Abstract
This paper presents a brief history of Systems Theory, progresses to Systems Biology, and its relation to the more traditional investigative method of reductionism. The emergence of Systems Medicine represents the application of Systems Biology to disease and clinical issues. The challenges faced by this transition from Systems Biology to Systems Medicine are explained; the requirements of physicians at the bedside, caring for patients, as well as the place of human-human interaction and the needs of the patients are addressed. An organ-focused transition to Systems Medicine, rather than a genomic-, molecular-, or cell-based effort is emphasized. Organ focus represents a middle-out approach to ease this transition and to maximize the benefits of scientific discovery and clinical application. This method manages the perceptions of time and space, the massive amounts of human- and patient-related data, and the ensuing complexity of information.
Highlights
Investigative biology received its early discipline from the thinking of philosophers such as Descartes (1596–1650) who taught that complex objects could be understood and studied by breaking the larger entity into smaller and smaller components
Reductionism has led to the recent unlocking of the genome, and the identification of innumerable biologic metabolic products and communicating molecules referred to as -omics—the smallest particles and the building blocks of an entire organism
While Systems Medicine deals with health and disease, complexity must be reduced and understanding, verification, and utility enriched [8–11]
Summary
Investigative biology received its early discipline from the thinking of philosophers such as Descartes (1596–1650) who taught that complex objects could be understood and studied by breaking the larger entity into smaller and smaller components. J Healthc Inform Res (2017) 1:119–137 components within the larger design but reduction to the smallest is the pathway for understanding the whole. Reductionism has led to the recent unlocking of the genome, and the identification of innumerable biologic metabolic products and communicating molecules referred to as -omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics)—the smallest particles and the building blocks of an entire organism. Toward the middle of the twentieth century, several investigators felt the need for more than reductionist methods; rather than reducing to the smallest components and assembling, they described Systems Theory composed of an overlying hierarchy governing the interwoven levels of components below. While Systems Medicine deals with health and disease, complexity must be reduced and understanding, verification, and utility enriched [8–11]
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