What is Medicine 3.0?

Written by Java Tunson, MD

If you are somoeone that is already drawn to the sphere of longevity medicine, you may have heard the term “Medicine 3.0” starting to be murmured in conversations. So what is Medicine 3.0? This term was coined by Peter Attia, MD, a physician who has emphasized evidence based and informed approaches to improving healthspan. As opposed to lifespan, healthspan is not just the length of time lived, but the length of time lived with a high quality of function and life. The term was popularized by his book “Outlive” which was released in early 2023 where he addresses a concept he has long championed: why are we so reactionary to chronic illness where we only begin to address it once it already exists and how do we practice true prevention through a data driven approach.

Medicine 2.0, is the current healthcare system that Attia describes as transitioning from Medicine 1.0 with the advent of germ theory and sanitation, leading to significant advances in infectious disease detection and treatment which has really been the strength of Medicine 2.0 in increasing lifespan. Unfortunately, despite incredible advances in pharmacology, technology and scientific research, the majority of Americans are suffering from poor quality and length of life from chronic illnesses that are acted upon too late. Even what is described as “preventive screening” in Medicine 2.0 often misses the mark or only is flagged as problematic long after the harmful effects of the disease have long been underway. One of many examples is the common lab obtained annually by many providers, hemoglobin A1C, a marker of average glucose in the blood over a period of 3 months. Once a hemoglobin A1c is between 5.7%-6.4%, a person is considered pre-diabetic. However, through other testing measures it is possible to see the metabolic dysfunction that is developing approximately 10 years before someone is pre-diabetic. And no, these other markers are not particularly expensive or difficult to obtain. So why is Medicine 2.0 settling for this? In the tangle of the current healthcare system, the simplicity of the Medicine 3.0 framework has been completely derailed.

Medicine 3.0 is the new paradigm of medicine that emphasizes a personalized, data driven, truly preventive approach that empowers patients with the foresight to implement strategies that will not only preserve but optimize their health and function with the all-important framework of what they value in their life.

I could go in to depth about the concept of Medicine 3.0, though Attia already has quite eloquently. Ultimately, my sense is this is really quite intuitive and may be just what you have been looking for but unable to find or quite describe. It just makes sense. Why would we wait until the onset of disease to begin to act and then apply a one-size-fits-all approach (some which doesn’t even work) to manage a process (or symptoms of a process rather than the disease itself).

Instead, we can sit and talk to our patients about what makes their life worth living to them: what energizes them, what brings them joy and contentment, what makes them feel at their best, what do they hope their life looks like at 90? We can use personalized data and create innovative and bespoke plans that give patients the best chance of optimizing and maintaining their healthspan while avoiding the pitfalls of chronic disease all-together. Medicine can do better to make patients feel and be their best for longer.

If this speaks to you and you’d like to learn more about how I approach the collaborative care of my patients, I’d love to discuss what this can look like for you with an introductory consultation.

In the meantime, live vividly.

Java Tunson, MD