Coriell Institute for Medical Research announced a partnership today in which Ohio State University Medical Center physicians are incorporating genetic risk information into their patients’ electronic medical records, through their participation in the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative (CPMC) research study. The goal of the CPMC study is to understand the utility of genome information in patient care and develop best practices for the field.
“By providing personal genetic risk data directly to both physicians and their patients, we have a unique opportunity to examine how personalized medicine can be used in the clinic,” said Michael Christman, Ph.D., president and CEO of Coriell. “This is an important step toward effectively integrating genome information into routine medical care.”
The Coriell/OSU Medical Center partnership brings together two leaders in the emerging field of personalized medicine: Coriell, a renowned non-profit research institute engaged in the study of human genetic diseases and translation into genome-informed clinical care, and OSU Medical Center, an institute dedicated to saving lives and improving the quality of life by translating scientific discoveries in the lab to a patient’s bedside.
The collaboration involves 30-35 Ohio State cardiologists and primary care physicians and 1,800 of their patients who have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure or hypertension. The patients’ genomic information will be entered into their electronic medical records and observations will be made as to how their physicians use the personalized genetic risk information to make clinical care decisions. The study will reveal whether genome-informed medicine has utility in practice, and how likely doctors are to use the information when it is made available to them.
We are providing physicians with the technology and educational tools to deliver care that is customized to the needs of each individual,” said Christman. Congestive heart failure will affect 5.7 million Americans and lead to 300,000 deaths this year. Hypertension affects nearly one-quarter of adults in the nation. As chronic heart disease patients are often treated with multiple medications, personalized medicine can help physicians make the best prescribing decisions and also identify disease risks, resulting in safer and more accurate care for patients.
In addition to monitoring physician behavior and knowledge, the impact of genetic counseling on patient behaviors will also be studied. While the CPMC offers genetic counseling to all participants free of charge (via phone and email), the Coriell/OSU Medical Center collaboration requires some participants to attend an in-person genetic counseling session. Participants will be asked to complete a series of surveys regarding the understanding of their risk, knowledge of genetics, what they did after learning of their personalized risk information, and with whom they shared their results. Differences between the two groups will provide insight into the role genetic counselors play as educators in personalized medicine.
The executive director of Ohio State’s Center for Personalized Health Care, and a co-investigator on the Coriell/OSU Medical Center partnership, Clay Marsh, MD, recognizes the need to engage patients to become more actively involved in their own healthcare management and sees the Coriell collaboration as that opportunity. “Overall, we want to improve people’s lives through healthcare that is predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory,” said Marsh.
About Coriell Institute and the CPMC Research Study
Coriell Institute for Medical Research (www.coriell.org) is an internationally known, non-profit, biomedical research institution headquartered in Camden, NJ. Founded in 1953, Coriell is the world’s leading biobank resource for biological materials, home to the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative® (CPMC®) research study, and an active player in the field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
The CPMC research study is examining the usefulness of personal genome information in health management. The forward-looking, collaborative effort involves volunteer study participants who submit a small saliva sample for genome analysis, answer online health questionnaires about family history, lifestyle and personal medical history, and in return, receive personal risk assessments for potentially actionable health conditions as well as responses to commonly prescribed medications. Coronary artery disease, lupus, melanoma, age-related macular degeneration, prostate cancer, iron overload, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes are currently reported. Future releases include genetic information related to medication response, such as how patients react to Plavix®, a commonly used drug for prevention of blood clots.
Coriell has established partnerships with several hospitals and health service providers, including Cooper University Hospital, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Virtua Health, Helix Health of Connecticut and Ohio State University Medical Center. Launched in December 2007, the study will initially enroll 10,000 participants, and also aims to utilize participants’ medical history and genetic data to discover unknown genetic sites that affect susceptibility to disease and response to medications. For more, visit: cpmc.coriell.org.
About OSU Medical Center
Ohio State University Medical Center, located in Columbus, OH, comprises six signature programs focused on cancer, critical care, heart, imaging, neurosciences and transplantation, where each program provides science-based and individually tailored patient care. Ohio State educates a large percentage of the region’s physicians and provides advanced training and continuing education for clinicians. For more, visit: http://www.cphc.osu.edu/.
