NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The American Society of Human Genetics and The Jackson Laboratory have launched a collaboration to create educational programs focused on helping integrate rapidly advancing genetics and genomics innovations into healthcare practice.
The partners said on Wednesday that they aim to coordinate their educational activities and develop complementary programs, in part with the aim of avoiding duplicative courses.
The first of these joint JAX-ASHG educational programs will focus on teaching primary care physicians about cancer genetic testing and will launch this November at the new Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Conn.
"Human genetics and genomics are evolving rapidly and these advances are reshaping significant areas of the healthcare landscape and medical education," Jackson Laboratory President and CEO Edison Liu said in a statement.
Liu said to keep pace with new genomics developments the partners plan to "develop programs to educate groups such as students and trainees, primary care and other physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, and social workers."
ASHG and Jackson Lab said they have a history of working on education programs, independently and jointly, including an annual two-week course on medical and mammalian genetics in Bar Harbor, Maine that started more than 50 years ago.
"The faculty and members of our two organizations are the individuals conducting the latest research into genetics and human health and disease. This collaboration will allow us to combine their areas of expertise and reach larger audiences than ever before," ASHG Executive VP Joseph McInerney said.