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Director:
Howard Jacob, Ph.D.
Mission: To fundamentally change the way Children’s’ Hospital
of Wisconsin (CHW) and Froedtert Lutheran Memorial Hospital (FMLH)
practice clinical medicine by 2014.
The Individualized Medicine Institute (IMI) will be structured
with two arms, and will operate as a joint venture between CHW
and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), and FMLH and MCW, with
the IMI offering some common services, infrastructure and support
to both arms. The CHW-IMI joint venture has recently begun and
the FMLH-IMI joint venture will be initiated in the near future.
The IMI consists of four components:
Participant Recruitment Program
Directors: Ulrich Broeckel, MD and Ellis Avner, MD
The goal of the CHW-MCW Joint Venture is to build the infrastructure
to recruit participants for 10 disease programs in parallel over
three years. Ultimately, this program will then be expanded to
be a hospital-wide recruitment effort.
Participant recruitment is a major bottleneck for clinical research.
Between 50% and 75% of the costs for a clinical research program
go to recruitment of participants that meet the study’s criteria.
The PRP is designed to remove this barrier for our clinical and
basic scientists interested in clinical research at either the
clinical trials or basic science levels. The PRP is designed to
expand the Human Genetics Research Program, which is already in
place. This program will help both CHW and FMLH become known not
only as top notch hospitals but also as leaders in the field of
treatment development.
Education Program
Director: TBN
We need to educate practicing physicians about genetics and the
use of genetic testing in their offices. There is also a need to
establish a program to train genetic counselors and residents.
The educational program will support the Clinical Medical Genetics
(CMG) program by offering CME courses and online information for
physicians to get information to address patients’ and parents’ questions
regarding genetic diagnostics. This educational program will coordinate
the training of medical students, graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows; develop a genetic counseling course with Pediatric Medical
Genetics; develop a residency program; develop materials and courses
to be used for teaching; take part in community educational programs;
and coordinate and develop CME courses in genetics for outside
physicians.
Clinical Translational Program
Director: TBN
The Human & Molecular Genetics Center (HMGC) is beginning its
move to translational genetics by facilitating the development
of a Preimplantation Genetic Diagnostic (PGD) program in collaboration
with Pediatric Genetics. Drs. David Bick and Eduardo Lau of CHW
have joined HMGC, and the Center’s Director, Dr. Howard Jacob,
has become Associate Director of Pediatric Genetics. The program’s
goals are to develop a genetic program that meets the clinical
needs of the CHW affiliated hospital system and eventually of FMLH
as well; develop a CLIA approved diagnostics lab using genetic
tools; conduct research in the use of genetic tests for modifying
clinical management of disease; investigate how to provide genetic
counseling for common complex diseases; and develop a coordinated
plan for human studies with the recruitment center and HMGC.
Basic Research Program
Director: Howard J. Jacob, PhD
The research programs of the HMGC make up this arm of the IMI.
Overall
The IMI is to be an interface, and to assist both clinicians and
basic scientists in achieving their goals in a more efficient
and cost effective manner. Medicine needs to move into the future
and to use available technology to help bring treatment and diagnostic
schemes to the individual level.
For more information about the IMI contact Jodie Rady at (414)
456-7120 or jrady@mcw.edu.
Recent Publications
- Broeckel
U, Hengstenberg C, Mayer B, Holmer S, Martin LJ, Comuzzie AG,
Blangero J, Nurnberg P, Reis A, Riegger GAJ, Jacob HJ, Schunkert
H , A comprehensive linkage analysis for myocardial infarction
and its related risk factors. Nature Genetics 30: 210-214,
2002.
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