Behind the Scenes

At the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Genomics and Health Impact blog this week, Muin Khoury — who directs the agency's Office of Public Health Genomics — describes "a day in the invisible life of public health genomics." Khoury narrates a hypothetical workday for a fictitious woman, who, like most of the public, he says, does not "realize that public health is at work to help make sure that genomic technologies are used to benefit all people." For example, when the woman wakes up to hear the newscaster announce the day's forecasted air quality, she may not realize that beyond monitoring how pollutants affect one's physiology, "public health researchers are also studying how such levels are affected by genetic factors and are developing programs to cut down on pollutants based on such knowledge," Khoury says.