Over the past century, the focus in medicine—and, in particular, academic medicine—has been on the diagnosis and treatment of acute diseases. We’ve shined a bright light on treating the most complex conditions that have resulted in many medical advances. But as we look to the future at Stanford Health Care, we continue to be transformative in our approach to health care. Instead of racing to cure disease after the fact, we want to prevent disease before it strikes.

From cancer to cardiac diseases, from neurological diseases to inborn errors of metabolism in infants, from food allergies to heart transplantation, we’re hard at work advancing diagnostic methodologies and therapies. We believe these will lead to the most precise molecular diagnoses and to treatments that are individually tailored to patients. In 2017, we continued to focus on:

True patient-coordinated care—
to prevent or forestall the development of diseases and dramatically improve the care of patients with multiple chronic medical conditions.

The power of biomedical data—
leveraging multi-disciplinary teams across Stanford (Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Mathematics) to develop the new field of Biomedical Data Science.

Advanced technologies and services—
through our new hospitals, providing the most technologically advanced, patient- and family-centered care, for patients with routine to the most complex conditions. Through our network of care, we can evaluate and improve the evidence-based, predictive, preemptive, and preventive care that we provide to our patients.