America was sick before COVID-19 struck. The pandemic has made our national sickness more acute and illustrated the critical importance of “wellness” in preventing disease and optimizing health.

We know this because COVID-19 disproportionately affected people with chronic illness and unhealthful lifestyles.

As a scientist who has worked at the leading edge of medicine, engineering and genetics for decades, I’m on a quest to give mind and body wellness the scientific rigor and urgency it deserves. No doctor, policy or breakthrough drug is as effective as “wellness” at minimizing disease and enhancing the length and quality of life.

From 1959 to 2014, America experienced a dramatic rise in life expectancy because of advances in medicine, nutrition, lifestyle, the environment, safety and economic well-being. Since then, life expectancy has declined four of the past five years, something we haven’t seen in a century.

Although COVID-19 was a major factor in 2020’s life expectancy decline, it is only part of a bigger national health catastrophe. More than 45% of Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, and 70% of all deaths in America are attributable to chronic disease.

Consistent with these grim statistics, the U.S. devotes 90% of its health care spending to treating patients with chronic physical and mental health conditions. Devastating chronic disease will be with us long after this pandemic recedes unless we make major changes in how we promote health and treat illness.

Our health care system is great at fighting disease retroactively, but it’s dismal at keeping people healthy proactively. Waiting to treat disease after it emerges is not the answer. Once heart disease sets in, cancer spreads or Alzheimer’s takes root, it’s too late. Shorter lifespans and diminished quality of life are the result.

In contrast, wellness is the absence of disease in the body, and the most powerful force in human health. While “preventive medicine” seeks earlier detection of already established disease, scientific wellness gives medical providers a new way of treating patients based on a data-informed understanding of their personal health.

Each person’s genome, or genetic makeup, is unique. Other factors, including our epigenomes, blood analytes, microbiomes, environmental toxins, diet and lifestyle, contribute in complex but interrelated ways to disease susceptibility and overall health.

We have found striking blood signals long before disease symptoms can traditionally be diagnosed. That research offers exciting opportunities to pursue interventions that delay or prevent the onset of disease.

Imagine the data-based insights gained by studying the genomes and health measures of a million people. That is our goal. With that depth and breadth of understanding, we can significantly extend the lifespan and enhance the quality of life of every person living today.

COVID-19 has wrought sickness and death. We cannot change what has already happened, but we can commit energy and resources to combating the ongoing pandemic of chronic illness and diminished health.

Leroy Hood, a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, is co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology and senior vice president and chief science officer of the Providence St. Joseph Health system.