Helping Physicians Better Understand Genomics

A new initiative will include an array of efforts, such as a series of ongoing symposia and online community-building tools.

Published June 18, 2009

By Adrienne J. Burke
Academy Contributor

The Life Technologies Foundation has awarded The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) a two-year, $400,000 grant to help educate thousands of physicians and medical students in how to utilize new technologies and share cutting-edge research to improve healthcare and understand disease.

“There is a critical need to educate our physicians, both the current generation and the next, to use genomics to think about disease and treatments, and to apply the latest discoveries in this field to the understanding of human health,” said the Academy’s Scientific Director Stacie Grossman Bloom.

To do this, the Academy will build a live and virtual, global community of physicians, medical students and scientists, focused on the pressing issues and challenges of using new technologies in medicine. Organizers hope this effort can serve as a model of improving physician education and health outcomes in urban centers throughout the nation.

The grant was among three that the Foundation made to organizations working to advance science. “We are proud to support these innovative organizations that advance scientific understanding,” said Greg Lucier, Chairman and CEO of Life Technologies. “The grantees we have chosen are working to demystify science to the public by providing training and access for using biology to make life even better.”

The Life Technologies Foundation is a non-profit arm of Life Technologies Corporation, a global biotechnology tools company dedicated to improving the human condition.

Also read: Collaboration Is Key to Breaking New Ground in Genomics