The prevalence and financial burden of chronic disease continue to rise.
We spend $1 trillion each year in the United States treating preventable illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and hypertension, which affect more Americans now than ever before.
Globally, the spiraling rates of incidence and cost are even more stark: The annual impact could approach $50 trillion within the next five years.
These aren’t newly recognized problems, but the skyrocketing numbers are creating an even greater sense of urgency in health care to move from reactive medicine to preventive.
A key to this transition will be through evolving technology. Next-generation artificial intelligence combined with a deep biological understanding of individuals through multiomics offers new insights into health. Leveraging this powerful methodology can enable clinicians to detect the shift from wellness to illness before symptoms occur — and to intervene with precision. It’s converting the current paradigm of sick care to health care.
There’s no better place in the world to build the future of health care than in Pittsburgh, where you’ll find the University of Pittsburgh’s biomedical and health-AI expertise, expansive provider and payor networks for large-scale clinical implementation, a cost-effective, innovation-ready urban infrastructure, and the collaborative spirit uniting policymakers, startups and academic researchers.
When we consider each of these factors, we agree an industry-academic partnership forged here will transform the city into the global epicenter of human biology research and next-gen health care.
Key to this is our launching GAINMED, an AI-powered health care platform delivering P5 Medicine — predictive, preventive, personalized, precision and participatory care. As part of that, we’re establishing the Pitt-Vizzhy Longevity Labs, in partnership with Illumina Inc., to provide multiomics laboratory services to expand precision medicine across the U.S. and globally.
Our collaboration evolved out of a relationship we forged in 2023 through a serendipitous meeting in India. During a conversation about the need to enhance personalized medicine and scale it globally, we recognized a shared vision for using AI and advancements in multiomics and systems biology to accomplish our goals.
This is more than just a scientific effort — it’s a public health mission. With the benefit of GAINMED’s innovative technology, capabilities in advancing P5 Medicine and ability to engage other global leaders, we can improve lives not just in this region, but worldwide.
Anantha Shekhar is the University of Pittsburgh senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and the John and Gertrude Petersen Dean for the School of Medicine. Vishnu Vardhan is Vizzhy Inc. cofounder