Prof. Wolf Leads NIH-Supported Conference on Genomic Research in D.C.

Professor Susan Wolf chaired a standing-room-only conference in Washington, D.C., funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Should We Return Individual Research Results and Incidental Findings from Genomic Biobanks and Archives?" tackled what is widely regarded as one of the most pressing issues in genetics today. The conference, which grew out of a two-year project funded by NIH and led by Wolf (PI) with three UMN Co-Investigators (Profs. Brian Van Ness, Frances Lawrenz, and Jeff Kahn), featured top officials from NIH, the Office for Human Research Protections at DHHS, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, leading academics, and a wide range of stakeholders. The day before the conference, Wolf delivered a plenary address on this problem at the annual meeting of the International Society of Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER). The day after the conference, Wolf led a meeting of the NIH-funded project’s national Working Group to revise their consensus statement in progress on these issues. The conference will result in a Special Issue of Genetics in Medicine, the official journal of the American College of Human Genetics.