APHMG News & Updates

Central to the goal of achieving equity in healthcare is access to both services and information on medical options. With the recent events surrounding Texas law SB8, these foundational principles of equity are threatened for pregnant people considering abortions, with a disproportionate health impact on marginalized people of color, people of limited means, and other vulnerable populations who already are the most burdened. Importantly, these developments may also pave the way for wider restrictions on pregnancy termination and reproductive care throughout the country, making it a critical issue of social justice.

As geneticists, we recognize that reproductive care is healthcare and that pregnant peoples’ rights are human rights. As educators, it is our mission to train the next generation of providers, and these providers must be free to provide patient-centered healthcare of the highest quality that best suits the patient and their needs. Patient-centered care has long been a principle of genetics consultation, and in this climate, it is especially important that our classrooms and clinics serve to inform trainees about the ways in which the timing and approach to genetic services impact the ability of pregnant people to make informed decisions that best align with their personal situations. Notably, the vast majority of our trainees have never lived in an America without the protections of Roe v. Wade, thus it is the responsibility of those of us with perspective on the numerous harms that can result from the erosions of reproductive freedom to initiate these conversations with our trainees.

We have compiled a list of resources that can provide some tools to learn and teach about patient-centered care, intersectionality and its intensification of healthcare disparities, and a role for providers in patient advocacy. We hope these resources will help you get started on this critical call to action. Most importantly, we remain committed to working and learning together, and we welcome your thoughts and additional suggestions.

Yours in Solidarity,

Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD, President
Katherine M. Hyland, PhD, President-Elect
Cynthia M. Powell, MD, Past-President
Steve Moore, PhD, Secretary/Treasurer
Deborah Barbouth, MD, Council Member
Kathryn Garber, PhD, Council Member
Anna C.E. Hurst, MD, MS, Council Member

Resources:

• ELSI Friday Forum - Current Legal Challenges to Abortion: Implications for Prenatal Genetics
• Access to Reproductive Options After Prenatal Diagnosis—Patient Access and Physician Responsibilities: An Updated Position Statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (2019)
• You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Meera Shah, MD
• Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts, JD
• Project Inclusive Genetics: Clinical Decision-Making in the Prenatal Setting

The 2021 Healthcare Provider Genomics Education Week will take place June 7-11. Please share this event information with your non-geneticist clinical colleagues!

Panel Discussion Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing for Healthcare Professionals

June 7, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ET

Members of the Inter-Society Coordinating Committee on Practitioner Education in Genomics, Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing Project Group are hosting a panel discussion on Monday June 7th. Project group members will share tools and resources designed for healthcare professionals who do not have a background in genetics.

To register: https://ttuhscep.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4F0tsxBqT2W5o1fgI6Jh4w

ClinGen Somatic Cancer and VICC Virtual Molecular Tumor Board Case Series

March 23 (4^th Tuesday), 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET

All medical and healthcare professionals and researchers interested in understanding cancer genomic testing and somatic and germline variant interpretation methods. This series is presented as a collaboration between ClinGen Somatic and VICC consortia, and ACMG.
[https://www.acmgeducation.net/URL/ClingensomaticMarch23webinar]

LGG Molecular Mentored Case Studies | April 1, 2021 | 11:00 am – 5:30 pm ET*
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Mentored Clinical Cases: An LGG Alternative Certification Pathway Short Course

LGG Cytogenetics Mentored Case Studies| April 7, 2021 | 11:00 am – 5:30 pm ET*

Cytogenetics Genetics and Genomics Mentored Clinical Cases: An LGG Alternative Certification Pathway Short Course

*Bundle and Save - Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Case Studies - Trainees and ABMGG Diplomates Preparing for LGG Certification

The Undergraduate Training in Genomics (UTRIG) Working Group is pleased to announce that the Medical Student Genomic Instructor Handbook and Toolkit is here. This resource provides the materials and guidance needed to implement a flexible, modular, field-tested introductory genomics curriculum designed for integration into medical or other healthcare provider school coursework. As some of you saw when you had the opportunity to review the UTRIG materials at the 2019 APHMG workshop, they are great hands-on active learning modules that incorporate cancer genetics and genomics as their central materials. 

In conjunction, the Training Resident in Genomics (TRIG) Working Group has released updated online modules!  With COVID-19 necessitating use of more remote learning opportunities, these modules provide an enjoyable educational experience that successfully translates the in-person team-based learning workshop to an interactive virtual environment. They are not only a great learning resource for residents but for any healthcare provider interested in genomic medicine.   

All of these materials are free after a brief registration process.  

Please visit the UTRIG/TRIG website to download: 

UTRIG/TRIG website

TRIG and UTRIG are Working Groups of the Association of Pathology Chairs and made up of experts in medical education, pathology and genomics. To voice the perspective of undergraduate human and medical genetics educators, the APHMG representatives (Shoumita Dasgupta, Hana Anderson) and the ACMG representative (Rizwan Naeem, who is an APHMG member too) have been an active part of this collaborative effort by providing input based on their experience as undergraduate medical genetics educators.

Development was possible through an R25 grant from the National Cancer Institute.

APHMG members are encouraged to submit proposals for the upcoming 2021 Workshop in Kiawah, SC. 

Non-members may submit proposals for consideration. 

If your proposal is accepted for session presentation,

you must be an active member of APHMG to accept your session presentation time slot.  

Submit Now

Dear Colleagues,

I write to you today during a time of unprecedented loss. In the midst of a global pandemic, senseless deaths due to structural racism and police brutality continue. Our collective grief rages as our core values of equity and inclusion are challenged by events we see play out far too frequently, especially in the Black community, and most recently involving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

As our nation struggles to find our way out of darkness and towards a more just society, we scientists, clinicians, and educators seek ways to turn anguish into action. We must unite to condemn racism, but that response alone is inadequate. We must also empower our community to acknowledge privilege for those who benefit from it and to help disseminate tools to dismantle structural racism. Some of that will come in the form of the educational programs we lead. Geneticists are in the unique position of being able to underscore our common humanity with evidence from our collective genomic history. It is up to us to create inclusive training environments where these topics are explored and used to shine a light on systems of care in our country.

APHMG is in the midst of establishing a series of new committees in our organization, and we will be seeking volunteers soon to help us do the important work of outreach and engagement with genetics educators and trainees of color. In the meantime, we ask you all to carefully consider how your classrooms and clinics can promote the ideals of inclusion in order to work towards eliminating healthcare disparities. We are providing some Diversity Resources to help you get started on this critical call to action.

Most importantly, we remain committed to healing and learning together, and we welcome your thoughts and additional suggestions.

Yours in Solidarity,

Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD, President

Katherine M. Hyland, PhD, President-Elect

Cynthia M. Powell, MD, Past-President

Steve Moore, PhD, Secretary/Treasurer

Kathryn Garber, PhD, Council Member

Anna C.E. Hurst, MD, MS, Council Member

Hope Northrup, PhD, Council Member

APHMG is pleased to announce the launch of our new and improved website! We have even updated our logo to better reflect who we are.

The new website is hosted within our membership system, so everything APHMG will be easily accessible, including:

• ability to update your own member profile
• searchable member directory
• printable APHMG membership card
• improved access to member resources - no additional login required!
• instant online membership renewal, payment and activation
• ability to subscribe to our RSS feed for news updates
  
• APHMG mobile app - register for events, update your profile, search the directory, and more - all from your mobile device. Download the Wild Apricot app in the Google Play or App Store.
• interactive member map - view locations of members worldwide!
• Easier connectivity through social media - Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn