Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM)
University of Manchester

Seminar, Tuesday 6 May, 16:00-17:30
Room 2.217, University Place, 178-186 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL

Richard Tutton (Lancaster University)

“Genomics and the Reimagining of Personalized Medicine”

This talk is based on a forthcoming book called Genomics and the Reimagining of Personalized Medicine (Ashgate, 2014). Drawing on insights from work in medical history and sociology, in this book I analyse the changing meanings of personalized medicine over time, from the rise of biomedicine in the twentieth century, to the emergence of pharmacogenomics and personal genomics in the 1990s and 2000s. In the past when doctors championed personalization they did so to emphasize that patients had unique biographies and social experiences in the name of caring for their patients as individuals. However, since the middle of the twentieth century, geneticists have successfully promoted the belief that genes are implicated in why some people develop diseases and why some have adverse reactions to drugs when others do not. In doing so, they claim to offer a new way of personalizing the prediction, prevention and treatment of disease that centres on new forms of capitalization and consumption of genetic information. While genomics promises the ultimate individualization of medicine, I argue that personalized medicine exists in the imaginative gap between the problems and limits of current scientific practices and future prospects to individualize medical interventions. I reflect on the consequences of the shift towards personalization for the way we think about and act on health and disease in society.

All are welcome and please feel free pass this list on to interested colleagues.

Event co-organised by Niki Vermeulen and Ray Macauley

http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/newsandevents/seminars/chstm/index.aspx