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Vassy JL, Brunette CA, Yi T, Harrison A, Cardellino MP, Assimes TL, Christensen KD, Devineni P, Gaziano JM, Gong X, Hui Q, Knowles JW, Muralidhar S, Natarajan P, Pyarajan S, Sears MG, Shi Y, Sturm AC, Whitbourne SB, Sun YV, Danowski ME. Design and pilot results from the Million Veteran Program Return Of Actionable Results (MVP-ROAR) Study. Am Heart J 2024; 276:99-109. [PMID: 38762090 DOI: 10.1016/j.ahj.2024.04.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND As a mega-biobank linked to a national healthcare system, the Million Veteran Program (MVP) can directly improve the health care of participants. To determine the feasibility and outcomes of returning medically actionable genetic results to MVP participants, the program launched the MVP Return of Actionable Results (MVP-ROAR) Study, with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) as an exemplar actionable condition. METHODS The MVP-ROAR Study consists of a completed single-arm pilot phase and an ongoing randomized clinical trial (RCT), in which MVP participants are recontacted and invited to receive clinical confirmatory gene sequencing testing and a telegenetic counseling intervention. The primary outcome of the RCT is 6-month change in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) between participants receiving results at baseline and those receiving results after 6 months. RESULTS The pilot developed processes to identify and recontact participants nationally with probable pathogenic variants in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) on the MVP genotype array, invite them to clinical confirmatory gene sequencing, and deliver a telegenetic counseling intervention. Among participants in the pilot phase, 8 (100%) had active statin prescriptions after 6 months. Results were shared with 16 first-degree family members. Six-month ΔLDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) after the genetic counseling intervention was -37 mg/dL (95% CI: -12 to -61; P = .03). The ongoing RCT will determine between-arm differences in this primary outcome. CONCLUSION While underscoring the importance of clinical confirmation of research results, the pilot phase of the MVP-ROAR Study marks a turning point in MVP and demonstrates the feasibility of returning genetic results to participants and their providers. The ongoing RCT will contribute to understanding how such a program might improve patient health care and outcomes. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04178122.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason L Vassy
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA; Departments of Medicine and Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
| | - Charles A Brunette
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA; Departments of Medicine and Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Thomas Yi
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA
| | | | | | - Themistocles L Assimes
- Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA; VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA
| | - Kurt D Christensen
- Departments of Medicine and Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; PRecisiOn Medicine Translational Research Center, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA
| | | | - J Michael Gaziano
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA; Departments of Medicine and Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Xin Gong
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA
| | - Qin Hui
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA; VA Atlanta Healthcare System, Decatur, GA
| | - Joshua W Knowles
- Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
| | - Sumitra Muralidhar
- Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC
| | - Pradeep Natarajan
- Departments of Medicine and Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Division of Cardiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Yan V Sun
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA; VA Atlanta Healthcare System, Decatur, GA
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Acharya S, Preda MB, Papatheodorou I, Palioura D, Giardoglou P, Tsata V, Erceg S, Barbalata T, Ben-Aicha S, Martino F, Nicastro L, Lazou A, Beis D, Martelli F, Sopic M, Emanueli C, Kardassis D, Devaux Y. The science behind soft skills: Do's and Don'ts for early career researchers and beyond. A review paper from the EU-CardioRNA COST Action CA17129. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2023; 3:55. [PMID: 38689633 PMCID: PMC11058455 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.15746.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Soft skills are the elementary management, personal, and interpersonal abilities that are vital for an individual to be efficient at workplace or in their personal life. Each work place requires different set of soft skills. Thus, in addition to scientific/technical skills that are easier to access within a short time frame, several key soft skills are essential for the success of a researcher in today's international work environment. In this paper, the trainees and trainers of the EU-CardioRNA COST Action CA17129 training school on soft skills present basic and advanced soft skills for early career researchers. Here, we particularly emphasize on the importance of transferable and presentation skills, ethics, literature reading and reviewing, research protocol and grant writing, networking, and career opportunities for researchers. All these skills are vital but are often overlooked by some scholars. We also provide tips to ace in aforementioned skills that are crucial in a day-to-day life of early and late career researchers in academia and industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shubhra Acharya
- Cardiovascular Research Unit, Department of Precision Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, 1445, Luxembourg
- Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, 4365, Luxembourg
| | - Mihai Bogdan Preda
- "Nicolae Simionescu” Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Bucharest, 050568, Romania
| | - Ioanna Papatheodorou
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
| | - Dimitra Palioura
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
| | - Panagiota Giardoglou
- Developmental Biology, Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens, 11527, Greece
| | - Vasiliki Tsata
- Developmental Biology, Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens, 11527, Greece
| | - Sanja Erceg
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
| | - Teodora Barbalata
- "Nicolae Simionescu” Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Bucharest, 050568, Romania
| | - Soumaya Ben-Aicha
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, W120NN, UK
| | - Fabiana Martino
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, W120NN, UK
| | - Laura Nicastro
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, W120NN, UK
| | - Antigone Lazou
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
| | - Dimitris Beis
- Developmental Biology, Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens, 11527, Greece
| | - Fabio Martelli
- Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Milan, 20097, Italy
| | - Miron Sopic
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
| | - Costanza Emanueli
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, W120NN, UK
| | - Dimitris Kardassis
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, 71003, Greece
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation For Research & Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, 71003, Greece
| | - Yvan Devaux
- Cardiovascular Research Unit, Department of Precision Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, 1445, Luxembourg
| | - EU-CardioRNA COST Action CA17129.
