Precision Naming for Precision Medicine

Thomas Gardner, M.D., M.S., has dedicated his career to understanding why diabetes damages the retina and how to help people with diabetes maintain their vision. The Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, is also trying to alter the way we describe diseases from their appearance to the underlying biological mechanisms, the subject of his October 2022 Ian Constable Lecture at the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, Australia. The lecture honors Australian ophthalmologist and institute founder Ian Constable. Gardner proposes moving away from descriptive taxonomy in naming diseases and adopting a mechanistic approach. “How we name diseases influences how we think about, diagnose and treat them,” Gardner said. “In the age of precision medicine, we need specific names that lead to specific treatments therapeutics and outcomes.”