PROJECT NARRATIVE Between 1907 and the mid-1970s, 32 US states passed and implemented eugenic sterilization laws that authorized the sterilization of people considered unfit. Our epidemiological, historical and mixed-methods analysis of over 32,000 eugenic sterilization requests in five US states (California, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan and Utah) identifies varying demographic patterns and documents changes in how eugenics laws were applied over time.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Research in reproductive genomics is shifting, from diagnostics to interventions in the human genome, epigenome, and microbiome. But we lack ethical guidance about how to conduct these human trials without causing undue harm, especially in regard to the women participants who are a necessary part of such trials. By building an ethical framework and a toolkit to guide researchers and institutional review boards, this project will create robust guidance for research in reprogenomics and a broadened consensus on these technologies among key professional bodies.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Though any single rare disease is by definition uncommon, together these diseases affect nearly 30 million individuals in the United States, two-thirds of whom are children, and contribute significantly to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Exome and whole genome sequencing have the potential to provide a diagnosis to an estimated 25 to 50 percent of those patients struggling with undiagnosed rare diseases, but the downstream costs and benefits of this testing beyond diagnosis remain largely unknown.
PROJECT NARRATIVE/ RELEVANCE OF PROJECT TO RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH Widespread utilization of genomic sequencing in medicine creates an urgent need to educate providers and patients. Currently, providers frequently misinterpret genomic information and patients often don't understand their own test results. In order to address this critical need, we propose to design and test multiple e-Health communication tools that will help providers and patients to better understand genomic data, lead to higher quality patient care, and facilitate genomic information sharing within families.
Project Narrative The potential benefits and harms of returning genomic results to children and their parents are matters of enduring controversy?especially genomic results for adult-onset conditions that are not medically actionable in childhood. Empirical data to support either position in this controversy are, however, lacking.
PROJECT NARRATIVE The University of Utah Center for Excellence in ELSI research explores issues relevant to population testing and screening for genetic conditions in the healthcare of women and children, as well as ELSI issues arising from testing and screening in the broader family context and responses to disabilities identified through genetic technologies. The Center supports cores in research, education and career advancement, and administration.
PROJECT NARRATIVE The central goal of the proposed research is to determine the cost-effectiveness of integrating whole genome sequencing into the care of healthy adults. We will assess the health impact and cumulative healthcare costs of participants of a randomized clinical trial of whole genome sequencing five years after they received results, and we will extend these analyses over patients' lifetimes using decision analytic models. Findings will inform development of clinical guidelines and reimbursement strategies to accelerate the integration of sequencing into medical care.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Health systems could work with genetic patients by directly notifying relatives who receive care in the same health system, but no U.S.-based care models have emerged and many questions with ethical and social implications remain. We propose a human-centered design and feasibility study of health system-led familial outreach and risk notification.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Our overall objective is to make progress toward mitigating the challenges that un/underinsured participants in the All of Us Research Program may face when they access care for medically actionable genetic research results. Un/underinsured patients are typically left of out advances in genomics because they cannot afford to follow-up on research findings in the clinical setting, and face myriad barriers to accessing specialized care for lifelong disorders (e.g.
Prenatal screening and testing technologies using genetic methods are rapidly expanding, offering increasing amounts of genetic information about the fetus. However, research shows that women from underserved populations are less likely to receive or accept prenatal genetic services, leading to discordant birth outcomes. We propose to explore the barriers to access and acceptance of prenatal genetic care among women from underserved populations.