The fight against cancer just got personal. Top docs and thinkers explain how genetic medicine is going to change how we fight the disease.

Pharmaceutical company Merck made history last month.

The approval of its product Keytruda marked the first time that the Food and Drug Administration will allow a drug to be prescribed based on a cancer patient’s genetic profile rather than tumor location.

Cancer used to be understood as dozens of different diseases depending on where the abnormal cells showed up in the body. Lung cancer required a different approach than brain cancer, for instance, which was different from bone cancer.

But drug developers are starting to shift course, as decades of research suggests that what may be most important is someone’s genetic makeup.

The research and promise of the idea — the quickly approaching personalized medicine era — has attracted the attention of the world's clinicians. At last week's annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, one of the largest cancer conferences in the world, it dominated the agenda. And it's sure to do so later this month, when many of the same biotech and pharmaceutical companies — from startups looking for funding to giants needing breakthroughs — head to San Diego for the annual conference of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

But you shouldn't have to be in attendance to know where the cancer world is heading. We asked physicians, hospital leaders and biopharmaceutical executives what they believe the future of cancer care will hold. Among the big thinkers and practioners we talked to, one major theme that has emerged is the promise of treating people as individuals, whether from a genetic perspective or according to their own personal preferences. (See below for all of their articles.)

That shift is evident on a number of fronts. Hospitals are opening urgent care centers that specifically address the needs of cancer patients. They’re designing rooms that feel more like a hotel than a hospital. And drug makers are tracking some of the softer measures of how patients are faring—not just with their disease but in their everyday life.

Pharmaceutical company Astellas has a pipeline of drug candidates that are being tested in prostate, lung and pancreatic cancers. But in assessing the efficacy of its drugs, it’s looking not only at survival rates but patients’ overall quality of life.

That’s why the company is enrolling 1,200 prostate cancer patients into a registry that will allow them to report how they’re faring during treatment, looking at things like how they’re navigating the healthcare system and how they’re making treatment decisions with their family and caregivers.

For Mark Reisenauer, Astellas’ senior vice president of oncology, the need to track these lifestyle outcomes only became clear when his father was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Even being a veteran of the pharma world didn’t make it any easier on him to help his father consider his treatment options, he wrote in a LinkedIn article.

A concierge experience for patients

Hospitals are asking the same question.

In New York, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center last year opened the Josie Robertson Surgery Center, with the goal of combining the latest in technology with an eye toward meeting patient needs, like allowing them to recuperate in their own homes, where most people would prefer to be.

One of the tools it’s using is real-time locating systems, a movement-tracking technology that allows doctors to assess how much a patient is walking as a measure of their recovery. It also helps patients identify the medical professionals coming in and out of their rooms.

The facility is located seven blocks south of the main hospital campus—for a reason.

“The physical separation inspired a spirit of freedom and innovation when designing the building, and that spirit has been a major driving force of the culture at our center,” writes Dr. Daniel Stein, associate chief health informatics officer, in a LinkedIn article. “When hiring the 450 staff who are stationed primarily at JRSC, we selected those who were eager to push the boundaries of clinical care and endorsed our core values of flexibility, collaboration, and commitment to continuous improvement.”

An ounce of prevention

For some patients, especially those with aggressive cancers, the goals of treatment might not be a cure so much as long-term medical management, similar to a chronic disease like diabetes, writes Dr. Steven Curley, chief of surgical oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, in a LinkedIn article.

“We need to adopt strategies that allow us to contain and control malignant disease without necessarily eradicating it,” he wrote. “If we can understand genetic signaling and aberrations sufficiently, perhaps we can control cancer for long periods while maintaining a high quality of life for our patients.”

While the overall mortality rate from cancer is falling—by as much as 13 percent between 2004 and 2013, according to the National Cancer Institute—the number of new cases is expected to balloon over the next two decades. The number of cancer cases worldwide is expected to increase 50% between 2012 and 2030, the NCI notes.

Therefore, the largest issue that will impact the future of cancer care is how to pay for it. Medical care for cancer patients cost $87.8 billion in 2014, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That number is only expected to grow as the Baby Boomers get older, life expectancies increase and new drugs are introduced.

One way to bring down the cost is catch cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.

“Currently, we place far too little emphasis on screening and prevention of cancer,” Dr. Curley wrote. “Hopefully, in the not too distant future, screening of patients with simple, readily available, and inexpensive blood tests looking at circulating cells and free DNA may allow us to recognize patients at high risk to develop certain malignancies, or to detect cancer at far earlier stages when surgical and other therapies have a higher probability of success.”

Here's what some of the top minds in cancer care and management are saying about what's coming:

What will cancer care look like in the future? As an oncologist, here's what I see on the horizon by Dr. Steven Curley, chief of surgical oncology at Baylor College of Medicine

It's not enough to develop drugs for cancer. We have to develop plans to help improve lives by Mark Reisenauer, senior vice president of oncology at Astellas

How Memorial Sloan Kettering is changing the surgical experience for patients with cancer by Dr. Daniel Stein, associate chief health informatics officer at MSK

Redesigning urgent care for cancer patients by Dr. Thomas Froehlich, chief of medical staff, University Hospital, University of Texas Southwestern

What's On the Horizon in Cancer Care? by Dr. Mary E. Edgerton, associate professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center

Hidden Secrets in Tumor Genetic Testing by Andrea Forman, senior genetic counselor at the Fox Chase Cancer Center

This Isn't Your Grandmother's Ovarian Cancer by Hillary Theakson, executive director at the Clearity Foundation

Death to Cancer, Byte by Byte by Eric Lefkofsky, CEO at Tempus

An exciting time for cancer care by Joe Jimenez, CEO at Novartis

New Drug Approvals Show the FDA and Industry Are Adapting to Precision Medicines by Troy Wilson, CEO at Kura Oncology

Changing Landscape of Prostate Cancer Research and Development by Marco Gottardis, vice president at Janssen

Immunotherapy progress at #ASCO17 by Dr. Emil Lou, assistant professor at Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota