Genetics and Health

Dr. Francis Collins on Personalized Medicine

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on August 4th, 2005

Dr. Francis Collins, a key player in The Human Genome Project, wrote about personalized medicine in a Boston Globe op-ed piece.

Here’s how he defines personalized medicine:

At its most basic, personalized medicine refers to using information about a person’s genetic makeup to tailor strategies for the detection, treatment, or prevention of disease.

And his thoughts on what we, the general public, will encounter in the genome revolution:

The public is also in urgent need of education and guidance. Even the savviest consumer is likely to have difficulty interpreting the onslaught of advertisements from companies trying to hitch their wagons to the personalized medicine star. These ads run the gamut from established medical laboratories offering tests for genes involved in susceptibility to serious diseases, such as breast cancer, to Internet opportunists making wild claims about being able to tailor diets or face creams to a person’s DNA profile.

There is no way for consumers to gauge whether a genetic test is scientifically valid, let alone whether it is appropriate for them or reimbursable by their insurance companies. The lack of oversight of such tests leaves the average person vulnerable to misuses or mispresentation of what personalized medicine truly is.

The Genetics and Public Health Blog can help you sift through the plethora of genetics information and relate it directly to your health and the health of the community we belong to. Along with you, I’ll be contemplating the answers to the questions Dr. Collins lays out:

• Will access to genomic technologies be equitable?
• Will knowledge of human genetic variation reduce prejudice or increase it?
• What boundaries will need to be placed on this technology, particularly when applied to enhancement of traits rather than prevention or treatment of disease?
• Will we succumb to genetic determinism, neglecting the role of the environment and undervaluing the power of the human spirit?

Pointer from The Personal Genome

Share This

Related Stories

Genetics Forecast from Francis Collins
Dr. Francis Collins on The Threat of Genetic Discrimination
Geneticist Francis Collins on NPR Fresh Air
Dr. Francis Collins Speaking at the University of Alaska Anchorage
Rockstar Geneticists

POSTED IN: General Genetics and Health