The "road" to McCarthy, Alaska
1991
The Wall Street Journal turned 125 today, and celebrated by
issuing an edition that would take two weeks to read. Included in this mass of newsprint is an
article by Dr. Francis Collins on the future of medicine. Dr. Collins is current head of the National
Institutes of Health, so if anybody should know, he's the guy. He predicts across-the-board increase in
“personalized” medicine, based on gene sequencing. If he is right, newborns will have their DNA
sequenced almost at birth, and a lifelong health-maintenance program
established before they are weaned. He
foresees increased use of stem cells to hasten bodily repair, and even to
replace entire defective organs. He is
confident that TCGA (The cancer genome atlas) will hasten the demise of
cancer. And so forth.
One hopes he is right.
The cost of all this is, of course, stupendous. By his estimate, in the year 2020 health care
will eat up fully 20% of GDP (up from 18% in 2013.) And, as you might expect, he ends with a plea
for more money for health-related research.
It is hard to disagree with Dr. Collins. I would only add that NIH owes it to society
to reform itself so that innovative projects get more support.
Unlike the NY Times, the WSJ
is reluctant to let just any old body
read their articles on line for free.
As a subscriber I can get them, but whether or not you can is
debatable. Anyway, here is the web
address:
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