Michael Kosorok, the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics and chair of the biostatistics department at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, believes that we are in the early stages of the precision medicine revolution

This budding revolution, which involves biology, genetics and other aspects of the lifestyle of individual people, could seriously improve clinician’s ability to provide personalized care. One way the medical model can do that is by designing more effective clinical trials, like one Kosorok is helping with now.

The Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma Network by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute was designed with precision medicine as a goal.

“In other studies, it’s often been an afterthought,” said Kosorok, who used his expertise in precision medicine to help design the study.

The clinical trial, which was awarded to Carolina’s Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center in 2017, will enroll 800 adults and children with severe asthma in the coming months.

On this week’s episode, Kosorok explains why he’s excited about precision medicine and how it applies to the PrecISE study on severe asthma.