SIG Genetics annual report

Prof Imran Rafi, convenor, SIG on Genetics reports:

Executive writing group

Drs Imran Rafi (Convenor, St George’s University of London, RCGP Clinical Champion Genomics) Judith Hayward (General Secretary, Health Education England Primary care advisor, RCGP Clinical Champion Genomics, GPSi Genetics), Professor Nadeem Qureshi (University of Nottingham Research Lead), Dr Michelle Bishop (Health Education England), Dr Rachel Joynes (RCGP Head of Clinical Innovation and Research) and Rebecca Twells (Wellcome Genome Campus)

Introduction

The genetics group from the perspective of WONCA has focussed activities undertaken by the UK members. There is a need to publicise the presence and purpose of the group world-wide.

Group membership

There will be dedicated time given to develop the specialist group. The aim in the first instance will be to identify regional WONCA leads. We are confident we could develop this network with contacts based in Canada, Holland and Australia. We will also ask out contacts in the UK to join the group. The executive group members have been very active and the following demonstrates our work: We will also look to develop links with younger doctors interested in developing links with WONCA as well as develop the membership which is very small at the moment.

We are working with the RCGP, Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, Health Education England, the National Institute for Health Research and Researchers for example Professor Martin Dawes from British Colombia who is a world leader in implementing pharmacogenomics into clinical practice.

 Activities planned and in progress: Working with the Sanger institute in Cambridge to produce workshops for WONCA international conferences in Berlin and Abu Dhabi in 2020 (see an introduction to this work in the fuller version in the Annual Report).

In Summary

There is a very active UK based group pushing forward and representing genomics in primary care. We are very keen to develop a broader base and our focus in the next two years will be to develop a world-wide base. We are happy to work with WONCA council in setting targets around membership and funding. We are also very excited by the involvement of the Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences Programme and are aiming to run workshops in Berlin and Abu Dhabi.

For more details of UK activities see the Annual Report

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