PhD, Neurological Surgery,

Atom Sarkar, MD, PhD

demonstrated that deep-brain stimulation, which can help relieve tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease, may also offer similar benefits for patient with other movement disorders, such as multiple sclerosis. The procedure delivers electrical pulses directly to brain tissue that controls movement, interrupting the brain signals that cause these movement disorder symptoms.

Closing in on a Pulmonary Fibrosis Cause
More than 40,000 Americans die annually of pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease characterized by scarring of the lungs’ air sacs that causes an irreversible loss of the ability to transfer oxygen to the bloodstream.

While certain hereditary or environmental factors may contribute to pulmonary fibrosis, it can also be labeled “idiopathic,” which means the disease has no known cause. Ohio State researchers have identified a specific growth factor that appears to contribute to the development of pulmonary fibrosis. Led by Clay Marsh, MD, Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, the

Clay Marsh, MD

Ohio State study found that growth factor M-CSF initiates a process that promotes inflammation, producing collagen, which causes fibrosis (scarring).

This is the first reported link between M-CSF and the development of pulmonary fibrosis in animals or humans, Marsh says. This research has identified M-CSF as a new marker for pulmonary fibrosis, as well as a potential new therapeutic target, he adds.

Benefit of Personal Care Navigators
Electra Paskett, PhD, MSPH, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, coordinates a clinical trial to determine whether specially trained “navigators” can help patients negotiate the OSU Health System better and, ultimately, reduce cancer deaths and improve quality of life.

Electra Paskett, PhD, MSPH

“We want to learn if a patient navigator service will help patients obtain treatment faster following an abnormal result,” Paskett says. “From diagnosis to treatment, a lot of patients can get lost in the system because of missed communication between patient and provider.”

The Ohio State study will include patients from 12 Columbus clinics who have abnormal screening tests for breast, cervical or colon cancer. The navigators will provide a variety of services, such as helping patients arrange transportation to medical appointments and paying bills.

Navigators “can help make sure the abnormalities are treated as soon as possible, when there’s the best chance for a cure with the least medical intervention,” Paskett says. “It’s very helpful to have somebody you can turn to who can help you learn where to go, what to do and what to expect.”

Genetics Promotes Better Leukemia Diagnosis and Care
Understanding the genetic roots of cancer promotes the creation of additional preventive and screening tools, new diagnostic measures and more effective, targeted therapies. Numerous studies at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and The James (OSUCCC-James) are advancing leukemia-related care through better understanding of genetics.

John Byrd, MD

Genetic Risk Ohio State scientists have linked an inherited gene mutation to increased risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of chronic leukemia. Findings show how a specific gene, called DAPK1, helps with cancer prevention by triggering the death of cells before they become cancerous. However, mutations (changes in the gene) can interfere with the gene’s protective function. This finding offers promise of potential new genetic treatments for CLL.

New Treatment
In other OSUCCC-James research, a study led by John Byrd, MD, of OSUCCC’s Experimental Therapeutics Program, developed a promising new type of engineered drug candidate to treat CLL. The therapy, which represents a new class of agents called small modular immunopharmaceuticals (drugs that work with the immune system), targets a protein on the surface of leukemia cells. The study shows that the agent can successfully attach to the protein on the leukemia cells and kill the cancerous cells. The agent works both by triggering the cells’ self destruction and by causing a particular class of immune cells to attack them.