Dr Armin Deffur
MBChB, DTH, MMed(IntMed), CertID(SA) Phys, PhD
I am a Specialist Physician by training, with a subspecialty in Infectious Diseases. I provide a wide range of expertise in order to get to the bottom of vexing medical dilemmas. I am aided in this by a data-driven approach to healthcare, based on my background in computational biology obtained during my PhD.
Individualised Medicine
Medicine is not “one size fits all”. While most therapies are developed based on population-based averages, there is growing recognition of the need to personalise care. Also known as “precision medicine” or “personalised medicine”, or by the abbreviation “P4 medicine”, many datapoints pertinent to the individual are considered when making a diagnosis or recommending therapy.
Digital Health
Information about patient health is traditionally collected at times of contact with the healthcare system (Doctor’s visit, hospital admission). But what about the majority of time that patients are not under medical care? A new generation of wearable devices, that blur the boundaries between functional timepieces, smart devices and and medical instruments are available to generate high-quality data that informs about changes in health status.
Genomics
Every person’s genome (the DNA sequence of all 23 chromosome pairs and the mitochondrial genome inherited from the mother) is unique. It serves a an information store that helps make you who you are. Every one of us carries about 4 million variants relative to a reference sequence. These variants determine aspects like eye colour, height, and on occasion can be responsible for disease. Knowledge of genomic variants may on occasion be the key in deciphering difficult medical questions.
The unique power of combining the three approaches allows the generation of a detailed view of a health condition, its causes, and possible therapeutic approaches. In addition, many aspects of health can be monitored in real time, and early course corrections applied to maintain and wellbeing.
Innovative solutions in this space are being developed by indigenAfrica, Inc.