Message from the Director
Ask Big
Huntington F. Willard, PhD
After nearly four and a half years here, I continue to be impressed by one feature in particular about Duke that distinguishes it from many other institutions – its willingness to continually evaluate itself and, where necessary, re-invent itself in an effort to emerge as a stronger institution, better suited for the challenges of the day. Sometimes that self-evaluation takes place very much in the public eye; other times, it occurs quietly in the Allen Building, in offices, in cafés, or in class- rooms around campus.
"...there is currently no better or more pressing opportunity to "Ask Big" than genomic medicine and its effective translation into clinical practice in the context of personalized medicine."Notable among various such exercises, Duke's strategic planning process is Exhibit A. Duke, of course, is not alone among colleges and universities in having strategic plans; what is exceptional here is that Duke actually pays attention and makes real and sometimes bold efforts to implement them.
We should know. The IGSP itself was created as a direct by-product of the last strategic plan in 2000. It was born out of a conviction that scientific advancement, as a result of the Human Genome Project, would require more than just exceptional science carried out within the confines of traditional disciplines – it would require exploration and scholarship carried out at the intersection of traditional disciplines in the life and health sciences, social sciences and engineering, embedded in a thorough discussion of the relevant social, ethical, legal and public policy issues. As we've come to call it, that's the Genome Revolution.
During the most recent strategic planning effort – and consistent with our interdisciplinary origins – the IGSP set as our overarching goal to achieve national prominence as a leading academic institute that addresses in a balanced, interdisciplinary and integrated manner both genome discovery and the translation of those discoveries into useful advances for society. Not headlines or high ratings simply for the sake of headlines and ratings, but widespread recognition of Duke's (and the IGSP's) strengths in establishing areas of real leadership in research, education, and translation.
Regular readers of GenomeLIFE will have recognized by now that the hallmark of the genomics era in science is the ability to address significant questions in biology and medicine in a comprehensive, high-throughput and data-intensive manner.
Consistent with this, the IGSP has chosen a number of major, potentially transforming interdisciplinary programs that involve significant partnerships with multiple groups across the University and the Health System and will attract the attention and passion of a broad cross-section of faculty and students, building on the strengths and synergies of both genome science and policy at Duke.
As outlined in the lead article in this issue, there is currently no better or more pressing opportunity to "Ask Big" than genomic medicine and its effective translation into clinical practice in the context of personalized medicine. This project begins with scientists, engineers, and health care professionals at the Medical Center, but will also require faculty and students with expertise in health economics, health policy, statistics, decision-making, intellectual property, sociology,technology and information science.
Our purposeful and strategic focus on translating the findings from genome discovery into medically useful tests, guided by input in genome ethics and policy, is unique among national genome efforts. Our efforts are facilitated by the overall excellence of the Duke University Health System, by the establishment of the new Duke Translational Medicine Institute, by the compactness of the Duke campus, and by Duke'ssignature support for interdisciplinarity.
At the translational end of such a project, we will need new community-based models for widespread implementation and testing of personalized medicine in the clinical setting. We will need to cultivate broad institutional awareness, understanding, and commitment to the implementation of personalized medicine models and methods; to promote tests of the model in selected disease areas; and to gather data on health outcomes, financial impact, and overall satisfaction among both health professionals and patients.
Such ambitious strategic goals will not come without challenges. How will gene expression profiling, genome sequencing and other tests yet to emerge from the genome sciences make their full mark, when, as we are constantly reminded, much of modern medicine is still trying to figure out when to take aspirin and how to convince patients to take it?
No one said it was "ask small" or "ask easy."
Huntington F. Willard
Director