- Cardiovascular Research Unit, Department of Precision Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, 1445, Luxembourg
- Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, 4365, Luxembourg
- "Nicolae Simionescu” Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Bucharest, 050568, Romania
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
- Developmental Biology, Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens, 11527, Greece
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, W120NN, UK
- Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Milan, 20097, Italy
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, 71003, Greece
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation For Research & Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, 71003, Greece
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Blasimme A, Brall C, Vayena E. Reporting Genetic Findings to Individual Research Participants: Guidelines From the Swiss Personalized Health Network. Front Genet 2020; 11:585820. [PMID: 33362850 PMCID: PMC7759560 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.585820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2017 the Swiss federal government established the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN), a nationally coordinated data infrastructure for genetic research. The SPHN advisory group on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) was tasked with the creation of a recommendation to ensure ethically responsible reporting of genetic research findings to research participants in SPHN-funded studies. Following consultations with expert stakeholders, including geneticists, pediatricians, sociologists, university hospitals directors, patient representatives, consumer protection associations, and insurers, the ELSI advisory group issued its recommendation on "Reporting actionable genetic findings to research participants" in May 2020. In this paper we outline the development of this recommendation and the provisions it contains. In particular, we discuss some of its key features, namely: (1) that participation in SPHN-funded studies as a research subject is conditional to accepting that medically relevant genetic research findings will be reported; (2) that a Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) should be created to support researchers' decision-making processes about reporting individual genetic research findings; (3) that such Multidisciplinary Expert Panel will make case-by-case decisions about whether to allow reporting of genetic findings, instead of relying on a pre-defined list of medically relevant variants; (4) that research participants shall be informed of the need to disclose genetic mutations when applying for private insurance, which may influence individual decisions about participation in research. By providing an account of the procedural background and considerations leading to the SPHN recommendation on "Reporting actionable genetic findings to research participants," we seek to promote a better understanding of the proposed guidance, as well as to contribute to the global dialog on the reporting of genetic research findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Blasimme
- Health Ethics and Policy Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Caroline Brall
- Health Ethics and Policy Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Advisory Group, Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN), Bern, Switzerland
| | - Effy Vayena
- Health Ethics and Policy Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Advisory Group, Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN), Bern, Switzerland
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Blasimme A, Fadda M, Schneider M, Vayena E. Data Sharing For Precision Medicine: Policy Lessons And Future Directions. Health Aff (Millwood) 2019; 37:702-709. [PMID: 29733719 DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Data sharing is a precondition of precision medicine. Numerous organizations have produced abundant guidance on data sharing. Despite such efforts, data are not being shared to a degree that can trigger the expected data-driven revolution in precision medicine. We set out to explore why. Here we report the results of a comprehensive analysis of data-sharing guidelines issued over the past two decades by multiple organizations. We found that the guidelines overlap on a restricted set of policy themes. However, we observed substantial fragmentation in the policy landscape across specific organizations and data types. This may have contributed to the current stalemate in data sharing. To move toward a more efficient data-sharing ecosystem for precision medicine, policy makers should explore innovative ways to cope with central policy themes such as privacy, consent, and data quality; focus guidance on interoperability, attribution, and public engagement; and promote data-sharing policies that can be adapted to multiple data types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Blasimme
- Alessandro Blasimme is a senior researcher in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-ETH Zürich, in Switzerland
| | - Marta Fadda
- Marta Fadda is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
| | - Manuel Schneider
- Manuel Schneider is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
| | - Effy Vayena
- Effy Vayena ( ) is professor of bioethics in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
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