Professor Lord Robert Winston to deliver the Spring Lecture

　　Professor Lord Robert Winston to deliver the Spring Lecture

　　

　　The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries is delighted to announce that this year's Spring Lecture will be given by Professor Lord Robert Winston.

　　In this lecture Professor Winston examines what led to and preceded the sequencing of the human genome - an achievement which was described by one distinguished scientist as "a development more important than the invention of the wheel".  But what has happened since?

　　We already live in a time when humans live longer than at any point in previous history, and we are mostly far more healthy than ever before.  The excitement with which the sequencing was greeted resulted in many respected authorities arguing that this advance will help us further by predicting ill-health, revolutionising the understanding of human diseases and increasing the development of far more effective therapeutic strategies.  Personalised medicine is now becoming a buzzword in our own National Health Service.

　　Against this background is the spiralling cost of healthcare in most advanced countries which may be accentuated by ageing populations, populations who are more prone to such conditions as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and deterioration of brain function.

　　To what extent will advanced technology with the focus on genomic medicine be relevant in an uncertain future and are we missing the need for much greater concentration on simpler technologies to improve public health?

　　The lecture will be given at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 0AE on 15 May 2014