HonorHealth Research Institute, one of Arizona’s largest nonprofit healthcare systems, has appointed Dr Nicholas Schork as its new Research Director of Longevity, Prevention and Interception, a hire set to steer its newly-launched Centre for Translational Science.
Dr Schork, an internationally recognised authority in human longevity and clinical genomics, has published over 600 research papers and brings a wealth of academic and translational experience from institutions including TGen, Scripps, City of Hope and UC San Diego.
The laboratory will use AI to analyse large health record datasets, alongside genomic, proteomic and wearable-device data, to spot early signs of cancers, heart disease and other conditions. The goal is to offer personalised interventions well before diseases reach conventional diagnostic thresholds.
The appointment comes as the pharmaceutical industry increasingly pivots from late-stage treatment to early-stage interception and prevention. For instance, J&J set up a dedicated ‘Disease Interception Accelerator and Prevention Centre’ at the end of last year to tackle the root causes of diseases, including type 1 diabetes and certain cancers.
Similarly, the UK government’s ‘Our Future Health’ programme is currently recruiting five million volunteers for early diagnosis and intervention research, aiming to create a national “sandbox” for testing novel prevention strategies across diverse populations.
These developments suggest that medical science is on the cusp of an “interception era”, which is not just an emerging research frontier, but a growing paradigm across pharma, public health and clinical research.
