Public Health Genomics and Global Health

Thursday, April 26, 2012: 11:00-12:30
A: Halfdan T. Mahler Hall (Millennium Hall)
Moderators:
Elena Ambrosino, Maastricht University, Netherlands and Abraham Assefa, Armature Hassan Research Institute (AHRI), Ethiopia
Global Health is the health of populations in the global context, transcending the perspectives and concerns of individual nations. In the last 100 years, Global Health greatly benefited from innovations in science, resulting in better health and rise in life expectancy worldwide. Science is indeed internationally endorsed as the largest contributor towards reduced mortality in the late 20th century, therefore investing in science is an effective strategy to improve population health. One of the emerging fields in science is Genomics, the comprehensive examination of an organism’s genome and its interaction with the environment. Genomics is a rapidly growing discipline, constantly generating new information, and its role to meet the Global Health needs was even highlighted by the WHO in its report “Genomics and World Health”. The use of Genomics and the effective and responsible translation of genome-based information and technologies into Public Health policy and health services to benefit population health is defined Public Health Genomics (PHG). Genomic research and its translation into PHG have the potential to benefit health in both the developed and developing world. Furthermore, genome-based knowledge and related technologies reshape Public Health research, policy-making and practice in a fundamental way. Indeed, a comprehensive model of future healthcare taking into account integrative genomics alongside with environmental, social and life style factors will become essential to enable targeted strategies in prevention, early detection and treatment of disease. Nevertheless the full potential of PHG has yet to be shown and, to this point, all stakeholders are struggling to translate the emerging knowledge into Public Health. This session aims at offering examples of Genome-based application to benefit Public Health and, by that, showing the potential of PHG. Different applications of Genomics will be introduced and research and experiences form different settings will be presented.
Genomics and Health Disparities: Challenges and Opportunities
Damali N. Martin, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA
Confounding Factors in Practice of Personalized Medicine
K. Satyamoorthy, Manipal Life Sciences Center, Manipal University, India
Immunogenetics of Chlamydia trachomatis infections: genetic profiling of subfertility patients to assess tubal pathology
Elena Ambrosino, Maastricht University, Netherlands; Servaas A. Morré, Vrije Universiteit , Netherlands
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