Category: genomics
How Can Evidence Synthesis be Conducted at the Speed of a Pandemic?
Since December, 2019, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has rapidly spread around the world. The global pandemic has led to numerous scientific publications in basic, clinical and public health science and increased pressure to act on evidence as it emerges. Typically, research is done to inform decisions over time and is disseminated to the Read More >
Posted on byThe Public Health Impact of COVID-19: Why Host Genomics?
Throughout human history, zoonotic pandemics have periodically resulted in catastrophic human morbidity and mortality exceeding war, famine, and natural disasters combined. Modern era medicine and public health have made remarkable advances, but vulnerabilities have also increased with unprecedented world population growth, greater interaction with wildlife, and the dramatic expansion of international air travel. Viral diseases Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentManipulating the Human Microbiome for Precision Public Health: Prospects and Challenges
Spotlight on the Human Microbiome The human microbiome has a crucial role in driving public health science and initiatives towards more “precision”. In a recent viewpoint and podcast, Harkins, et al. discuss the potential and current applications for manipulating the human microbiome for disease prevention and management. The authors describe several examples of microbiome manipulation Read More >
Posted on byIn the Era of Public Health Emergencies, Interoperability Rules are a Beacon for More Precision in Public Health
In the current wake of COVID-19, it is evident that the public health ecosystem needs to modernize how we gather, make sense of, and disseminate data from multiple sources. The health threats we face today spread wider and change faster than the data flows our traditional approaches were designed to accommodate. Becoming more adept with Read More >
Posted on byA Public Health Genomics Pioneer
Remembering Toby Citrin Today, public health genomics is an established and respected field which is integrated into numerous public health programs. This was not the case in the year 2000. CDC had established the Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health two years prior (initially called the Office of Genetics and Disease Prevention), but few Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentA 2020 Reality Check on the Public Health Impact of Cancer Genomics and Precision Medicine
“Precision oncology has had some major successes… And yet, the overall effect of precision medicine on care for patients with cancer has been modest.” (David Cutler, JAMA Health Forum, 2020) The Promise of Genomics and Precision Medicine in Reducing the Burden of Cancer In 2015, the United States launched the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) “to Read More >
Posted on byStudy of Children with One vs. Two or More Siblings with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Expected and Unexpected Similarities and Differences
A recent prospective study from the Baby Siblings Research Consortium found that children with two or more siblings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were more than twice as likely to be classified as having ASD at age 3 than children with only one sibling with ASD. The Consortium was formed to facilitate prospective studies of Read More >
Posted on byGenome-wide Association studies (GWAS) in the Quest to Understand the Causes of Birth Defects
Our recent review and commentary found that relatively few genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on structural birth defects have been done, compared with the number of GWAS on other conditions. We reviewed the literature to identify GWAS on oral clefts, congenital heart defects (CHDs), biliary atresia, pyloric stenosis, hypospadias, craniosynostosis, and clubfoot. We did not find Read More >
Posted on byReducing the Global Public Health Burden of Familial Hypercholesterolemia: More Work Ahead
In our previous blog, we discussed familial hypercholesterolemia as a prototype for “precision public health” and how the combination of public health and genetic approaches can contribute to raising awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of more than 1 million individuals in the United States with this relatively common genetic condition. Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an underdiagnosed Read More >
Posted on by“Precision” Health Tools and… Increased Health Disparities?
Working from the perspective of public health, we have frequently expressed concerns about the potential of precision health technology to exacerbate health disparities. Many of these discussions have focused on genomic-based approaches such as using polygenic risk scores (PRS) for a wide array of disease and health outcomes. Because of minority underrepresentation in basic research, Read More >
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