"Making Room at the Table for Social/Behavioral Science in Genomic Translation"

The Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) and Institute for Computational Biology (ICB) will host a talk by Colleen McBride, the Grace Crum Rollins Chair in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at Emory University. McBride will present "Making Room at the Table for Social/Behavioral Science in Genomic Translation" Wednesday, May 9, at 9 a.m. in the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Research Building auditorium (Room 1413).

About the talk

The past decade has witnessed rapid advances in human genome sequencing technology and understanding of the role of genetic and epigenetic alterations in disease development. These advances have raised hopes that such knowledge could lead to population health benefits à la precision medicine and public health. Yet genomic discovery has vastly outpaced translation of new knowledge toward tangible health benefits. Efforts to apply genomics for clinical and population health will undoubtedly only be realized through interdisciplinary collaborations that include the social and behavioral sciences. Improvements in research recruitment, identification of families at highest disease risk, adherence to life-saving preventions, and the development of sustainable genomics-informed health care all could be accelerated by evidence-based social and behavioral science. McBride's research focuses on innovative public health interventions to promote risk-reducing behaviors, specifically using genetic information to motivate healthy behaviors. Genetic information, scientists believe, eventually will allow lifestyle interventions to be personalized to make compliance with healthy behaviors easier. McBride’s presentation will focus on innovative published and in-process research related to these challenges and highlight future directions for the field.

About the speaker

Prior to joining Emory University, McBride was with the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health, where she served as founding chief and senior investigator of the Social and Behavioral Research Branch. She has held academic positions at the University of Washington as well as Duke University Medical Center, where she served as chief of the Division of Prevention Research in the Department of Community and Family Medicine. At Duke, she was director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program. She has held adjunct faculty appointments in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

About the series

The PRCHN Seminar Series is open to the public and takes place on the second Wednesday of every month. This month's joint seminar with the ICB will be held from 9 to 10:15 a.m. in the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Research Building auditorium (Room 1413). Free parking is available for non-CWRU attendees in the Health Science Parking Garage, Lot 55. A light breakfast will be served at 8:30a.m. Learn more about the series at prchn.org/PRCSeminarSeries.aspx. Contact Susan Petrone at smp146@case.edu for more information.