A new year for the Forum and public health genomics

With the completion of another successful APHA meeting, we enter the third official year of the Genomics Forum. First and foremost, there are thanks in order. Jody Platt, now Past Chair, played an integral role in the birth of the Forum and led its expansion to a successful organization of more than 800 members. I was struck this year by the immense presence of genetics and genomics, where little existed as recently as four years ago. The difference is staggering. The challenge before us is to continue the Forum's growth, both in terms of membership and also in collaborations and idea generation.

Truly, we must ask the question, “what is public health genomics?” To answer this question, we need to be good listeners. We must listen to each other, to our colleagues in public health, and to the individuals, families and communities we serve. This will prove to be a year of decision-making for the public health genomics community. With major projects such as GAPPNet and GEDDI laying out paths before us, we must decide what our role will be. The first step must be to take an honest look at our strengths and the challenges before us.

We have many strengths in:

• Early disease detection and diagnosis
• Understanding relationships between genetics, lifestyle, and environment
• Prevention and risk assessment
• Integration of services

We also have many challenges, such as:

• Health and risk communication
• An unclear future of our workforce and competency
• The relationship between the hype and reality of new technologies
• Reimbursement and regulation
• Access to services and disparities

What challenges do you face in your work? Your experience will help guide the direction of our forum and of our work for the year to come.

Collaborations in Public Health

Last week, I attended Genetic Alliance’s three annual events: Genetics Day on the Hill, Gene Screen, and the 2009 Annual Conference, Discovering Openness in Health Systems. During these events, I was struck by the power of genetics and genomics to promote collaboration across multiple stakeholder groups, diseases, and even perspectives. At its heart, Genomics Forum is a direct manifestation of our wish to integrate genetics and genomics into the broader health community and infuse our work with the knowledge and insight of the whole health system. One of our toughest challenges is "knowing what we don't know" about how our work relates to and impacts other areas of public health. The beauty of new technologies, integrated health systems, and collaborative models is that we don't have to know everything. To tap into the greater knowledge of our colleagues, our patients, and our communities, all we need to do is let down our defenses and dissolve the boundaries between us and them. In my work with Genetic Alliance, we are quick to point out that there is no "us and them," but only a "we." In public health, the word genomics can often be siloed into the realm of “them,” viewed as the harbinger of stem cell research, cloning, and genetically modified foods. But we know that genetics is an integral part of who we are, has transformed our knowledge of disease, and holds untapped potential for diagnostics and treatments. Still, the vast majority of work is yet to be completed and there is much that the genetics community can learn from its partners in public health. "We" are in this together and it is "our" health at stake.