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Overview

Precision Medicine 2022: The New "Normal"? focused on novel applications as well as long-standing challenges of genetic testing, a measurement modality central to precision medicine.* While the clinical applications of genetic testing have broadened from a single gene focus to increasingly available whole genome sequencing and genome-wide risk scores, there remains much confusion around the appropriate evidentiary standards for their use in clinical practice and in R&D. This conference provides a platform to discuss foundational questions such as the nature of “normal” genetic variation in the context of both established forms of testing and cutting-edge technology. To achieve these goals, we convened expert scientists from academia and industry who are developing new applications and technologies of genetic testing as well as laboratory directors and individuals responsible for guidelines on variant interpretation. We framed these discussions around how best to improve precision medicine for all populations. As we have done in years past, we centered on elevating the patient voice and building patient engagement.

Date

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
10:00 AM – 4:05 PM EDT 

Agenda

Time Topic & Speaker(s)
10:00–10:05 AM Welcome — Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School
10:05–10:15 AM Opening Remarks — George Daley, Dean, Harvard Medical School
10:15–11:00 AM Opening Keynote — Jimi Olaghere, Patient Advocate and Tech Entrepreneur; CTX001 Recipient for sickle cell disease (@olagherej)
11:00–11:15 AM BREAK
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

PANEL 1 — New Applications & Technologies (e.g., liquid biopsy, new diagnostic applications)

  • Moderator: Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School
  • Haydar Frangoul, Tristar Centennial Children’s Hospital
  • Sabine Hadida, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (@VertexScience)
  • Jeffrey Venstrom, GRAIL (@GrailBio)
12:15–1:00 PM LUNCH
1:00–1:45 PM Keynote — Heidi Rehm, Massachusetts General Hospital and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (@broadinstitute)
1:45–2:45 PM

PANEL 2 — Polygenic Risk Scores

  • Moderator: Shamil Sunyaev, Harvard Medical School
  • Stella Aslibekyan, 23andMe (@23andMeResearch)
  • Carlos Bustamante, Stanford University and Galatea Bio, Inc. 
  • Alicia Martin, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
  • Aniruddh Patel, MGH
2:45–3:00 PM BREAK
3:00–4:00 PM

PANEL 3 — What Is Normal and What Is Pathological?

  • Moderator: Arjun Manrai, Harvard Medical School
  • Birgit Funke, Sema4 (@sema4)
  • Sharon Plon, Baylor College of Medicine 
  • Vandana Shashi, Duke University College of Medicine; Undiagnosed Diseases Network (@UDNconnect)
4:00–4:05 PM Closing Remarks — Arjun Manrai, Harvard Medical School

Location

Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115

Sponsors

The conference was sponsored by Merck and Takeda.

Sponsor Logos: Merck and Takeda

Questions?

Contact us at precisionmedicine@hms.harvard.edu.

*What do we mean by “precision medicine”? From the perspective of one of the members of the National Academy of Sciences committee that wrote the report, we mean taking an explicit multidimensional view of patients: not just one data modality such as genomics or environmental exposure. We argue that this perspective allows for more precise matching of humans to disease states (diagnosis), future disease states (prognosis) and appropriate therapies.