Gulf Coast Cluster for Early Disease Detection 

Purpose
Early disease detection is critically important to the wellness of U.S. citizens and plays a key role in the economics of healthcare. Current healthcare treatment is primarily reactive with strong emphasis on curing diseases after they have occurred rather than promoting wellness and preventing these same illnesses from their onset. However, there is an increasing need to evaluate patients’ general health to predict and ultimately prevent the adverse effects of disease progression. When captured early, illnesses can be treated in a much more cost-effective manner. Managing diseases, especially early in their time courses, lowers the impact and can delay serious complications. Likewise, the development of new methods for early disease detection will play a critical role in paving the pathway for a new era of personalized medicine. The purpose of this new Gulf Coast Cluster for Early Disease Detection (GCC EDD) is to bring together leading scientists, engineers and clinicians in an effort to nucleate novel educational programs, apply for new training grants, create core facilities, establish research teams with focus of major disease areas and facilitate translational activities en route to developing new early disease detection and treatment methods that improve healthcare and wellness.