3rd Annual National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference The Genomic Revolution: Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious Disease – Nov.10-13, 2005 Explore the Emerging Role of Public Health in Integrating Genomics in Surveillance, Out

genomics for public health, “public health genomics ” can be defined as “an emerging field that assesses the impact of genes and their interaction with behavior, diet and the environment on the population’s health. ” The priorities for this field are to: 1. Accumulate data on the relationships between genetic traits and diseases across populations 2. Use this information to develop strategies to promote health and prevent disease in populations 3. Target and evaluate population-based interventions The “public health system”, which includes federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health departments, and academic public health institutions, is beginning to work closely with basic scientists, professional organizations, consumer groups, and the private sector to “translate ” advances in genomics into actions to prevent and control infectious diseases at the population level (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Increasingly, genetic information from pathogens, the human hosts, as well as vectors will be used to understand the pathogenecity, natural history, and genetic susceptibility to infectious agents. These new types of data could have profound influences on how the public health system conducts its surveillance functions, acute outbreak investigations (Lingappa and Lindegren, 2003), and community-level programs for targeting interventions, such as vaccines and medications. A major challenge is how to apply this information on the population level t