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Nation’s Most Comprehensive Whole-Genome Screening Program Will Advance Inclusive Precision Medicine Across UCSF Health
UC San Francisco scientists have launched a precision medicine initiative to offer free voluntary whole genome sequencing to all UCSF Health patients – making it the most comprehensive program of its kind in the nation.
The goal of the initiative, called the UCSF 3D Health Study (for “Data, Discovery, and Diversity”) is to build a genomic database that matches the diversity of UCSF Health’s patient population in order to broaden scientists’ understanding of the genomic variations underlying health and disease and help ensure that precision medicine at UCSF serves all people.
“We need to be able to identify and respond to diseases much earlier than we are now using preventive therapies based on deep understanding of disease biology. Central to that is having genetic data on a diverse spectrum of patient populations that can teach us how to keep everyone well rather than responding in crisis when they become ill,” said UCSF Chief Genomics Officer Aleks Rajkovic, MD, PhD, medical director of the UCSF Health Center for Clinical Genetics and Genomics, who is leading the new initiative.
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Recruiting diverse participants is challenging due to structural biases in the American health care and health research systems. This project is working with the Special Populations for Health Equity in Research and Education (SPHERE) Committee, which consists of diverse community leaders and a UCSF team with experience with diverse research participants.
“We are building a partnership with the 3D Health Study Team to help with recruitment of diverse patients and to learn how to address issues like mistrust, structural racism, and unequal access in research,” said Paula Fleisher, MA, program manager of SPHERE, senior staff of the UCSF Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Community Engagement and Health Policy Program and associate director of the UCSF Center for Community Engagement.
“It’s a unique collaborative learning process that we hope will ultimately lead to equity in health and healthcare through precision medicine for our diverse communities,” said Monique LeSarre, PsyD, executive director of the Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness and a member of the SPHERE Committee representing the African American Community Health Equity Council.
Rajkovic added, “Diversity is essential to the fabric of UCSF. Ultimately, underrepresentation of any group compromises the delivery of health care.”
UCSF Health patients may visit 3Dhealthstudy.org for more information or contact the study coordinators at [email protected].