By Duke Medicine News and Communications

DURHAM, N.C. -- Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, M.D., whose research concentrates on the new field of personalized medicine, has joined Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) as director of genomic medicine. He will assume his position on Sept. 1.

As director of the new Center for Genomic Medicine within the IGSP, Ginsburg will direct efforts to develop new approaches by which detailed genetic data can be used to tailor preventive health-care plans for individual patients, a key part of Duke's larger effort to promote a new era of personalized medicine.

Huntington F. Willard, Ph.D., director of the IGSP, called Ginsburg "uniquely qualified" for the position. "As an industry leader, Geoff brings a strong appreciation for the realities of personalized medicine -- in which patient care focuses on the individual with an emphasis on early disease detection and prevention -- and the challenges that must be overcome to bring scientific findings into the clinic," Willard said. "His appointment will go a long way toward making Duke's efforts in personalized medicine a reality."

Ginsburg comes from Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., where he was vice president of molecular and personalized medicine. At Millennium, Ginsburg was responsible for crafting strategy on the discovery of "biomarkers" -- genetic characteristics that measure the effects or progress of a disease or condition -- and the use of those indicators for clinical prediction and diagnosis.

Ginsburg received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University. He completed his clinical and research fellowships in molecular cardiology at Beth Israel Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston. Ginsburg developed and directed the preventive cardiology service at Beth Israel Hospital in the late 1980s, and has served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School since 1990.

In addition to his role in the IGSP, Ginsburg will join the faculty in the department of medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

Ginsburg said he seeks to discover and develop novel therapies and predictive biomarkers for clinical research and practice "to optimize efficiency, effectiveness and success in bringing the right therapy to the right patient at the right time."

"My main goal is to connect leading-edge genome science to leading-edge clinical medicine," Ginsburg said. "The IGSP is a unique environment where scientists, clinicians and health policy experts can focus on bringing the important findings from genome research to human health and improving the quality of people's lives. Bringing diverse experts together through the center will produce a new approach to personalized medicine that will have a tremendous positive impact on healthcare delivery."