Learn About Personalized Medicine and the Genetic Revolution

Personalized medicine. Precision medicine. Individualized medicine. Customized medicine. Targeted medicine. All buzzwords of recent years that excite, confuse and infuriate the public, researchers and healthcare professionals. Broadly speaking, these terms all refer to the idea of tailoring treatment to individual patients based on their genetic code.

What does it all mean, and why should you care?

The free online course “Myths and Realities of Personalized Medicine: the Genetic Revolution” discusses both the hype and hope surrounding the genetic revolution and personalized medicine.

Myths and Realities of Personalized Medicine: the Genetic Revolution – Course Content

The impact of personalized medicine on clinical practice will likely yield significant benefits for patients, yet it raises a number of serious ethical and legal issues for health professionals, patients and the community. In this course you will learn about personalized medicine and the impact that our enhanced understanding of genetics has on modern medicine and society. Topics covered include:

What causes disease and development of personal traits – our genes or our environment?
Basic medical genetics, and how recent technological and scientific advances have heralded the advent of the genetic revolution;
The global approach and impact of these advances;
The concept of risk and multifactorial disease;
Examples of genes that pre-dispose patients to specific diseases;
Genetic testing and genetic counseling;
The use of personalized medicine today;
The apparent delay between research findings and translation to the clinic;
The rationale of medical patents, clinical trials, drug approval and regulation, and how these differ in various parts of the world;
The legal and ethical issues surrounding genetic testing and personalized medicine.

Summary of Main Course Features

Educators: Caroline Ford, Orin Chisholm, Rachel Williams and Sheri Nixdorf
Publisher: University of New South Wales
Duration: 5 weeks x 3 hours per week
Start Date: 19 September, 2016
Certificates available