In the past decade, significant improvements in the diagnosis, management,and outcomes of clinical conditions in the young have been evident. Not only hasthe pathophysiologic basis of diseases been more clearly understood, themechanisms are better defined; not only have new aetiologic agents and factorsbeen identified, novel signaling pathways at the cellular and molecular levelsamenable to pharmacological interventions are discovered; and not only havegenetic variations associated with different phenotypic expressions beenincreasingly unveiled, the potential for clinical translation of bioinformatics at anindividual level is ever expanding. The respect for variations among individuals,with regard to the predisposing risk of disease development, the clinical courseand response to treatment, has formed the basis of personalised and precisionmedicine. It appears intuitive that to pinpoint the culprit of malfunction and targetsfor interventions within the complex human body system, a reductionist approachof dismantling the body into organ systems and submerging into the biologicalintricacies of molecules and genes may, for some advocates, be the holy grail.There are others who, however, would be begging for answers to legitimatescepticisms. Can paediatric diseases be comprehensively understood based purelyon works done in the laboratory? Can paediatric health issues be solved completelywith understanding of just the biology of diseases? And furthermore, can theapproach to paediatric clinical problems be reducible to merely a set of clinicalpathways and management algorithms?
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