An Immense New Power to Heal: The Promise of Personalized Medicine
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BOOK REVIEW
An Immense New Power to Heal: The Promise of Personalized Medicine By Lee Gutkind and Pagan Kennedy, In Fact Books, Pittsburgh, PA, 2012. $15.95. ISBN: 978-1-9371630-6-8 Elizabeth Varga
Received: 30 August 2013 / Accepted: 5 September 2013 # National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc. 2013
An Immense New Power to Heal: The Promise of Personalized Medicine is a compelling book examining the hope and hype of genomics and personalized medicine. The introduction sets the tone, entitled “El Dorado or Iron Pyrite,” which refers to a mythical city of gold and fool’s gold, respectively. In this chapter, we are introduced to scientist Dr. Lawrence Brody from the National Human Genome Research Institute, presenting three examples of personalized medicine. Each example illustrates how biomarkers or genomic testing can be used to tailor care—from BRCA testing, to tumor profiling, to “genome scanning” to determine risk for addictive behavior and subsequent targeting of public health interventions. The audience is asked to decipher which of the three represent current examples of personalized medicine versus futuristic applications. The author presents his guess—that doing preimplantation genetic diagnosis for an embryo without a BRCA mutation is futuristic—eh, incorrect. This alerts me to the fact that the author is not an expert in the field. At times in this book, that is painfully obvious, at other times, the outsider view is interesting and refreshing. The author, Lee Gutkind, does not have medical training, but has written four books on medical topics and edited six anthologies comprising essays by doctors, patients, nurses and social workers. He specializes in creative nonfiction and it is clear from the outset that he and his co-author, Pagan Kennedy, have a knack for character development, storytelling, and presenting complex information in a relatable way. For this reason, I found this book hard to put down, and easily read the 223 pages within days.
E. Varga (*) Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Genetic counselors and genetics professionals will find much of the information about genomic technology, ethical and psychosocial issues to be very familiar. Uniquely, there are fascinating behind-the-scenes portrayals of several individuals and events that the authors had exclusive access to through interviews and in-person participation. The depiction of June 26, 2000, when President Clinton stood side-by-side with Craig Venter and Francis Collins to present the first draft of the human genome sequence, is memorable. The authors appropriately capture not only the historical context and emotion of that day, but also the personalities and physical characteristics of key players. The reader takes a journey along with several individuals seeking to apply genomic medicine to their lives, research or clinical practice. The first chapter features Michael Saks, a professor at Boston College with a family history of pancreat
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