The future of healthcare is here

It took ten countries ten years and $3 billion to sequence the human genome but since that seismic breakthrough the time, cost and effort to repeat the feat has plummeted.

Dr Euan Ashley, Associate Dean in the School of Medicine at Stanford University, is known for helping establish the field of medical genomics and led the team that conducted the first medical interpretation of the human genome. Most recently his team have held a Guinness World Record for the fastest DNA sequencing technique at a little more than five hours.

The implications, as he explains in our in-depth interview, will change the world, both in extremely rare cases of unknown disease diagnosis for faster treatment, right up to population-level systemic changes to national and international healthcare policy.

It has the potential to change everything we thought we knew about genetics, disease, medicine and treatment, and could significantly improve both lifespan and healthspan around the world.

But it is not without risk, most notably the concern of the creation of a multi-tier healthcare and insurance system in which those with money and influence will always be at the front of the queue. As Dr Ashley explains, the future of the world rests on the right decisions being made.

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