Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center has opened a Genomic Medicine laboratory to expand its use of advanced genetic testing that doctors can use to develop treatments tailored to individual patients. By pinpointing genetic variations related to a patient’s disease or disease risk, genomic testing leads to a more accurate diagnosis which may allow providers to choose a therapy targeted at the underlying cause of a specific patient’s illness.
Since early 2016, patients of the UVM Health Network with solid cancers - such as lung, colon and melanoma - have benefitted from genomic testing, which is only available at a limited number of academic medical centers in the U.S. The new lab will allow testing of blood cancers, cardiovascular disease and neurological conditions, among other illnesses.
Highlights:
- Genomic testing allows for “personalized medicine”.
- Testing will expand from cancer to other conditions.
- Availability of genomic testing is limited nationally.
“What was once thought of as lung cancer is now known to be many types of a disease that reacts differently to varying treatments,” said Debra Leonard, MD, PhD, chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UVM Health Network and Robert Larner, MD College of Medicine. “With the precision treatments made possible by genome sequencing, some of our patients have had their tumors decrease in size.”
“Genomic medicine provides the fundamental medical information we need to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which is critically important as we move to a health care model that emphasizes keeping people healthy,” said John Brumsted, MD, president and CEO of the UVM Health Network and CEO of the UVM Medical Center. “This is a great advance for the UVM Health Network and the patients and families we serve.”
“I want to congratulate Dr. Leonard and her team for successfully pursuing the goal of offering our patients leading-edge genomic testing,” said Eileen Whalen, MHA, RN, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center. “It’s this kind of dedication to improving patient care that has made us one of the top academic medical centers in the nation.”
“In addition to its expected benefits for patients, the establishment of this laboratory also provides an unparalleled opportunity for health care services research, including whether accessing genomic information leads to better outcomes for patients and more cost-effective care,” said Frederick Morin, MD, dean of the Larner College of Medicine. “The way we are bringing genome sequencing into clinical medicine should make UVM a model system for others to emulate.”
"Our sincerest thanks to everyone at the UVM Medical Center and UVM Medical Group who supported our vision to take this exciting step in the development of our Genomic Medicine program," saidNikoletta Sidiropoulos, MD, the program's medical director."Personalized therapy and prevention informed by genomics will become a significant part of medical care in the coming years, and we are determined that our patients will fully benefit from the promise of Genomic Medicine," she added.
The 5,000 square foot facility consolidates UVM Medical Center’s genomic testing into one clinical laboratory space specifically designed for this purpose. The different steps of genomic testing will be performed across three separate specially designed rooms to meet regulatory requirements.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Centeris a 447 bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center.The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member ofThe University of Vermont Health Network, a five-hospital system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve.
Source: UVMMC. 1.27.2017. For more information on Genomic Medicine at the UVM Medical Center, visit the website.
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