Driving change

Work led by Kurt Christensen was used to help develop patient education and consent processes for clinical genomic testing that explicitly address the potential for secondary findings. Updated policies facilitate the ability of laboratories and researchers to save lives by disclosing unanticipated - but highly actionable - genomic findings to patients and research participants. This work has been cited in guidelines on the matter, including:

• Anticipate and Communicate: Ethical Management of Incidental and Secondary Findings in the Clinical, Research, and Direct-to-Consumer Contexts (Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues)

The second Precision Medicine Diabetes Initiative (PMDI) Consensus Report and supporting systematic reviews, co-authored by Marie-France Hivert, were published in Fall 2023. This international effort conducted 15 systematic reviews to report on the current status of precision medicine for all types of diabetes, summarizing findings and proposing future directions for the field towards clinical applications.

Dr. Hivert organized four working groups leading systematic reviews regarding gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a topic not addressed in the group's first review:

• Refining the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Heterogeneous Contribution of Insulin Sensitivity and Secretion Defects to Gestational Diabetes Mellitus