A Culture of Collaboration

It takes a team effort not only to make genetic discoveries, but also to translate them into products and practices that can help patients. And the University of Utah has shown that it has the right people and the necessary assets to make this happen.

Follow the links below to learn more.

Willard H. Dere, M.D., leads the University of Utah's Program in Personalized Health.

The University of Utah has a diverse and highly collaborative research community. Key resources for research at the University of Utah include the following:

• Health Sciences Center
• Department of Human Genetics
• Department of Population Health Sciences
• Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Department of Oncological Sciences
• College of Pharmacy (with 4 departments)
• Utah Population Database
• Clinical trials

Through its own hospitals and collaborations with other organizations, the University of Utah offers care for patients across the spectrum of health care.

• Top-quality University of Utah hospitals
  • Huntsman Cancer Institute
  • University Hospital
  • University Neuropsychiatric Institute
  • University Orthopaedic Center
• Collaborations with other area hospitals
  • Primary Children's Hospital
  • VA Hospital
• Genetic counseling services through Huntsman Cancer Institute and Women's Health Services

The University of Utah provides diagnostic services not only for its own hospitals, but also for healthcare providers across the country.

• The non-profit, University of Utah-owned ARUP laboratories provides genetic testing services and plays the pivotal role of translating genetic discoveries into new diagnostic tests. ARUP is connected to the University of Utah’s Department of Pathology.

Key technology and informatics resources include the following:

• State-of-the-art DNA sequencing facility and bioinformatics core
• USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery
• GApp lab in Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program

A number of centers and programs at the University of Utah bring experts together from multiple disciplines with the common goal of being able to better serve patients:

• The Center for Clinical and Translational Science focuses on bringing advances from cutting-edge research to patients.
• The Program in Personalized Health focuses on research and training that will bring individualized care to more patients.
• The Neuroscience Initiative brings together experts from multiple disciplines with the goal of understanding and treating brain diseases.
• Utah Genome project
• The Diabetes and Metabolism Center

Several programs have been designed to train health and research professionals in topics that relate to precision medicine:

• Graduate-level courses, Foundations in Personalized Healthcare (follow links for videos of some lectures)
• Certificate program in Personalized Health Care
• Masters in Clinical Investigation
• Training in the Genetics of Human Disease: TL1 through CCTS
• Certificate Program in Genome Sciences

Precision medicine brings great promise, but it also raises new ethical, legal, and social issues. Many experts at the University of Utah are actively working to address these issues:

• Bioethicists in the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities and the Utah Center for Excellence in ELSI Research are focused on protecting patients' rights.
• The S.J. Quinney College of Law is home to the Center for Law and Biomedical Sciences.
• In late 2015, the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the Program in Personalized Health at the University of Utah hosted and co-sponsored the symposium Frontiers in Precision Medicine: Exploring Science and Policy Boundaries (videos are available online).