Precision medicine enters prevention
Fondazione HEAL Italia has launched PROVIDENTIA — from the Latin pro-videre, “to see ahead” — the national awareness campaign on the prevention of disease risk. The name is no coincidence: it carries the message that has guided the Foundation’s research from the very beginning, namely that precision medicine is for Everyone. The shift in perspective is substantial: no longer simply treating disease, but the ability to anticipate it through personalized tools built on each person’s biology, family history, and individual characteristics.
PROVIDENTIA is one of the initiatives that the HEAL Italia Project — funded through PNRR – NextGenerationEU resources — is bringing across the country through its thematic networks and partners distributed throughout eleven Italian regions. Each thematic network contributes through specific activities in research, prevention, and clinical innovation, coordinated nationally by the Foundation.
Screening for hereditary and familial cancers: who can access it
Among the activities currently active in Sicily within the framework of the HEAL Italia Project is the Integrated Regional Network for Cancer Prevention, a free surveillance program for hereditary and familial cancers coordinated by Prof. Giorgio Stassi, Director of the Department of Precision Medicine in the Medical, Surgical, and Critical Care Area at the University of Palermo. The program is intended for individuals with a family history of specific cancers: breast cancer, ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, and locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Those eligible to apply are individuals who have at least two family members affected by one of these cancers, who are first-degree relatives of each other (for example, mother and daughter, two sisters, father and son), and of whom at least one is a first-degree relative of the applicant (mother, sister, son, or daughter).
Those admitted to the program receive a genetic risk assessment, oncological and onco-genetic counseling — that is, specialist counseling that analyzes an individual’s predisposition to developing cancer based on their genetic profile — and a personalized surveillance pathway, in accordance with the recommendations of the national oncology networks.
Hereditary cancers are not chosen, but choosing to undergo screening is. A simple check-up can make a difference — for yourself and for the people you care about.
The role of Spoke 3 and research on predictive models
The surveillance program active in Palermo is part of a broader research context. Within HEAL Italia, Prof. Stassi coordinates Spoke 3 — Predictive Models, the thematic network dedicated to the development of advanced models for prognosis, therapeutic response, and the evaluation of new drugs and treatments in a rapid and personalized way. The research produced by this network helps define the prevention strategies that PROVIDENTIA brings to local communities: from computational models for individual risk stratification to the use of artificial intelligence to identify predictive biomarkers.
How to access the hereditary and familial cancer surveillance program in Palermo
To verify the inclusion criteria, you can contact Dr. Matilde Todaro at matilde.todaro@unipa.it or matilde.todaro@policlinico.pa.it. A WhatsApp contact is also available at +39 328 907 4686 (by sending the word SCREENING), as well as a laboratory phone number: 091 238 90814.
For the oncological consultation and onco-genetic counseling, the point of contact is the Policlinico di Palermo team: lorena.incorvaia@policlinico.pa.it, oncogenetica@policlinico.pa.it, tel. 091 655 4459.