Personalized Medicine

Barbara Prainsack is Professor for Comparative Policy Analysis at the University of Vienna. She is the author of Personalized Medicine: Empowered Patients in the 21st Century, co-author of Genetic Suspects: Global Governance of Forensic DNA Profiling and Databasing and Solidarity in Bioethics and Beyond, and co-editor of several volumes.

"In Personalized Medicine, Prainsack brings together a ton of recent research—much of it her own—using a variety of methodologies to study a wide range of topics. (Two thirds of her nearly seven hundred sources were published since 2010.) Prainsack states very clearly at the outset of a chapter what she is going to do and, at the end, what she has done." - Hastings Center Report "A thoughtful, thorough, and philosophical discussion of the many possible obstacles to the successful, equitable implementation of personalized medicine and its potential for unintended consequences." (Genome Magazine) "Prainsacks rigorous review and synthesis of evidence on [patient] engagement from the fields of medicine, ethics, social science, technology, informatics, and law is quite compelling and makes this book a unique contribution." (Health Affairs) "Barbara Prainsack raises deep questions about the ethics and politics of personalized medicine. In this rigorous and engaging book, she explores the cutting edge of health care, critiques several popular visions of patient empowerment, and offers a novel and compelling account of what truly democratic, responsive, and fair deployment of new health technologies would require. Displaying a mastery of diverse literatures in social science, law, and health services research, Personalized Medicine is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of patient participation in health and wellness initiativesranging from self-tracking to biohacking, and well beyond." - Frank Pasquale,Author of The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information "Prainsack accessibly unpacks the complexities of & patient-centered personalized medicine, revealing startling redistributions of responsibility, diagnostic capacities, costs and profits. Providers lose autonomy as & algorhythmically supported diagnoses and care based on & health maps displace clinical judgement. Patients awash in information are increasingly responsible, and high costs make such care impossible for most. Prainsack envisions a personalized medicine for all the people, not for profit." - Adele E. Clarke,Co-author of Biomedicalization "It is apparent from what Prainsack writes elsewhere in her clear and powerful analysis that we need to attend to these mushrooming responsibilities for being engaged and empowered with and by our data and how social and economic inequalities differentiate who is able or required to enact these responsibilities and benefit from the choices that they invokePrainsack provides us with an invaluable guide to set us off in the right direction along this path." (New Genetics and Society) "This is a great read for scholars of medicine, ethics, science and technology studies. It is an ambitious book that raises important and provocative questions that I look forward to scholars addressing in the future." (Social Forces)