We have been working with the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital and Brighton and Sussex Medical School to expand access to the world’s first clinic to treat childhood asthma using innovative precision medicine approaches.
As part of this work, the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) organised the “OneSizeFits1 – Every Child is Different” event, supported by SameSky Brighton Arts Charity, an interactive exhibition aimed at engaging students, young people, patients, families, and the general public with personalized medicine research.
Through creative activities like puppet-making, interactive performances, and hands-on learning stations, participants were introduced to personalized medicine concepts in an engaging and accessible way.
More than 1.1 million children in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma. The condition is usually treated with inhalers but until recently, this has been generally untargeted with similar approaches being used regardless of the child’s individual characteristics or the child’s environment.
This ‘one size fits all’ approach may mean that some children don’t respond to treatments in the most effective way. When this happens, it can be difficult to know why the same treatments do not work in the same way for every child.
Around 60 people attended the event and took part in the various workshops and activities, with their feedback collected during the day to find out how helpful the information is for their particular situations.
Many attendees said that the event had improved their understanding of personalized medicine, with one saying, “It has been really helpful to hear about how these conditions might be caused and how to approach treatment differently,” while another said, “This was my first time learning about personalized medicine, and it was a really fun way to do it!”
The event successfully raised awareness, increased understanding, and sparked curiosity about personalized medicine, with many participants eager to learn more and explore the potential of personalized treatments.
Olivia Cottington, Clinical Public Engagement Coordinator from BSMS, organised the event and was really pleased with the results, “I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to bring this event together, collaborating with artists from SameSky and with many thanks to the generous support of the Rockinghorse Children’s Charity.
“We organized the ‘OneSizeFits1 – Every Child is Different’ event to engage the public with our research into personalized medicine, aiming to demonstrate how tailored treatments can improve care for conditions like eczema and asthma.
“It was great to see so many people engaging with the activities, and we are encouraged by the positive feedback, showing that the event helped participants learn how our research can directly benefit their health.”
Thanks so much to Olivia and the team from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School along with SameSky for organising such a great event.
To find out more about the Precision Medicine project, just click here. And to see a short film about the event and what attendees thought about it, take a look here:
