The Universities at Shady Grove (USG) Committee on Collaboration, Interprofessional and Interdisciplinary Education Strategies (CIPES) hosted USG’s third annual Biomedical Sciences Day on November 17, 2011, focusing on the evolving topic of Personalized Medicine. The highly-energetic event featured a poster session, highlighting original student research, and an expert panel discussion about personalized medicine, a medical model emphasizing customization of healthcare, with all decisions and practices tailored to individual patients.

New Investigators: Original Student Research

Thirty research posters were presented by students at USG in the University Of Maryland School Of Nursing, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) Biological Sciences program. A winner was selected from each program:

  • Shlok Narayan Prasad – “Evaluation of Diabetes Related Clinical Outcomes from a Medication Therapy Management Service at an Underserved Safety-net Clinic”. (UM School of Pharmacy)
  • Elan Esterson, Daniel Vieira – “Bug Off!” (UM School of Nursing)
  • Emilija Renke, Yang Shen and Daniel C. Nelson – “Utilization of Bacteriophage-Encoded Enzymes for the Vigorous Disruption of Biofilm Matrices” (UMCP Biological Sciences)

Update on Genome Science: Personalized Medicine

During the expert panel discussion titled, Personalized Medicine: Progress, Products, Patients, and Policy, panelists highlighted advances in the understanding of the human genome and the prospect of examining a person's entire genome to make individualized risk predictions and treatment decisions.

Panelists included Dr. Silvana Borges, Senior Staff Fellow, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Ms. Lisa Cozza, Senior Director, Manufacturing Alliance, Human Genome Sciences, Inc, Dr. Federico Goodsaid, Vice President, Strategic Regulatory Intelligence, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Jonah N. Odim, Senior Medical and Scientific Officer, Transplantation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.