The national debate over health care reform has focused primarily on insurance costs, while overlooking a crucial aspect of human health: innovation and the translation of scientific discoveries into widely used therapies, according to UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH.

In an Oct. 27 speech, “From Bench to Bedside: Innovation in the Era of Health Care Reform,” Desmond-Hellmann said that by speeding up the transformation of lab breakthroughs into new treatments, scientists will not only improve health outcomes, but also help contain ballooning health care costs.

However, she said, while translational science is vital to improving health around the world, it is currently “not done as well as it should be or could be.”

Desmond-Hellmann, the keynote speaker at the Jewish Community Endowment Fund’s 2009 Tax and Estate Planning Seminar, cited the example of Avastin, the first FDA-approved cancer therapy designed to inhibit angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels develop and carry nutrients to a tumor. The drug is manufactured by Genentech, where Desmond-Hellmann worked for 14 years before coming to UCSF.

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