Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer comments on Genomethics

By Anna Middleton

We asked Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer to the British government for some feedback on our research.

To date, 3000 people have completed our online survey

Anyone can participate in our survey, including YOU!
Anyone can participate in our survey, including YOU!

exploring various ethical implications arising from the application of genome technology.  Completed questionnaires have been received from across the world, from Beijing to Bucharest and from San Diego to Stuttgart. However, we need more!  We asked Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer to the British government for some feedback on our research and whether she would use the results to inform the government on the implementation of the 100,000 genomes project.  Here’s what she said:

“Realising the value of genomics for medicine is a key part of our health strategy”, says Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England. “Initiatives such as this survey will help us to ensure we deliver the benefits most sought after by the public. I will consider these findings carefully as part of my role to oversee the patient’s interests around privacy and data access in the Prime Minister’s initiative to sequence 100,000 genomes from NHS patients”.

We also asked Mark Henderson, previous science editor at ‘The Times’ newspaper, author of 50 Genetics Ideas You Really Need to Know and Head of Communications at the Wellcome Trust.  His views on the genomethics study: “Our growing understanding of genomics is already starting to improve medicine, while also creating new challenges for our healthcare systems and wider society.  If we are to address these ethical, social and legal issues effectively, we need to know what people think about them, and the genomethics survey will help us to find out.   The results of this survey will make important contributions to decision making to maximise the benefits of genomics in healthcare.”

The survey is really gathering momentum and there is great anticipation of the impact of the results. We are only recruiting for the next 3 months, so if YOU haven’t taken part already, please do so here (anyone and everyone can participate, there are no limits in age, geography etc and all you need to know is described in the survey using 10 shorthttps://survey.sanger.ac.uk/genomethics/ films) – you don’t want to disappoint a Dame, do you?