What Is Precision Medicine?

By Sara Gottfried MD | April 20, 2023

Precision medicine is about taking an individual and personalizing a treatment plan that looks at genomics and a multitude of biomarkers and then putting the story together so that we can prevent disease, even pre-disease. Precision medicine was one of the several topics that Dr. David Perlmutter and I discussed when I was a guest on his podcast, The Empowering Neurologist.

In practicing precision medicine, we utilize information about a person’s genes and the proteins they make to prevent or diagnose disease. This type of medicine incorporates technology and wearables such as continuous glucose monitors, Oura rings, and other devices that can really help you go beyond and expand the level of patient care. Much of what I learned when I went through conventional medicine was about stabilizing a situation and treating symptoms, whereas the precision medicine I practice now is about optimizing of health, personalizing nutrition, lengthening healthspan, and improving performance.

In our podcast, we dove into the following topics:

Hormones and how their activity is highly influenced by diet
Paying attention to hormone activity and functionality in order gain control over metabolism and impact things like insulin sensitivity, body weight, and overall well-being
Metabolic health and the connection between insulin, cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone
Insulin as the gatekeeper of metabolism
Cardiometabolic disease in women
Pregnancy as a stress test
A modified keto diet for women compared to the classic ketogenic diet

Watch the full conversation below…