ICPerMed has awarded the ‘Best Practice Example in Personalised Medicine’ label to the Lerești Living Lab as a pioneering example of a personalised prevention initiative, tailoring cancer prevention to people’s lived realities, social relationships, local routines and access conditions in a rural community.
The Lerești Living Lab in Romania is a community-based example of personalised prevention in practice. It tailors cancer prevention to people’s everyday realities, including social relationships, local routines, trust networks, mobility constraints and access to health services. Developed through the 4P-CAN project and coordinated by the Center for Innovation in Medicine, the initiative brings together citizens, local authorities, schools, researchers, clinicians and public health experts. Through interviews, community consultations and network analysis, the Living Lab identifies how prevention messages and services can better reach people in rural settings. The model shows how personalised prevention can become more equitable, participatory and relevant by being co-created with communities rather than delivered from a distance. Its approach is also transferable to other underserved settings and health priorities.