To better understand this new filed let's take the definition of Raimond L. Winslow (Raj and Neera Singh Professor of Biomedical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) :

"Because of the inherent complexity of biological systems, the development of computational models is necessary to achieve a quantitative understanding of their structure and function in health and disease. Computational Medicine is a discipline in which mechanistic models of disease are developed, personalized using data from individual patients, and then applied to deliver improved health care. In computational molecular medicine, statistical learning is applied to high-dimensional biomolecular data to create models that describe relationships between molecules and networks in health and disease. In computational physiological medicine, multiscale modeling links networks to cells, organs, and organ systems. In computational anatomy, mathematical approaches are used to analyze medical imagery to characterize anatomic shape and its variations in health and disease. In computational healthcare, statistical models of electronic health record data are developed. In each case, models are personalized using patient data, and then applied to improve disease diagnosis and to guide therapy. This talk will present success stories in each of these areas of computational medicine, with specific examples in the fields of cancer, diabetes, cardiology, and neurology. Challenges that must be confronted to translate these computational methods to the clinic will be discussed."