Genomes in Everyday Medicine
- Speaker
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Nancy J. Cox, Ph.D.Director, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute
Director, Division of Genetic Medicine
Mary Phillips Edmonds Gray Professor of Genetics, Vanderbilt University
Presidential Lectures are free public colloquia centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite those interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.
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As genomic science becomes a more common partner to the practice of medicine, genomic discoveries in medicine are likely to accelerate. Greater volumes of genome data create new opportunities for discovery research in medicine. Pharmacogenomics, sequencing of N=1 patients with unusual constellations of serious symptoms and cancer genomics, for example, have been leading edges of translational genomics. Patients are now receiving risk predictions for common, later-onset diseases in the context of current studies. Development of new drug targets and large-scale drug repurposing studies now include substantial genomic input as well. Upcoming opportunities for translation will also focus on improving biomarkers for understanding disease risk and progression by creating new kinds of -omics biomarkers. Additionally, opportunities will arise for reducing “institutionalized” health inequities created in part by long-standing reference ranges for commonly ordered laboratory tests that are poorly calibrated for the genetic diversity of the populations being treated.
In this lecture, Nancy Cox will use examples from recent publications and new unpublished studies to highlight new ways that genetics is likely to be used in everyday medicine to improve healthcare.
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About the Speaker
Cox earned a B.S. in biology from the University of Notre Dame in 1978, a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from Yale University in 1982. She did postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis from 1982 to 1985 and at the University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 1987. She went on to join the University of Chicago, where she spent 28 years as a faculty member in the departments of medicine and human genetics. She was recruited to Vanderbilt University in 2015 as the inaugural director of the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute and division director for genetic medicine. Cox is a quantitative human geneticist with a long-standing research program devoted to discovering and understanding the genetic component to common human diseases.