Abstract

Discovery science in health over the past two decades has embraced, with considerable enthusiasm, the potential of two movements: precision medicine and the ascent of big data. Each of these developments has been suggested to hold substantial promise both to advance our health science and to lead to the development of approaches that can improve health.Precision medicine—emerging naturally from the Human Genome Project almost two decades ago—promises to use genomic and molecular approaches to identify the causes of disease particular to individuals with the end of helping develop tailored treatments and interventions. This approach builds on what is perhaps a deeply held...