Personomics: The personalization of precision medicine

Precision medicine typically focuses on biologic variation to individualize diagnostics and therapeutics. However, this approach often overlooks unique life circumstances that shape a patient's experience of health and illness. To address this gap, the term “personomics” was coined to highlight the importance of understanding patients as individuals, beyond biologic markers. Patient-centered care focuses on patients' unique healthcare needs and desired health outcomes. Personomics-informed care goes beyond patient-centered care by exploring factors such as patients’ perspectives, life circumstances, health beliefs, priorities, environment, social support, and economic resources, all of which influence how a health condition manifests and responds to treatment. Integrating personomics into medical practice involves using patient-centered communication skills, such as eliciting the patient's agenda, exploring their concerns through open-ended questions, and understanding the patient's perspectives on their symptoms—the impact on their life, and ideas about underlying causes. Nonverbal communication skills such as conveying focused attention, interest, and empathy, are also essential to personomics-informed care. These communication skills can be learned, and they should be taught in medical education programs. By incorporating personomics into precision medicine, clinicians can achieve a more personalized approach to care through building trust, fostering shared decision-making, arriving at treatment plans patients are comfortable with and able to adhere to, and enhancing treatment outcomes.