Many cancer patients undergo genomic testing only after they’ve requested it, often forcefully. That’s not the case at Intermountain Healthcare in St. George, Utah. There, Lincoln Nadauld and his colleagues offer next-generation sequencing to every cancer patient — more than 5,000 patients each year. Making such an advanced diagnostic the standard of care can help identify the most effective treatments. “By implementing precision medicine in cases of advanced or refractory cancer,” Lincoln says, “we can almost double the overall survival while decreasing the overall healthcare costs.” That’s the way that precision oncology is supposed to work, and the way scientists and clinicians dreamed that it would.
For more remarkable stories from the 2020 Winners of the Cancer Community Awards, visit our Heroes of Cancer Care collection.
