Elana Simon ’14 Helps Obama Introduce New Precision Medicine Program
Elana Simon ’14, accompanied by her brother Joel Simon ’11, visited the White House on January 30, 2015 to join President Obama to introduce his new Precision Medicine initiative. Elana and Joel took part in Dalton’s science research program at Rockefeller University. She opened the press conference by describing her cancer research team’s breakthrough genetic findings to determine the exact cause of a rare liver cancer, the very same one she had survived as a child. She then introduced the President, who commended her and recognized her impressive research achievements.
According to a White House press release, “…the program is designed to abandon the one-size-fits-all-approach to treating diseases and focuses on approaches more tailored to the individual according to genetic makeup and lifestyle.” Elana’s genetic research approach, which examines specific strands of DNA in individuals, serves as a prime example of this new direction in treating disease.