INNOVATION
Cleveland Clinic Top 10 Medical Innovations of 2017 As we have done before, we are proud to feature the medical advances deemed by the Cleveland Clinic to be the most important upcoming ones in 2017. In a field as broad, diverse, active and complex as healthcare, these are just a handful among many great and promising achievements for us to look forward to. And you may know of others you think equally important. When there is great concern about what the future holds for our industry, it’s nice to take a glance at the good news, and see how much we’re delivering on the promise to provide better patient care. Your end-of-year gift from Cleveland:
Strange as it seems, the gut is a gold mine. Trillions of bacteria making up communities in our body—the microbiome—are unlocking mysteries at a rapid pace. The crux of the discovery is that our microbes have a mind of their own. The chemicals they emit interfere with the way food is digested, medicine is deployed, and even how a disease progresses. Biotech companies once focused on the genomic market are pivoting to the potential of the microbiome to develop new diagnostics, new therapies, and “probiotic” products to prevent dangerous microbe imbalances. With the National Microbiome Initiative accelerating research and development, experts believe 2017 is the year the microbiome cements itself as the healthcare industry’s most promising and lucrative frontier. 25 | HS&M DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017
