As co-chairs of the Congress Steering Group from the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine we would like to invite you to participate in our first Personalised Medicine Congress to be held in the capital of Northern Ireland next November.

The four-day congress (27-30 November) is entitled ‘“Personalising Your Health: A Global Imperative!” , and will be held in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast and Visit Belfast.

Most people have heard of the spectacular Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim. It’s an area of tens-of-thousands of interlocking basalt columns whose tops form stepping stones that lead from the bottom of a cliff and disappear under the sea. The tallest of these are in the region of 12 metres high. While it’s not true that the causeway was actually caused by the treads of a huge being (it was actually long ago volcanic activity), it brings to mind the phrase ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’.

Let’s take into account the unbelievable advances in medical science recently – notably in genetics – and the ‘giant’ that is science is proving to be a rock-solid foundation for swiftly moving advances in healthcare across Europe.

The Congress in Belfast aims to broaden the reach of personalised medicine across the EU and will pick up from the, by then, five annual conferences held by the Alliance. At the event, key stakeholders will meet to discuss barriers to the integration of personalised medicine and the main actions that need to be taken.