Abstract Promising research developments in both basic
and applied sciences, such as genomics and participatory
health care approaches, have generated widespread interest
in personalized medicine among almost all scientific
areas and clinicians. The term personalized medicine is,
however, frequently used without defining a clear theoretical
and methodological background. In addition, to date
most personalized medicine approaches still lack convincing
empirical evidence regarding their contribution and
advantages in comparison to traditional models. Here, we
propose that personalized medicine can only fulfill the
promise of optimizing our health care system by an interdisciplinary
and translational view that extends beyond
traditional diagnostic and classification systems
