News and Events
The Precision Medicine and Health Disparities Summit was held on Monday, March 27, 2017 at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Duluth. The workshop was designed to consider precision medicine in the context of health disparities, to introduce the intent and initiatives of the new Minnesota Precision Medicine Collaborative (MPMC), and to broadly discuss the potential for new research collaborations among University of Minnesota faculty, community partners, and healthcare systems within the state.
David joined the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences in February 2017. His research will focus on delivering innovative cancer trials to northern Minnesota and understanding the effectiveness and value of precision medicine in oncology. He completed his PharmD at the U of M and was previously assistant professor and clinical oncology pharmacist at the University of Utah and the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Fairview Health Services is working with a local genetics research firm to determine if DNA tests can steer patients to more effective treatment for high blood pressure. Researchers hope the genetic testing and customized treatment will result in more patients getting their blood pressure under control in less time. Read more about the genetic testing.
A new project titled "U-PGx" aims to make effective treatment optimization accessible to every European citizen. The U-PGx consortium will examine whether pre-emptive genotyping of an entire panel of genetic markers is cost-effective and results in a better outcome for patients. Read more about the project.
The Consortium, Center for Bioethics, and Joint Degree Program co-sponsored the Deinard Memorial Lecture on Law & Medicine on a topic and with speakers directly relevant to MPMC and precision med more generally.
This panel included leading thinkers from across the country: Jason Bobe (Mount Sinai), Ernesto Ramirez (formerly Quantified Self and now Fitabase), legal thinker Barbara Evans (who has written cutting-edge work on building data commons), and our very own KK Sinha. More info here: http://bit.ly/2fnvrEu
"Minnesota Precision Medicine Collaborative: Transforming health and advancing equity," was named one of eight U of M Grand Challenges Research collaboration grants to advance the research goals of the TC Campus Strategic Plan over the next ten years.
Development of a clinical precision medicine program in ovarian cancer as a paradigm for 21st century tailored health care solutions
Co-PIs: Boris Winterhoff, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s health, Andrew Nelson, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology; Joshua Baller, Supercomputing Institute; Constantin Aliferis, Medicine; Pamala Jacobson, Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
David joined the Department of Medical Genetics and Genomics at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in August, where he will be working with the department and pharmacy services to implement a clinical pharmacogenomics service across the health-system. He completed his B.S and PharmD at the U of M and has previously worked at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN and Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
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Pharmacogenomics
Conference
Genomic Testing to Individualize Drug Therapy
The 2018 Pharmacogenomics Conference on June 22 was at capacity with over 310 registrants in attendance. Topics included: cancer somatic mutations and selection of targeted therapies, emerging PGx areas. Read about the event here.