Genomics and Precision Health Blog – Archive Posts
Outsmarting Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens
The evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is occurring at an alarming rate and is outpacing the development of new countermeasures. —White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, September 18, 2014 In the contest between humans and pathogens, each faction has an evolutionary advantage: we have the brains to plot antimicrobial strategies but they Read More >
Posted on byEpigenetics and Public Health: Why We Should Pay Attention
In September 2014, one of us (MJK) spoke on the topic of epigenetics at the Annual Meeting of the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). ASTHO is a national organization representing public health agencies in the United States. ASTHO members formulate and influence public health policy and practice. In the midst of a Read More >
Posted on bySuicide, Family History, and Genomics
We must continue to search for new methods to effectively address the tremendous problem of suicide. Despite recent interest, genomics does not provide the solution today, but there is a lot that we can do now using an established public health approach to prevention. Millions were shocked by the news that comedian Robin Williams Read More >
Posted on byIs Genomics Widening the Schism Between Medicine and Public Health?
In 2007, we published a paper entitled: “Will genomics heal or widen the schism between medicine and public health?” We explored the long standing split between medicine and public health and how the emergence of genomics and other technologies can affect it. The “schism” was identified by Kerr White in his 1991 book in which Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentNobody is average but what to do about it? The challenge of individualized disease prevention based on genomics
Each week, Garrison Keillor shares with National Public Radio listeners the latest news from Lake Wobegon where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” The concept of “average” is deeply rooted in our scientific analysis of all health related traits such as height, Read More >
Posted on byGeography, Genetics and Leading Causes of Death
In the United States, the 5 leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, cerebrovascular diseases (stroke), and unintentional injuries. On May 2, 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an MMWR report on the annual number of potentially preventable deaths from these 5 causes in the United States. Read More >
Posted on byEvidence Matters in Genomic Medicine- Round 4: Where are we with Pharmacogenomic Tests?
Previously, CDC’s Office of Public Health Genomics announced a list of health-related genomic tests and applications, stratified into three tiers according to the availability of scientific evidence and evidence-based recommendations and systematic reviews. The list is intended to promote information exchange and dialogue among researchers, providers, policy makers, and the public. Initially the table relied Read More >
Posted on byReconciling the future of genomic medicine with its current reality: how do we get there from here?
On March 5-6, 2014, I attended the 7th annual Future of Genomic Medicine (FoGM) conference [PDF 778.13 KB], hosted by Dr. Eric Topol at the Scripps Translational Science Institute. The audience included more than 500 participants from various fields including genomics, clinical medicine, laboratory medicine, industry, economics, social and communication sciences, patients and the press. Read More >
Posted on byPublic Health Genomics to Save Lives: Available Tools, Actual Examples, Real Success
Announcing New Tier 1 CDC Public Health Genomics Toolkit and Video Resources Impact… Scalability… Innovation… Evidence-based interventions… Surveillance and evaluation… Partnerships… Timely information to health care, the public, and decision makers… Commitment… These elements are crucial to any public health accomplishment and are recurring themes in 2 new public health genomics resources. Nearly 2 Read More >
Posted on byIs Evidence-based Medicine the Enemy of Genomic Medicine?
A general practitioner recently writing in the BMJ, said that evidence-based medicine is polluted with “fraud, sham diagnosis, short term data, poor regulation, surrogate ends, questionnaires that can’t be validated, and statistically significant but clinically irrelevant outcomes”, all leading to “overdiagnosis and misery”. In more temperate tones, Goldberger and Buxton recently suggested in a JAMA Read More >
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