Transforming Medicine: The Elizabeth Kauffman Institute Launched to Match People with Life-Threatening Illnesses to the Best Treatments in Real Time

--Founded by Biotech Pioneers and Health Data Innovators--

--Will Use Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to Match Patients with Best Treatment Options—

NEW YORK & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--()--Transforming Medicine: The Elizabeth Kauffman Institute or “TMed,” was officially launched to match people with life-threatening illnesses to the best treatments for their specific condition. To accomplish this, the experts, leaders and innovators who founded “TMed” plan to create a knowledge base that evaluates individual patient characteristics, including genetic and molecular profiles, to determine the most effective marketed and research-stage therapy for each patient. “TMed” is a non-profit (501c3) organization.

“We formed this institute because over half the medicines used today do not work for half the patients. This is particularly true for people fighting the most complex and fatal diseases,” said “TMed” Co-Founder Lee Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President of the Institute for Systems Biology. “Our aim is to change the practice of medicine in a fundamental way.”

Stuart Kauffman, M.D., systems biology pioneer and “TMed” Chairman, added, “Our goal is to arm patients, caregivers and doctors with our tools and knowledge so they can transition to individualized treatments in real time.”

The institution is named for Dr. Kauffman’s late wife Elizabeth who succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

Other co-founders include Colin Hill, CEO of GNS Healthcare, a pioneer in computational healthcare analysis; Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Vice President and Co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest; and Kathleen O’Connell, an award winning journalist and patient advocate.

Colin Hill said, “When big data analysis ‘turns the lights on’ to reveal which treatments will work for specific patients, babies are saved from premature birth, cancer patients live longer, chronic conditions are managed better, and billions of dollars are saved by avoiding treatments that do not work for given patients.”

This group of pioneers and innovators will now combine their expertise to develop unique algorithms to predict the best combination of treatments for pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, sickle cell anemia and other difficult to treat diseases, based on evidence-based analytics and systems biology. When the data base is ready, “TMed” will work closely with providers, health insurers, patient groups and other stakeholders.

One of the “TMed” scientific advisers, Nicholas Schork, Ph.D., concluded “We have the ability to save lives now. Let’s get started.”

To learn more about Transforming Medicine, go to the institute’s website at transformingmedicine.org.

Contacts

“TMed”
Kathleen O’Connell, 917-270-3279
Kathleen.OConnell@transformingmedicine.org
or
Media
Initiate PR
Stephen Gendel, 424-371-9600
Stephen.Gendel@initiatepr.com

Release Summary

“We formed this institute because over half the medicines used today do not work for half the patients."

Contacts

“TMed”
Kathleen O’Connell, 917-270-3279
Kathleen.OConnell@transformingmedicine.org
or
Media
Initiate PR
Stephen Gendel, 424-371-9600
Stephen.Gendel@initiatepr.com