Dean's Message - November 2008
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Dear Colleagues:
What’s on my mind this month is the genomic revolution and personalized medicine. Congress recently passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which prohibits health insurance companies and employers from using genetic information in determining insurance eligibility or in hiring, firing or promotion decisions. GINA will likely dramatically increase the public’s willingness to undergo genetic testing, and, in the process, accelerate the unlocking of the promise of the Human Genome Project, which finished sequencing all three billion base pairs of the 23 human chromosomes in 2003.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine is poised to take full advantage of the fruits of the Human Genome Project. The University of Maryland Institute for Genome Sciences (UMIGS) is dedicated to applying genomic information to the advancement of human health. This institute, headed by preeminent genome scientist and microbiologist Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD, will have an eventual staff of about 150 and a research budget in excess of $50 million.
Closely allied with UMIGS are several existing genetics and genomics programs in the School of Medicine. One is our Program in Genetics and Genomic Medicine, led by Alan R. Shuldiner, MD, an endocrinologist nationally known for his work in the molecular basis and genetics of type 2 diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance. Dr. Shuldiner directs a large multidisciplinary team of investigators working to translate advances in the understanding of human genetics and genomics into practical approaches for preventing and treating a range of diseases.
The other program with strong ties to UMIGS is our cardiopulmonary genomics program, led by Stephen Liggett, MD, an internationally-recognized researcher who studies how naturally occurring genetic variations affect susceptibility to heart disease and asthma and response to drugs. Researchers in Dr. Liggett’s program will benefit from the tools and methodologies being developed by UMIGS researchers to better tailor drug treatment regimens.
Our global medicine research projects also will benefit greatly from these outstanding genomics resources and experts. For example, our Institute of Human Virology (IHV), headed by internationally renowned AIDS researcher Robert C. Gallo, MD, is aggressively pursuing the mechanisms by which viruses attack human cells and spread. Understanding a person’s genomic makeup may help the IHV researchers better predict how patients will respond to viral infections and treatments.
Similarly, researchers at our Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), headed by world-famous infectious disease and tropical medicine expert Myron M. Levine, MD, DTPH, will benefit by better understanding how a person’s genetic makeup affects his/her immune response to a particular vaccine. CVD investigators develop and test vaccines for a wide range of infectious diseases that affect millions of people throughout the world.
Supporting the work of genetics and genomic researchers throughout the campus are the Division of Biostatistics and the Program in Bioinformatics in the School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine. In addition, genomic researchers campus-wide have access to the school’s state-of-the-art Biopolymer/Genomics Core Facility, which provides advanced DNA sequencing and sophisticated gene analysis support.
We will soon be able to examine a person’s entire genome, or at least a large portion of it, and make individualized diagnoses and treatment decisions based on their unique genetic profile.
My vision is to have the School of Medicine become one of the leading centers in the country for genomic medicine. We boast unsurpassed expertise and technology, not only in genome sciences but also in our ability to translate genomic information into better diagnostic tests and targeted therapies for conditions that affect patients worldwide. Thanks to GINA, we can now accelerate that process and look forward with great anticipation to this type of personalized medicine becoming a reality in the not-too-distant future.
In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am
Sincerely yours,
E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland,
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine