FUTURE LEADERS IN THE GENOMIC WORKFORCE
Jacob Greenway with Anna Hurst , MD , MS , presenting his summer AGHI internship project at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics 2023 Clinical Genetics Meeting
After completing his summer AGHI internship , Jacob expressed interest in understanding an individual ’ s pathogenesis and having the ability to offer precision medical care based on his understanding of genomics . For people seeking a medical diagnosis – often having sought answers for years – Jacob believes that genomic medicine can shorten the length of time to diagnosis , preventing delays in treatment and reducing the financial and health care burden on the patient and the health care system . For the general population , Jacob shares a quote from Benjamin Franklin – “ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ” – as evidence for the need to improve genetic screening for patients , which often can prevent the onset of disease in individuals and even generations of family members .
Jacob shares that his summer internship allowed him to have an immersive learning experience that will be helpful when he becomes a practicing physician .
He understands the importance of knowing when a patient may need genetic testing , how to explain this type of medical test to his future patients , and how to access appropriate testing when needed . “ These are very important skills for informing a medical workforce ,” Jacob says . “ These are things we will experience daily in our medical practice .” Jacob later presented his work as an abstract at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics annual national meeting in Salt Lake City , Utah . Dr . Hurst shares , “ It is wonderful that AGHI can support student education through projects like Jacob ’ s . AGHI is a large , multi-faceted program , but there are countless opportunities for students interested in genomics to carve out a smaller area of focus during a discrete block of time . In a short summer , Jacob was able to design a project and answer an important question about how data can impact health care .” aghi . org 11