Diffusion and Use of Genomic Innovations in Health and Medicine: Workshop Summary

Until fairly recently, genetic information was used primarily in the diagnosis of relatively rare genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s Disease, but a transformation in the use of genetic and genomic information is underway. While many predictions have been made that genomics will transform medicine, to date few of these promising discoveries have resulted in actual applications in medicine and health. The Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health, established in 2007, held its first workshop to address the following questions: 1. Are there different pathways by which new scientific findings move from the research setting into health care? 2. If so, what are the implications of those different pathways for genomics? 3. What can we learn from the translation of other new technologies as we seek to understand the translation of genome science into health care? Information obtained from the workshop was then used to further discussion and exploration of the answers to these questions. This book summarizes speaker presentations and discussions. Any conclusions reported should not be construed as reflecting a group consensus; rather they are the statements and opinions of presenters and participants.