2007 Lawyer Doctor Breakfast Designer Genes: Medicine Personalized for All of Us

Join the WBA’s Health Law Forum, Intellectual Property Forum, and Government Attorneys Forum for a speaker breakfast. The panel of speakers will discuss the cutting-edge legal and medical issues raised by this timely and provocative topic. Personalized medicine, also known as "pharmacogenomics," is the application of genomic data to better determine a patient's predisposition to a particular disease or condition and target delivery of medical interventions. For example, a genetic test can determine which women have certain mutations in the BRCA1 gene and thus have a higher risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Among other current uses, it helps some women with breast cancer avoid chemotherapy and find therapies that will specifically benefit them. Personalized medicine also offers the possibility of improved health outcomes and has the potential to make healthcare more cost-effective.

Moderator: Elizabeth Carder-Thompson, Partner, Health Care Group, Reed Smith

Speakers: Janet Woodcock, M.D., Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Chief Operating Officer, US Food and Drug Administration; JoAnne Zujewski, M.D., Director of Breast Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute; Claudine Isaacs, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Oncology, Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University; Dora Hughes, M.D., M.P.H. (invited), Legislative Assistant to Senator Barack Obama; Patrick Terry, Co-founder, Director of Consumer Advocacy, Genomic Health, Inc., and Co-founder, Secretary of the Board, Personalized Medicine Coalition.