Browsing by Author "Wynn, Julia"

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    Development of Competency-based Online Genomic Medicine Training (COGENT)
    (Taylor & Francis, 2023) Haga, Susanne B.; Chung, Wendy K.; Cubano, Luis A.; Curry, Timothy B.; Empey, Philip E.; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S.; Mangold, Kara; Miyake, Christina Y.; Prakash, Siddharth K.; Ramsey, Laura B.; Rowley, Robb; Rohrer Vitek, Carolyn R.; Skaar, Todd C.; Wynn, Julia; Manolio, Teri A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    The fields of genetics and genomics have greatly expanded across medicine through the development of new technologies that have revealed genetic contributions to a wide array of traits and diseases. Thus, the development of widely available educational resources for all healthcare providers is essential to ensure the timely and appropriate utilization of genetics and genomics patient care. In 2020, the National Human Genome Research Institute released a call for new proposals to develop accessible, sustainable online education for health providers. This paper describes the efforts of the six teams awarded to reach the goal of providing genetic and genomic training modules that are broadly available for busy clinicians.
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    Ethical conflicts in translational genetic research: lessons learned from the eMERGE-III experience
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2020-06-18) Halverson, Colin M. E.; Bland, Sarah T.; Leppig, Kathleen A.; Marasa, Maddalena; Myers, Melanie; Rasouly, Hila Milo; Wynn, Julia; Clayton, Ellen Wright; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Purpose The Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Consortium integrated biorepository-based research with electronic health records (EHR) to return results from large-scale genetic tests to participants and uploaded those data into the EHR. This article explores the ethical issues investigators encountered in that process. Methods We conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews with study personnel of the eMERGE-III Consortium sites that returned results. Results We discuss major ethical issues that arose while attempting to return research results from the eMERGE Consortium to individual participants. These included difficulties recontacting those participants who had not explicitly consented to such and disclosing results to many participants with insufficient infrastructure and staff. Investigators reported being driven by a supererogatory clinical impulse. Conclusion All these issues ultimately derive from ethical conflicts inherent to translational work being done at the interface of research and clinical care. A critical rethinking of this divide is important, but infrastructural support for such work is necessary for an ethically sound rollout of large-scale genetic testing.
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    Impact of Genetic Testing for Cardiomyopathy on Emotional Well-Being and Family Dynamics: A Study of Parents and Adolescents
    (American Heart Association, 2021) Ahimaz, Priyanka; Sabatello, Maya; Qian, Min; Wang, Aijin; Miller, Erin M.; Parrott, Ashley; Lal, Ashwin K.; Chatfield, Kathryn C.; Rossano, Joseph W.; Ware, Stephanie M.; Parent, John J.; Kantor, Paul; Yue, Lisa; Wynn, Julia; Lee, Teresa M.; Addonizio, Linda J.; Appelbaum, Paul S.; Chung, Wendy K.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Genetic testing is indicated for children with a personal or family history of hereditary cardiomyopathy to determine appropriate management and inform risk stratification for family members. The implications of a positive genetic result for children can potentially impact emotional well-being. Given the nuances of cardiomyopathy genetic testing for minors, this study aimed to understand how parents involve their children in the testing process and investigate the impact of genetic results on family dynamics. Methods: A survey was distributed to participants recruited from the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation and 7 North American sites in the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry. The survey explored adolescent and parent participants' emotions upon receiving their/their child's genetic results, parent-child result communication and its impact on family functionality, using the McMaster Family Assessment Device. Results: One hundred sixty-two parents of minors and 48 adolescents who were offered genetic testing for a personal or family history of cardiomyopathy completed the survey. Parents whose child had cardiomyopathy were more likely to disclose positive diagnostic genetic results to their child (P=0.014). Parents with unaffected children and positive predictive testing results were more likely to experience negative emotions about the result (P≤0.001) but also had better family functioning scores than those with negative predictive results (P=0.019). Most adolescents preferred results communicated directly to the child, but parents were divided about whether their child's result should first be released to them or their child. Conclusions: These findings have important considerations for how providers structure genetic services for adolescents and facilitate discussion between parents and their children about results.
