Promoting Community Engagement in Genomic Research and Practice

This presentation will report on the “GenoCommunity Think Tank” national meeting that took place in St. Louis, MO, in September 2010. The goals of the meeting included: (1) sharing best practices for increasing community engagement in genomics; (2) developing strategies for promoting community-based genomics research in prevention research centers; (3) developing strategies for promoting genomic applications in community-local public health department practice; (4) sharing information on policy issues and how to engage community members in policy development; and (5) developing a permanent committee to further these activities.

125 people attended the meeting, half of whom were from grass-roots communities partnering in prevention research centers. Participants in 22 prevention research centers from as many states attended. The meeting was planned by a community-academic committee using community-based participatory research principles. Community and academic participants in prevention research centers and university-based genomics research centers shared strategies for developing partnerships and incorporating genomics in community education, prevention research and public health practice.

A post-meeting survey of meeting participants disclosed that over 60% intend to participate in genomics research and practice utilizing community-academic-practice partnerships and that a significant portion of participants intend to get involved in genomics policy-making. More community participants than academic participants are interested in incorporating genomics in prevention research. A permanent Special Interest Group on Genomics has been formed by community participants to advance the agenda developed at the St. Louis meeting. An interactive website is being developed to facilitate and support these activities.