Oral

We propose to host a 90-minute symposium to provide a basic overview of GWAS and discuss the opportunities and obstacles of using these techniques. Researchers will share their experiences and explore approaches to examining the patterns of genetic variation in diverse populations. This proposed symposium will: 1) provide a general overview of GWAS and the context to which these studies are used in the field; 2) discuss methodologic approaches that have been used and share some results from these efforts; 3) discuss opportunities and obstacles in analyzing GWAS; 4) discuss implications of these methods to public health; and 5) provide an opportunity for the panel presenters to interact with the audience through a question-and-answer session.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the Genome-wide Association Study (GWAS) design including the opportunities and challenges associated with this popular method. 2. Identify the strengths and limitations of GWAS 3. Name resources to facilitate a) generalizing GWAS-identified associations to diverse populations (PAGE - www.pagestudy.org); and b) the conduct of cross-study analyses (PhenX - www.phenxtoolkit.org).

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)