CLEVELAND, Oct. 29, 2014
/PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new
initiative to accelerate the adoption of genomic based medicine at
Cleveland Clinic. Researchers at Cleveland Clinic will use IBM
Watson technology in the area of genomic research to help
oncologists deliver personalized medicine by uncovering new cancer
treatment options for patients.
The Lerner Research Institute's Genomic Medicine Institute at
Cleveland Clinic plans to evaluate Watson's ability to help
oncologists develop more personalized care to patients for a
variety of cancers. Clinicians lack the tools and time required to
bring DNA-based treatment options to their patients and to do so,
they must correlate data from genome sequencing to reams of medical
journals, new studies and clinical records. At a time when medical
information is doubling every five years, a faster option is
needed
This use of Watson aims to find the "needle in the haystack"
through identifying patterns in genome sequencing and medical data
to unlock insights that will help clinicians bring the promise of
genomic medicine to their patients. The combination of
Cleveland Clinic's clinical expertise coupled with the power of
IBM's Watson system will enable improvements to, and learnings
within, the Watson tool with the shared goal of helping medical
professionals develop personalized cancer care.
"The potential for leveraging the capabilities of Watson's
cognitive computing engine in personalized medicine could not be
timelier," says Charis Eng, M.D.,
Ph.D., Chair and founding Director of the Lerner Research
Institute's Genomic Medicine Institute. "Clinicians will
benefit from the knowledge and insight provided by Watson in the
care of their patients."
The pilot initiative is an extension of on-going programs with
Cleveland Clinic to aid the advancement of big data in
healthcare.
"We are very pleased with the progress being made and the impact
IBM has had in the commercialization of promising genomic medicine
technologies," says Gary Fingerhut,
Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations.
The use of Watson in genomic research draws on a
combination of Watson's cognitive services, deep computational
biology models and IBM's public cloud infrastructure
SoftLayer. Watson can continually 'learn' as it encounters
new patient scenarios, and as more information becomes available
through new medical research, journal articles and clinical
studies.
Given the depth and speed of Watson's ability to review massive
databases, the goal of the collaboration is to increase the number
of patients who have access to care options tailored to their
disease's DNA.
"Using Watson's cognitive computing capabilities, Cleveland
Clinic aims to offer cutting-edge care to millions of patients,"
said Rob Merkel, vice president, IBM
Watson Group Healthcare Leader. "We're excited by our
continued partnership with Cleveland Clinic. Together we aim to
advance a new era of cognitive computing that will aide in the
acceleration of new discoveries and bring forward new breakthroughs
in personalized medicine."
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical
center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and
education. Located in Cleveland,
Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians
with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the
principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland
Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary
artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World
Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's
best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey.
More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and
11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties.
The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near
downtown Cleveland, eight
community hospitals, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including
16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida,
the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and,
scheduled to begin seeing patients in 2015, Cleveland Clinic Abu
Dhabi. In 2012, there were 5.1 million outpatient visits throughout
the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions.
Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130
countries. Visit us at www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at
www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
IBM Watson: Pioneering a New Era of Computing
IBM Watson represents a new era of computing in which apps and
systems interact with human users more naturally, augment our
knowledge with Big Data insights, and learn to improve how they
assist us.
Fueled by innovation from a mission to transform industries and
professions, Watson is uniquely positioned at the forefront of the
new era of computing, evidenced by an unmatched demonstration of
what cognitive systems can bring to transform decision-making. IBM
is delivering a range of cloud-based products and services to
clients in industries such as banking, healthcare, insurance,
retail and education.
In January, 2014, IBM launched the IBM Watson Group, a new
business unit dedicated to developing and commercializing
cloud-delivered cognitive advisors. The move signifies a strategic
shift by IBM to deliver a new class of software, services and apps
that think, improve by learning, and discover insights from massive
amounts of Big Data.
IBM is investing $1 billion into
the Watson Group, focusing on development and research and bringing
cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services to market. This
includes $100 million available for
venture investments to support IBM's ecosystem of start-ups and
businesses building cognitive apps made with Watson.
For more information on IBM Watson, visit: www.ibmwatson.com
To join the social discussion about Watson, include the hashtag
#ibmwatson. Follow Watson on Facebook and see Watson on YouTube and
Flickr.
Check out the IBM Watson press kit at:
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/27297.wss
Press Contacts:
Tod Freeman
IBM External Relations
1.415.320.5893
tefreema@us.ibm.com
Bridget Peterlin
Cleveland Clinic Public & Media Relations, Cleveland Clinic
1.216.903.2746
peterlb@ccf.org
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SOURCE IBM