Articles on Genetics and Genomics for Clinicians
 Dr. Greg Feero, chief of the Genomic Healthcare Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, has authored a set of short, clinically relevant articles on genetics and genomics that are now available here for health care professionals.
2007-2008 Articles
2007
This Program Brought to You By
Get ready for a new round of discussions regarding advertisements with your patients: DTC marketing has entered the genomic age. January 2007
Dashboards, Detroit and DNA
This year has seen a flurry of national legislative activity pertaining to genetics in healthcare. Perhaps the most important is the genetic information non-discrimination act (GINA). April 2007
Gee Whiz What's a GWAS?
A
few examples of discoveries about the genetics of common disease that recently made
news seem. May 2007
At Your Next Job Interview
Residents of the United States are only partially protected from genetic discrimination by a complicated patchwork of state laws that vary widely in scope and effect. June 2007
Personalized Medicine With a Genomic Twist
Though we rationalize our medication choices to ourselves and our patients, in the end, much of how we prescribe medicine relies on trial and error. This is inefficient and, all too often, dangerous. July 2007
Inherited Cancer Syndromes in My Practice?
The disconnect between our perception of the prevalence of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer and the actual number of patients who are affected does our patients a disservice. Recognizing those at risk could truly save their lives. August 2007
Family History in a Flash
My Family Health Portrait can be completed at home by patients and can provide the health care provider with a bonanza of succinct, legible, organized family health information. September 2007
Sorry But It's Not Your Father's Genome
Our evolving understanding of the genome is leading to advances in therapeutic and diagnostic technology that even 10 years ago would have seemed more like something from Star Trek than a near reality. December 2007
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2008
Which Came First, the Cow or the Enucleated Oocyte?
As primary care providers we are frequently asked about issues that aren't strictly related to diagnoses and treatments, and increasingly food safety seems to be on the minds of patients. January 2008
Carrying Carrier Screening into the Future
Screening for pre-clinical disease is a core feature of primary care medicine. On a busy day, we usually do this without much conscious thought - for example, taking blood pressures or measuring developmental milestones. February 2008
Putting a Bug in Your Ear About Genetic Tests
A more humble area of "genetic" testing with clear immediate relevancy to the care of patients has been making quiet, but increasingly numerous, inroads into clinical medicine: nucleic acid-based testing for microbes. March 2008
Old Drugs New Tricks
The prospects for successful primary gene therapy for most disorders remain distant. However, remarkable gains - fueled by discoveries in genomics - have been made in understanding the pathophysiology of many genetic disorders, and are yielding therapeutic breakthroughs. April 2008
Good Times
The last two weeks of May 2008 will not soon be forgotten by the employees of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)or the larger genetics community. In that brief interval we celebrated both the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and mourned the news of the impending departure of the only director the NHGRI has known Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. As an observer might surmise, these landmark events were not independent, and only time will tell which will have a more lasting effect on the future of genomics in health care in the United States. June 2008
Melanoma
A small spot on the skin gone bad, melanoma strikes and too frequently kills young people; a seemingly innocuous primary lesion of sufficient depth can portent a dire prognosis. This year the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute estimate 62, 480 U.S. citizens will be given the diagnosis, and 8,420 will die from it. August 2008
Smoking
The burden of smoking on our society is remarkable. Estimates are that as many as 1 in 10 of all deaths are smoking related. What can genomics bring to bear on this issue?November 2008
The Long Arm of Your Chromosomes and the Law
A great debate is currently raging in the wider genetics community directly relevant to day-to-day clinical medicine. In the last three years the advent of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has facilitated the discovery of greater than 180 markers for risk of a growing list of common chronic diseases, including cancers, diabetes, coronary heart disease and Alzheimer's. December 2008
Breaking the Code
In a recent public lecture Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, former head of the NIH, and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center admonished the world to be a bit more rational about the near-term prospects for finding "a" cure for cancer. December 2008
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Last Updated: December 8, 2008
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