A Look Into Medicine's Crystal Ball
A Look Into Medicine's Crystal Ball
Jan. 5, 2001 -- Just as soon as we complete our New Year's resolution list, it's time for another New Year's ritual: predictions. And according to leading health experts from a host of medical specialities, 2001 holds a lot in store.
The year may usher in some exciting devices that reshape how we treat heart disease or how we learn to use gene therapy to treat many type diseases. There may be new directions for cancer research and a renewed sense of direction for universal health coverage. And as with any predictions, not all are good -- current epidemics such as obesity, for instance, may get worse in the coming year, experts tell WebMD.
The Human Genome Project is an international research program designed to construct detailed genetic and physical maps of the human genome. Accomplishing these goals will pave the way toward the development of a variety of new technologies -- but this will most likely not occur in 2001, says Jane Peterson, PhD, program director for the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md.
But in early 2001, "There will be the publication of the rough draft of the entire human genome [and] that will make a big splash, and we will see a number of papers reflecting on what has been published," she says.
The next important step will occur in March or April 2001, when the first draft of the mouse gene sequence is published. "Looking at the mouse will help us understand the human sequence," Richardson tells WebMD.
Overall, "We may find interesting genes in 2001, but finding therapeutics may take longer," she says.
Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in both men and women since 1918, and although death rates have declined precipitously since the 1950s, it is unlikely that heart disease will lose this title in 2001, says David Robinson, MD, the deputy director of the division of heart and vascular diseases at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda.
"The better diagnosis, better treatment, better surgery, and healthier lifestyles that have accounted for the decline will be aided and abetted by new techniques and devices in 2001, and so hopefully, [the death rate] will continue to fall," he says. "The major things we will see in the next 12 to 18 months will largely have to do with devices."
A Look Into Medicine's Crystal Ball
Jan. 5, 2001 -- Just as soon as we complete our New Year's resolution list, it's time for another New Year's ritual: predictions. And according to leading health experts from a host of medical specialities, 2001 holds a lot in store.
The year may usher in some exciting devices that reshape how we treat heart disease or how we learn to use gene therapy to treat many type diseases. There may be new directions for cancer research and a renewed sense of direction for universal health coverage. And as with any predictions, not all are good -- current epidemics such as obesity, for instance, may get worse in the coming year, experts tell WebMD.
Gene mapping
The Human Genome Project is an international research program designed to construct detailed genetic and physical maps of the human genome. Accomplishing these goals will pave the way toward the development of a variety of new technologies -- but this will most likely not occur in 2001, says Jane Peterson, PhD, program director for the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md.
But in early 2001, "There will be the publication of the rough draft of the entire human genome [and] that will make a big splash, and we will see a number of papers reflecting on what has been published," she says.
The next important step will occur in March or April 2001, when the first draft of the mouse gene sequence is published. "Looking at the mouse will help us understand the human sequence," Richardson tells WebMD.
Overall, "We may find interesting genes in 2001, but finding therapeutics may take longer," she says.
Heart disease
Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in both men and women since 1918, and although death rates have declined precipitously since the 1950s, it is unlikely that heart disease will lose this title in 2001, says David Robinson, MD, the deputy director of the division of heart and vascular diseases at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda.
"The better diagnosis, better treatment, better surgery, and healthier lifestyles that have accounted for the decline will be aided and abetted by new techniques and devices in 2001, and so hopefully, [the death rate] will continue to fall," he says. "The major things we will see in the next 12 to 18 months will largely have to do with devices."
