'Personalized medicine' refers to the tailoring of medical treatments to the individual characteristics of each patient, including his genes.  Treatments can then be focused on subjects who will benefit, while sparing side effects and expenses for those who will not.  Advances in genomics technologies are providing new tools to help doctors tailor treatments to individuals and their diseases.  It is timely to critically examine the present status and future directions of personalized medicine amidst technical, regulatory, economic, social and policy challenges.  There is also a need to examine the roles and professional responsibilities of healthcare professionals in the era of personalized medicine.  In view of this, the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), co-organise the 2009 International Conference on Personalized Medicine to be held this Saturday and Sunday.  This is also the 5th Joint Conference on Pharmacogenetics of Central South University, China; Inje University, Korea; and CUHK, with contribution from the Pacific Rim Association for Clinical Pharmacogenetics (PRACP).

The main theme of this International Conference is ‘Genes and Medicine’.  Speakers and chair persons of the Conference are experts in the fields of pharmacogenetics and personalized medicine.  It has attracted healthcare professionals and scientists from various practice settings in Hong Kong and overseas.  The role of personalized medicine in clinical practice will be evaluated and discussed.