Personalized Medicine, Storied Past, Contentious Present, Promising Future

Personalized Medicine has been a central aspiration of medical practice and has guided the direction of medical advances from ancient times to the present. This narrative review highlights some of the most significant past advances and present practices, discusses issues currently limiting Personalized Medicine and proposes activities necessary for Personalized Medicine to have a promising future. Throughout history, Personalized Medicine has developed along with the evolution of science and societal concepts. Notable advances paralleled the growth in what an individual person is and how experimental science can apply to medical practice. In the twentieth century, the study of inborn errors of metabolism and pharmacogenetics broadened the horizons of what Personalized Medicine could be. Presently, Personalized Medicine is challenged by different perspectives on its scope, by the various clinical scientific activities which can inadvertently or by misinterpretation serve to depersonalize medicine, and by the difficulties involved in integrating the massive amount of available scientific data to optimize medical practice centered on the individual. The conditions necessary for Personalized Medicine to have a promising future include developing broader, deeper, and more dynamic knowledge of disease processes, new methods to identify anomalous, singular disease-contributing characteristics in individuals, and improving data quality in research and medical practice. Advancing Personalized Medicine requires developing new perspectives for research, healthcare education, medical practice, and healthcare governance, as well as deploying medical advances at scale across populations.