The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute worked with Saint Luke’s Hospital and the University of Missouri-Kansas City to organize the fourth annual Translational Medicine meeting on April 21st and 22nd. The goal of this meeting as with our previous translational medicine meetings was to stimulate new collaborations across our region between our academic institutions and with industry. Previous meetings have been held in Columbia at the University of Missouri, in Manhattan at Kansas State University, and in Lawrence at the University of Kansas.
On April 21st the meeting included presentations from Dr. Lynda Bonewald on musculoskeletal diseases, Dr. Peter Koulen on novel ways to diagnose chronic diseases and Dr. Jerry Wyckoff on in silico drug discovery approaches. There were also presentations on new cancer approaches and a novel method for insulin administration using light. The day was completed by a presentation from Maria Meyers and Jim Baxendale discussing Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
On Friday April 22nd the presentations were hosted by Saint Luke’s Hospital with internationally renowned cardiologist Dr. John Spertus presenting the vision of translational medicine in clinical care. Presentations continued on Friday by Dr. James Case on improving the accuracy of diagnostic testing and evaluating the cost effectiveness of novel interventions by Dr. David Cohen. Additional presentations included precision medicine, and shared decision making tools in outcomes research and provided a continuum of opportunity for utilizing outcomes research in clinical studies.
The planning for the two-day, two-venue event was led by Drs. Lawrence Dreyfus and John Spertus who put together an excellent agenda showcasing areas of translational medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Saint Luke’s Health System. Originally conceived as an efficient means to foster collaboration and showcase institutional assets/capabilities, KCALSI Translational Medicine meetings have brought together hundreds of academic and industry scientists.
KCALSI incorporated the Guidebook app into the Translational Medicine meeting, as it has for all of their most recent conferences.