--- title: The Problem And Promise Of Precision Medicine description: Tom Maniatis, director of the Columbia University Precision Medicine Initiative, discusses the future of precision medicine as it relates to treating deadly diseases canonical: https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/ author: Francesca Trianni article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-08T15:38:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:44:27.945Z article:section: Health og:title: The Problem and Promise of Precision Medicine og:description: Tom Maniatis, director of the Columbia University Precision Medicine Initiative, discusses its future og:url: https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c909bae6c357dff/6987ea18cd1bba5ff96f8d68/precision-medicine.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: precision-medicine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Problem and Promise of Precision Medicine twitter:description: Tom Maniatis, director of the Columbia University Precision Medicine Initiative, discusses its future twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c909bae6c357dff/6987ea18cd1bba5ff96f8d68/precision-medicine.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Problem and Promise of Precision Medicine by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Apr 8, 2015 3:38 PM UTC  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Apr 8, 2015 3:38 PM UTC ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/"},"headline":"The Problem and Promise of Precision Medicine","datePublished":"2015-04-08T15:38:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:44:27.945Z","description":"Tom Maniatis, director of the Columbia University Precision Medicine Initiative, discusses the future of precision medicine as it relates to treating deadly diseases","url":"https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/","keywords":["medicine","Columbia University"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c909bae6c357dff/6987ea18cd1bba5ff96f8d68/precision-medicine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Diane Tsai","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c909bae6c357dff/6987ea18cd1bba5ff96f8d68/precision-medicine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"precision-medicine","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3740433/problem-promise-precision-medicine/","name":"The Problem and Promise of Precision Medicine"}}]}] ```