DATE: October 22, 2008

CONTACT: Julie Eggert, 864-656-7938
jaegger@clemson.edu

WRITER: Ross Norton, 864-656-4810
rnorton@clemson.edu

Clemson hosts national conference on Health Care Genetics

CLEMSON — Scholars and health-care providers will come together this week at Clemson University for the first national conference on Health Care Genetics. The conference is sponsored by the Clemson University School of Nursing and the Greenwood Genetic Center.

The keynote speakers are Jean Jenkins, senior clinical adviser to the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Joseph D. McInerney, executive director of the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics.

The conference opens Thursday at the Madren Conference Center, where McInerney will deliver the address. McInerney has been involved in genetics education for 30 years, developing educational programs for audiences ranging from kindergarteners to college students, teachers to health professionals.

He recently worked on projects to develop interactive CD-ROMs on psychiatric genetics and on genetics and common disorders. He is working on a project that produced a live 90-minute television program on race, genetics and health care for continuing medical education.

Jenkins will keynote activities on Friday. When she was a doctoral student at George Mason University, Jenkins recognized the importance of advances in genetics research for all health-care providers. She has been motivated and committed to preparing others to become aware of, plan for and integrate genetic concepts into clinical practice.

Her address is entitled “DNA and You: The Essential Building Blocks of Health Care.”

Other presentations will explore hereditary diseases, ethics in DNA biobank practices, newborn screenings and issues in teaching genetics.

Clemson University announced in March the country’s first interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in health-care genetics.

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