NEWS

UNC chosen for one of nation’s three centers of excellence for genomics and public health

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health has been selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the site of one of the nation’s three centers of excellence for genomics and public health.

The North Carolina Center for Genomics and Public Health was awarded a three-year cooperative agreement for $895,208 and will be housed in the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, a unit of the School of Public Health.

Genomics is the study of how inherited genetic factors influence human health and disease.

The center’s mission will be to provide technical assistance to the public health community through strategic planning, cost-benefit analyses and determination of how genomics can be incorporated into practice. The center will convene working groups to review current research, focusing especially on the area of cancer genetics. Research conducted at the center will be shared with public health practitioners and students through new courses and seminars delivered through traditional and distance-learning formats.

Principal investigators for the center are Dr. Robert Millikan, an associate professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, who will serve as scientific coordinator; and H. Pennington Whiteside, deputy director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, who will serve as the practice coordinator.

"This is exciting territory for science and public health and should have a huge impact on disease prevention in North Carolina in the years ahead," Millikan said. "Part of our center’s mission is to help ensure that genetics information is used wisely and that we carefully weigh the costs and benefits of genetics research in light of other health care and budget priorities in the state of North Carolina."

The center’s placement at UNC’s School of Public Health is a good fit, Whiteside said.  "The North Carolina Institute for Public Health, through its ongoing workforce development activities with the public health community, is the natural vehicle for helping bring the message of genomics to frontline workers," Whiteside said. "We are looking forward to being a part of this exciting program."

The CDC selected the School of Public Health, in part, because of recent commitments to research in genomics at UNC, including the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences headed by Dr. Terry Magnuson, Sarah Graham Kenan professor and chairman of the department of genetics in the School of Medicine.

The other two centers of excellence for genomics and public health were awarded to the University of Michigan and the University of Washington. Each center will focus on different diseases and their genetic influences. UNC’s center will concentrate on cancer prevention research, with much of its attention initially focused on colon cancer.

The center is part of a collaborative effort at UNC to be at the forefront of discussions on how genomic information will be used in the future to fight disease and affect other aspects of human life. UNC has committed at least $245 million over the next decade to this emerging field. The campuswide initiative, representing public and private investments, will allow the university to be a driving force in determining how the genomic revolution will change the way human diseases are treated, drugs are designed and crops are grown.

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Note: Millikan can be reached at (919) 966-7437 or bob_millikan@unc.edu. Project director Tejinder K. Rakhra-Burris is available for comment at (919) 843-3412 or teji_rakhraburris@unc.edu

North Carolina Institute for Public Health contact: Bev Holt at (919) 966-6274 or bev_holt@unc.edu

School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz at (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine at (919) 962-8415