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    Returning negative results from large-scale genomic screening: Experiences from the eMERGE III network
    (Wiley, 2021) Finn, Kelsey Stuttgen; Lynch, John; Aufox, Sharon; Bland, Sarah; Chung, Wendy; Halverson, Colin; Hebbring, Scott; Hoell, Christin; Holm, Ingrid; Jarvik, Gail; Kullo, Iftikhar; Leppig, Kathleen; Myers, Melanie; Prows, Cynthia; Rasouly, Hila Milo; Singh, Rajbir; Weisner, Georgia; Williams, Janet; Wynn, Julia; Smith, Maureen; Sharp, Richard; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Population-based genomic screening has the potential to improve health outcomes by identifying genetic causes of disease before they occur. While much attention has been paid to supporting the needs of the small percentage of patients who will receive a life-altering positive genomic screening result that requires medical attention, little attention has been given to the communication of negative screening results. As there are currently no best practices for returning negative genomic screening results, we drew on experiences across the electronic medical records and genomics (eMERGE) III Network to highlight the diversity of reporting methods employed, challenges encountered in reporting negative test results, and "lessons learned" across institutions. A 60-item survey that consisted of both multiple choice and open-ended questions was created to gather data across institutions. Even though institutions independently developed procedures for reporting negative results, and had very different study populations, we identified several similarities of approach, including but not limited to: returning results by mail, placing results in the electronic health record via an automated process, reporting results to participants' primary care provider, and providing genetic counseling to interested patients at no cost. Differences in procedures for reporting negative results included: differences in terminology used to describe negative results, definitions of negative results, guidance regarding the meaning of negative results for participants and their family members, and recommendations for clinical follow up. Our findings highlight emerging practices for reporting negative genomic screening results and highlight the need to create patient education and clinical support tools for reporting negative screening results.
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    Understanding the Return of Genomic Sequencing Results Process: Content Review of Participant Summary Letters in the eMERGE Research Network
    (MDPI, 2020-05-13) Lynch, John A.; Sharp, Richard R.; Aufox, Sharon A.; Bland, Sarah T.; Blout, Carrie; Bowen, Deborah J.; Buchanan, Adam H.; Halverson, Colin; Harr, Margaret; Hebbring, Scott J.; Henrikson, Nora; Hoell, Christin; Holm, Ingrid A.; Jarvik, Gail; Kullo, Iftikhar J.; Kochan, David C.; Larson, Eric B.; Lazzeri, Amanda; Leppig, Kathleen A.; Madden, Jill; Marasa, Maddalena; Myers, Melanie F.; Peterson, Josh; Prows, Cynthia A.; Kulchak Rahm, Alanna; Ralston, James; Milo Rasouly, Hila; Scrol, Aaron; Smith, Maureen E.; Sturm, Amy; Stuttgen, Kelsey; Wiesner, Georgia; Williams, Marc S.; Wynn, Julia; Williams, Janet L.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    A challenge in returning genomic test results to research participants is how best to communicate complex and clinically nuanced findings to participants in a manner that is scalable to the large numbers of participants enrolled. The purpose of this study was to examine the features of genetic results letters produced at each Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE3) Network site to assess their readability and content. Letters were collected from each site, and a qualitative analysis of letter content and a quantitative analysis of readability statistics were performed. Because letters were produced independently at each eMERGE site, significant heterogeneity in readability and content was found. The content of letters varied widely from a baseline of notifying participants that results existed to more detailed information about positive or negative results, as well as materials for sharing with family members. Most letters were significantly above the Centers for Disease Control-suggested reading level for health communication. While continued effort should be applied to make letters easier to understand, the ongoing challenge of explaining complex genomic information, the implications of negative test results, and the uncertainty that comes with some types of test and result makes simplifying letter text challenging.