Personalized Medicine: Understanding and Utilization by Health Care Providers

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Personalized medicine is the use of an individual's genetic information to predict disease, avoid adverse drug reactions and tailor preventive and therapeutic strategies. It allows the classification of individuals into subpopulations that are distinguished by increased susceptibility to a particular disease or responsive to a specific treatment. Preventive or therapeutic strategies can then be concentrated on those most likely to benefit, sparing costs and adverse events for those who will not. Successful implementation of personalized medicine into the mainstream of health care will require a revolution in the knowledge and skills of primary care practitioners to include: 1) an understanding of the role of individual genetic variants in the etiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of common complex diseases; 2) the ability to effectively communicate personalized genetic information to patients and their families; and 3) the appropriate management of genetic variants. However the resources and opportunities for clinicians to update these skills and incorporate them into their practice are limited. We propose the development of an online program to address this educational and practice gap, for use within the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative (CPMC). The CPMC is a joint venture with the Coriell Institute, Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) and Cooper Medical Center. Its goal is to enroll 10,000 community residents into a prospective study to determine how to best implement the use of genome-wide genetic information in the management of common complex diseases. The CPMC is currently the only personalized medicine initiative being conducted in the United States within a rigorous scientific protocol that includes identified outcomes and quality control measures. A critical component of the success of this project will be the education of primary care providers about the genetics of complex disease, and the appropriate incorporation of individual genetic information into the care of their patients. This planning grant will build on the foundation of the recently launched CPMC and expand it to include the development of such educational tools and materials. We will capitalize on the expertise represented by these three institutions to achieve the following aims: 1. To create a Steering Committee composed of investigators at each site with expertise in genetics, genetic counseling, professional education, information technology, ethical issues related to genomics technologies and behavioral science; 2. To establish a Personalized Medicine Advisory Board, composed of providers, community representatives and patient advocates, to assist in all aspects of the developmental plan; 3. To develop, adapt and field test online educational tools for primary care providers (including physicians, physician assistants and nurses) to facilitate the appropriate incorporation of personalized medicine into their practices; 4. To design a comprehensive plan for the evaluation of the educational tools, including the acquisition of knowledge and skills, the dissemination of risk communication practices, and the impact of the communication of personalized genetic information on health behaviors.