Start
Nov 28, 2013 - 17:00
End
Nov 28, 2013 - 18:00
Venue
Creativity Hall (Room 118) Chemical Engineering
Event Type
Speaker
Dr. Jonathan D. Picker Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School.
Title
Applying the genome project practically to patient care
Abstract: With the realisation of the human genome project there has been a paradigm shift in thinking. No longer are we focused on decoding the genome but rather on using it. Superficially whole genome sequencing for everybody would seem to be the goal but reading the sequence is not the same as understanding it. Pitfalls in interpretation suggest a more refined approach is needed.About the Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Picker is an Assistant Professor in Paediatrics at the Harvard Medical School and Consultant at Boston Children's Hospital. With 25 years’ experience in Paediatrics and genetics Dr. Picker has focused his career very much across the interface of clinical care applied research and education. This is reflected in his academic position at Harvard Medical School as an Asst. Professor in clinical expertise with special interest in research in the department of Paediatrics. Dr. Picker’s research has crossed the span of assessing diagnostic tools in genetics to descriptive analysis of rare disorders to molecular neuroscience. His primary focus has been on the genetics underlying intellect and behaviour. This interest has been very much applied to clinical care and Dr. Picker has developed a number of innovative programs and web-based tools to assist primary care practitioners and their patients understand and use knowledge of rare disorders to significantly improve their ability to improve care. Indeed newborn screening protocols for inborn errors of metabolism developed by him for the New England Consortium of metabolic programs were used as a template from which the NIH developed national “ACT sheet” guidelines for paediatricians throughout the United States. This experience consequently was utilised when Dr. Picker was chosen to chair the National Fragile X Clinic and Research Consortium’s clinical committee to lead the development of accessible guidelines to help both physicians and families with the wide range of complex issues. Dr. Picker is now focused on using his wide experience of genetics to improve the quality of care for those affected by genetic disorders. While this may seem esoteric it is important to bear in mind that while individually rare collectively rare genetic syndromes affect 1 in 25 of the population and generally genes play a central role in over half of all paediatric admissions to hospitals; yet poor understanding of genetics is deleteriously impacting patients. In addition he continues to be involved in research and clinical care as well as being the director of Harvard’s fragile X program at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Picker has degrees in BMedBio (commend) IN Genetics and MBChB in Medicine from Aberdeen University UK and MSc in Genetics & Biochemistry and PhD in Molecular Biology from Newcastle University UK. He is a member of American Society of Human Genetics American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry New England Council of Child Psychiatry and New England Regional Genetics Group.