Public Evening (in German): Massgeschneiderte Medizin?



Wednesday, 14. September 2011 | 20:00 Uhr

Speaker

Die Mitwirkenden

Reporting

For the first time, Martin Odermatt, new Mayor of Engelberg, welcomed the optimistic guests from the region to the public evening event of the Academia Engelberg Foundation.

During his introduction, Peter Suter, former president of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, outlined chances and risks of customized medicine. Due to the progress in medicine, prevention will be increasingly more important.

“We can read genome sequences, but we still cannot understand them. Already today, it is possible to determine certain disease risks. But we still do not know how the interactions of the health risks and our behaviour will affect our body. As soon as we detect this, medical treatment will have new perspectives”, Professor for Medicine Uta Francke (left), Stanford Medical School in the US, commented the current stage of research. Verena Briner, head physician at the Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne is more sceptical. “I know many heart-attack patients who do not follow our recommendation of healthier nutrition, more exercise and less distress even though they suffered from the consequences.”

Ethics Professor Peter Schaber, University of Zurich, warned against being too optimistic. “How will we process the information that we run a 30 percent risk of suffering from Alzheimer?” He further stressed that communication between the doctor and the patient play a decisive role.

The former member of the government of the Canton of Lucerne Markus Dürr expects massively higher costs due to customized medicine as better medication will surely not be less expensive. Savings could be made if mistreatments are avoided.

During the whole evening, moderator Dr. Beat Glogger systematically involved the audience in the discussion about advantages and disadvantages of customized medicine – a method that stimulated a vivid debate.

During the subsequent night-cap offered by the Hotel Europe/Europäischer Hof, opportunities and limits of customized medicine gave much to talk about among the 220 participants of the public evening event organized by the Academia Engelberg Foundation. The team of the Hotel Europe/Europäischer Hof was in charge of the drinks and appetizers.

Donators and Partners

The ETH Board is responsible for the strategic leadership of the ETH domain and assumes the supervision of its institutions. Its close relationship with the ETH Council has contributed to the successful continuation of Academia Engelberg Foundation since 2000.

The Foundation promotes research into the connecting human fundamentals of science. Academia Engelberg Foundation and the Foundation for Basic Research in Human Sciences have entered into a cooperation agreement for the period 2011 to 2015.

Helvetia is a quality-oriented comprehensive insurance company with over 150 years of experience. Academia Engelberg Foundation is convinced it will be able to use important synergies from the partnership starting in 2015.

A partnership with the University of Lucerne has existed since summer 2013. Since 2016 we have also a parthership with the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Lucerne. Through these partnerships, synergies are used and joint projects are tested and realized. The University of Lucerne currently consists of three faculties: the faculties for Theology, Culture and Social Sciences, and Law.