Category: public health

The Public Health Impact of COVID-19: Why Host Genomics?

covid-19 virus overlayed on whole genome sequencing with a world map in the background where figures are connected with lines

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 Muin J. Khoury, Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Marta Gwinn, CFOL International for Office of Advanced Molecular Detection, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Priya Duggal, Genetic Epidemiology Program, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland1 Comment
Categories genomics, public health
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In 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 by Paula Braun, Entrepreneur in Residence, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionLeave a comment
Categories genomics, precision public health, public health

A 2020 Reality Check on the Public Health Impact of Cancer Genomics and Precision Medicine

cancer cells with DNA and a crowd of people running and fresh fruits and vegetables

“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 by Muin J. Khoury, Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, Office of Science and Juan Rodriguez, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center on Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a comment
Categories cancer, genomics, precision medicine, public health

Public Health Perspectives on Ensuring Life Long Benefits of Newborn Screening

a newborns foot

This blog post is a summary of a Perspective recently published in Pediatrics that was authored by Alex Kemper of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Jeffrey Brosco of the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, and Coleen Boyle and Scott Grosse of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Newborn screening is a highly Read More >

Posted on by Muin J. Khoury, Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a comment
Categories genomics, newborn screening, public health

Why should early career public health researchers pay attention to precision medicine?

one main figure connect to three others

In a recent commentary published in the American Journal of Public Health, I had the privilege of working with a group of early career investigators to begin a conversation about the impact that the debate between the utility of precision medicine and public health approaches is having as we begin our research careers. To begin, let’s Read More >

Posted on by Caitlin G. Allen, MPH, Doctoral Student, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education Department, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a comment
Categories genomics, precision medicine, public health
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The Road Less Traveled: Genomic Epidemiology Capacity in State Public Health Programs

a road not traveled much with sequencing

In 2017, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) published its latest Epidemiology Capacity Assessment of state health departments’ workforce size and resources. The assessment inquired about the number of current and optimal epidemiologist positions; sources of epidemiology activity and funding; and states’ self-perceived capacity to lead epidemiology activities, provide expertise, and manage resources Read More >

Posted on by Muin J. Khoury and Marta Gwinn, Office of Public Health Genomics (OPHG), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a comment
Categories genomics, public health

The Impact of Family History on the Public Health Burden of Diagnosed Diabetes, Undiagnosed Diabetes and Prediabetes in the United States: Using Family History for Diabetes Control and Prevention

a multigenerational family with glucose strips and a person holding a glucose meter and DNA in the foreground

This blog post is a summary of our recently published paper in Genetics in Medicine. Type 2 diabetes is a major public health problem in the United States and globally. Among adults 20 years and older, 9.2% have diagnosed diabetes (DD), 3.1% have undiagnosed diabetes (UD), and 36% have prediabetes (PD), a major precursor for Read More >

Posted on by Ramal Moonesinghe, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity; Gloria L. A. Beckles, Division of Diabetes Translation, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Tiebin Liu, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities; Muin J. Khoury, MD, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionLeave a comment
Categories family history, genomics, public health
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Public health genomics information is now easily accessible online

screenshot of PHGKB homepage

The amount of emerging genomic information related to healthcare and public health is staggering. PHGKB is a one-stop shop for information relevant to genomics translation and population health impact for almost all diseases across the life span. MyPHGKB allows end users to customize their own PHGKB databases and type of information. The Public Health Genomics Read More >

Posted on by Wei Yu and Muin J. Khoury, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GeorgiaLeave a comment
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Integrating Genomics into Public Health Surveillance: Ushering in a New Era of Precision Public Health

a crowd of people standing on sequincing and DNA and data graphs

Public health surveillance has been defined as “the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, closely integrated with the dissemination of these data to the public health practitioners, clinicians, and policy makers responsible for preventing and controlling disease and injury.” Surveillance provides an essential scientific foundation for both clinical and public health practice. In Read More >

Posted on by Muin J Khoury, Director, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionLeave a comment
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The need for a next-generation public health response to rare diseases.

a crowd of people in grey and one individual standing out in color and double helices on the border of the image

In recognition of Rare Disease Day 2017, we republish, with permission, a modified extract from our recent commentary in Genetics in Medicine. Few public health research activities trigger stronger calls to public health action than research into the burden of disease. This research uses standard measures to quantify actual or potential losses that populations may Read More >

Posted on by Rodolfo Valdez (guest blogger), Scott D. Grosse (guest blogger), National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities & Muin J. Khoury, Director, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention4 Comments
Categories genomics, public health
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