ADVANCING CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE IN AN ERA OF GLOBAL HEALTH TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

Medical science is going through a transformative period where innovations are happening at a very high rate, interdisciplinary integration is being promoted, and there is a greater opportunity to enhance health outcomes in the world than ever before¹. With the demarcation between basic science and clinical practice increasingly becoming unclear, clinical and translational medicine has been at the center stage of this transformation- as the gateway through which laboratory findings are transformed into a significant intervention to patients and communities across the globe. The past 20 years have seen a revolution in the understanding and treatment of diseases as a result of improved genomics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics studies. Such advances have now brought the era of personalized medicine, where the decision to be taken in treatment more and more depends on the specific genetic and molecular profile of a person instead of the universal clinical trends². This method does not only improve the effectiveness of treatment, but reduces the negativity and leads to a new model of personal care. Nevertheless, the actualization of the full potential of these developments cannot be achieved without a strong system of translations, that is, a system that has a mechanism that makes laboratory discoveries validated, well-tested ethically, and well-implemented in clinical practices³.