Personalized Genomics: Your Hearts Best Defense Against Future Crises

A topic often discussed in the news or on social media is DNA. There are many breakthroughs within the science community and, in fact in August of 2025, a clinical study proved that a simple blood test can pick up fragments of DNA and thereby detecting some cancers. These DNA fragments appear in blood earlier than a tumor can be found on MRI’s, CT scans or Pet scans.

Most people do not understand what DNA is. Most understand it as the source of our defining characteristics of hair color, eye color, and height. Yes, DNA does provide the basis for human traits, but our DNA is far more complex than just that, it acts as a blueprint for every cell function in our body.

If each cell has the exact same blueprint of DNA, how do we end up with different cell types like hair, skin, muscle, heart, kidney and brain that all act differently? Well, it is because DNA is written in code and that code can be read in many ways which leads to many different tissues. Amazing, right?

Genomic medicine is referred to as precision medicine since it is precisely and uniquely belonging to a single human being. All scientists agree that it takes DNA and your environment to get a genetic tendency to develop, in most cases. The environment boils down to your choices in life.

If you knew you had a genetic tendency to develop Parkinson’s disease because you ate inorganic fruit and vegetables. Because this genetic product cannot breakdown pesticides safely and leads to alpha-synuclein particles deposited in the brain……. might you choose your grocery shopping more carefully? This question applies to every age and stage in our lives. There is always a fork in the road to make a better choice.

Genomic medicine is the wave of the future and is an exception precision preventive tool. The problem with western medicine is their pay structure is built solely on diagnosis and procedures for diseases. Genomic medicine can prevent disease and there is an incomplete understanding of preventive reimbursement in our present medical society today.

A good example of genetic prevention is a compound called LP(a). There are many people who have a gene that produces extremely elevated levels of LP(a), which is known to be a driver for plaque production in our arteries, especially heart and brain. However, many cardiologists will say, ‘until the pharmaceutical company creates a product that can treat elevated LP(a), why do we want to know?’ Well….. that is not exactly true, there are ways to go about treating high levels of LP(a). Some options are lifestyle choices, but there are medications that reduce LP(a) levels, but the insurance companies do not want to pay for them. So, what are they really saying, ‘why look for something that may cost us more money to prevent, than just waiting to treat the actual disease?’

All doctors know that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the US. Their stance has become accustomed to waiting until there is a heart attack, for then, they can begin ordering procedures, such as angiograms and stent placement because they finally have a disease they can bill for. All this is great work, but it is done in the aftermath of a health crisis.

For genomics medicine, we would prefer to predict a health crisis before the actual event, by identifying early molecular changes from genetic variants that signal disease risks, long before a clinical symptom appears.

Since a heart attack causes permanent muscle damage, why not use your personalized genomics to help prevent these critical health events, before they occur?

Heather