Personalized Medicine: Promises and Pitfalls broadly explores the tailoring of medical treatment to a patient's characteristics, needs, and preferences during all stages of care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. The book's goal is to explain the science behind personalized medicine, what impact it may have on specific diseases, and some of the repercussions of a personalized medical approach on our medical institutions. Novel personalized therapeutic treatments and their scientific basis are discussed by covering topics as diverse as genomics, proteomics, epigenetics, integrative medicine, stem cells, and the factors that influence personal health. A personalized medical system also requires patient involvement in developing a healthy lifestyle, and so this book touches on topics such as the individual's family history, present and past lifestyle, nutrition, exercise levels, and stress factors. By explaining these broad topics in personalized medicine and the science behind them, we discover how personalized medicine can have a positive impact on an individual's health.