Why is personalized medicine relevant to public health?

Advances in genomics promise a new era of personalized medicine in health care. A major promise of the ‘omics’ research is that of delivering new information that can transform health care through earlier diagnosis, more effective prevention programs and a higher precision in the treatment of disease. Almost 10 years after the definition of the term public health genomics (PHG) as ‘the responsible and effective translation of genome-based knowledge and technologies into public policy and health services for the benefit of population health’, we are still facing the dilemma of how to implement genomics medicine into public health practice.