Real World Data & Precision Medicine Research

Expanding the Reach of Research

Precision medicine’s goal is to provide the right treatment to the right patient at the right time to improve overall health outcomes.

Precision medicine is an innovative health care approach using a person’s own genes/proteins to tailor disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment options to one person’s needs. Today, precision medicine is primarily used in cancer care. For example, there are highly effective therapies for people diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer, and a growing number of multi-cancer early detection blood tests can detect many types of active cancer anywhere within a person’s body, such as the Grail Galleri® test. These precision medicine-based detection and treatment options all require clinical research to prove their safety and effectiveness.

There is still a lot to learn about how precision medicine can be used to improve health outcomes, and Mercy Research is participating in clinical trials to fill those knowledge gaps. Precision medicine research studies are especially reliant upon large study populations, and Real World Data (RWD) can be used to supplement these research activities. RWD are generated through a variety of sources which are not defined by a strict study protocol, such as regularly scheduled care visits and procedures. Instead, these data are created during every-day, real-world care. When shown to be fit-for-purpose, these data produce evidence that can powerfully predict health outcomes.

Mercy Research is privileged to work at the crossroads of Mercy’s Center for Precision Medicine and the Enterprise Data and Analytics Office to bring cutting edge, precision medicine options to our patients. This work is key for expanding precision medicine across all areas of care in the near future.