This project is a collaborative effort of faculty from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the Departments of Human Genetics, Medical Education, Community and Preventive Medicine, and The Morchand Center for Clinical Competence.

This R25 application will develop, evaluate, and implement an Internet-based education program specifically written to teach medical students about ELSI issues related to genetics, especially genetic testing and counseling. It will create a module of six lessons that will be available on the Internet for medical students to take at the request of a course director. Each lesson will utilize a clinical-case scenario approach and will include straightforward clinical scenarios involving patients and genetic ELSI issues.

We propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a web-based curriculum on the ELSI related to genetics for primary care residents in internal medicine and pediatrics. Over three years, we will build a web-based curriculum on ELSI issues related to genetics with a series of case-based modules. We emphasize the integration of genetic concepts into primary care practice, guiding residents to those concepts that build on established primary care practice, and those, which represent novel approaches to care delivery.

The goal of this initiative is to develop research ethics leaders in Southeast Asia to meet the emerging research and health system evaluation demands of societies undergoing rapid transition. Ethical behavior in healthcare-related research is a worldwide issue and concern. Currently, there remains no regional capacity to train emerging leaders to identify problems, analyze possible solutions, and apply ethical principles to meet their countries' challenges in research and evaluation.

Dr. Korngiebel's long-term goal is to become an independent researcher at the intersection of bioethics, informatics, and genetic testing. To work toward this goal, she will receive rigorous training that includes 11 courses supplemented by directed tutorials in order to complement her qualitative research skills with proficiency in genetics-related bioethics, informatics pertaining to Electronic Medical Record Health Information Technology, and quantitative data analysis. The research project will allow her to apply the knowledge gained through formal instruction.