Genetics on TV!

Dr. Phil is doing a small segment on Genetic testing and it's controversies as well as GINA. If you are interested check it out! It was on today (1.20.10) and aired for the last 10 minutes or so of the show.

ELSI Personal Genomics Seminar Series

I have been fortunate this year to be able to attend the ELSI Personal Genomics Seminar Series at the University of Michigan. This great series has had lectures on biobanking, gene patenting and research ethics for genome studies among others. Speakers have come in from around the country as well as Canada. It’s been great to get different perspectives on different ELSI issues. I’m really excited for an upcoming seminar featuring a point-counterpoint on direct-to-consumer marketing. If you want to check out the webcast of past episodes or find out the dates for upcoming seminars check out http://www.elsi.umich.edu/?q=events.

Nicole Exe (Genomics Forum Secretary)

Health Care Bills are Unconstitutional?

An interesting opinion came out in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 2nd entitled "Why the Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional" by Hatch, Blackwell, and Klukowski.

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.