Competencies in Public Health Genetics
What do public health professionals need to know about genetics and genomics, and what are the skills they need to have? Consensus is emerging around a number of core competencies for training in the field. Several leading academic and governmental organizations working in collaboration have agreed that qualified public health professionals should be able to:
- Apply a knowledge of inheritance, including basic cellular and molecular mechanisms, to understanding a variety of rare and common health conditions;
- Apply epidemiological and statistical approaches to the study of diseases and risk factors with a genetic component;
- Identify interactions among genes, environmental factors, and behaviors;
- Understand how genetic principles and technologies apply to diagnosis, screening, and interventions for programs of disease prevention and health promotion;
- Incorporate genetic information into assessment, policy development, and quality-assurance activities;
- Address the ethical, legal, social, and financial implications that arise from the application of genetic principles and technologies in public health, in ways that avoid discrimination and protect people's privacy.
The Institute for Public Health Genetics, in collaboration with units of five other universities and several state and federal agencies, has been instrumental in developing this list of competencies, first published in Community Genetics (2001).