Pilot 3
Genetics Equity: Education, Research, and Policy Outreach Pilot Project
(T Citrin JD PI, S. Kardia PhD Co-PI)
(2-year pilot)
The goal of this pilot project is to develop educational and outreach materials focused on the topic of gene-environment interactions and health disparities for minority communities and advocacy groups.
As a joint venture between our Michigan Center for Genomics & Public Health (MCGPH), the Public Health Genetics Program, and the Life Sciences & Society Program, we are in the process of creating genetics educational materials and case studies for the general public. We have recently established a partnership with the National Human Genome Center at Howard University and the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies to create a genetics and health disparities policy network called the Genetics Equity Network.
This pilot project will build on these initiatives. The pilot project we propose will:
- develop educational materials for minority communities on gene-environment interactions affecting health disparities, especially hypertension disparities, and
- work with minority advocacy groups to incorporate this knowledge into assessments and proposals of policies to reduce health disparities.
We will develop 12 animated, interactive educational modules which demonstrate gene-environment interactions through case studies of relevance to minority communities. Case studies will be focused on gene-drug, gene-lifestyle, gene-diet, and gene-social stress that affect hypertension risk and control. These educational materials will be placed on a website that already houses the high school genomics curriculum being developed through a separate NSF educational partnership grant. We will distribute these materials through CDs to 50 minority advocacy groups identified through a kick-off conference for the Genetics Equity Network. Members of each group will be asked to evaluate them for content, clarity, and meaningfulness to the general public. We will then publicize and disseminate these materials to community groups (including groups connected to our Jackson partners), to state departments of health, to the CDC Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention, and to other interested EXPORT Centers. We note that this pilot is intimately linked to Project 2.