Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Navigenics Partner to Offer Pathology Residents Personalized Genetic Testing.Residency Training Program Incorporates Personal Genomics into Physician Education BOSTON & FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Both an international and regional referral center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and and Navigenics, Inc., a leading personal genomics company, today announced a collaboration to make personalized genomics available to doctors in training. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC BIDMC Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ) has launched the Personalized Genomics and Next Generation Sequencing Training Program, a series of lectures, discussions and presentations designed to promote better understanding of personalized genomics and the next generation sequencing technologies available to today's healthcare providers. And, unique to the program, the participants will be given the opportunity to have their own genomes analyzed through Navigenics genetic testing Genetic Testing Definition A genetic test examines the genetic information contained inside a person's cells, called DNA, to determine if that person has or will develop a certain disease or could pass a disease to his or her offspring. services. "We believe that genetics and genomics will be critical to the future of health care," said Mark Boguski, M.D., Ph.D. of BIDMC's Department of Pathology and the Center for Biomedical Informatics Biomedical informatics is a term used to describe the broad discipline that encompasses such subdomains as bioinformatics, clinical informatics, public health informatics, etc, and is most commonly used in this way in the USA[1]. at Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. It is a prestigious American medical school located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. . "Training our residents on the leading genetic services and technologies will be essential to this future, and we are excited to be in the vanguard of a growing effort to incorporate genetics into medical education nationwide." BIDMC Pathology residents who choose to undergo personalized genetic testing will receive important insights into their personal genetic health - including their predisposition for developing health conditions such as type 2 diabetes type 2 diabetes n. See diabetes mellitus. , cancer, heart attack, and celiac disease celiac disease: see sprue. celiac disease or nontropical sprue Digestive disorder in which people cannot tolerate gluten, a protein constituent of wheat, barley, malt, and rye flours. . Working with one of Navigenics' board-certified genetic counselors, the pathology residents will gain firsthand experience interpreting genomic information and understanding its correlation with related personal medical and health information. Specifically, BIDMC hopes that this experience with personal genomics combined with the broad educational program will help its medical trainees: * Understand how personalized genomics might improve the understanding and management of human health and disease * Understand standards of scientific evidence applied to gene-disease associations and different approaches to risk assessment * Become familiar with the educational and informational resources for personalized genomics and its potential * Understand the issues related to the evaluation of direct-to-consumer genotyping services * Become familiar with the interpretation of genomic information and its correlation with related personal medical and health information "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a leader in clinical and educational excellence," noted Jonathan Lord, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Navigenics. "With this progressive program they are setting a precedent for genetics education for the physicians of tomorrow, and we are thrilled to be a part of this pioneering effort." ABOUT NAVIGENICS Navigenics, Inc. is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. based in Foster City, Calif. The company was founded by David Agus, M.D. and Dietrich Stephan, Ph.D., with the goal of improving health outcomes in individuals across the population. Navigenics educates and empowers individuals and their physicians with knowledge of their genetic predispositions, and then motivates them to act on the information to prevent the onset of disease, achieve earlier diagnosis, appropriately manage disease, or otherwise lessen its impact. Navigenics' lead investors are Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Sequoia Capital and MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures. More information can be found at www.navigenics.com. ABOUT BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks in the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is a clinical partner of the Joslin Diabetes Center Joslin Diabetes Center is the world’s largest and most respected diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Centeris the largest National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the nation. Founded in 1998, DF/HCC is an inter-institutional research enterprise that unites all of the cancer research efforts of the Harvard affiliated community. . BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are a member and currently champions of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. . For more information, visit www.bidmc.org. |
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