Public Health Genetics – Experiences and Challenges

Abstract

ance). With co-sponsorship of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a policy paper had been published, which has been widely distributed to German policymakers. It identifi ed specifi c areas in policies, practice and research where immediate action in the fi eld of PHG is needed. For their work, the ZiF Task Force recently received the Johann Joachim Becher Award 2004. By and large, the ZiF Task Force shared the view that the integration of genomics into public health represents progress in healthcare and an opportunity in rethinking the impact of human genetic variation on health and disease in every condition of public health interest such as effective prevention (e.g. there is the potential of stratifi ed prevention strategies instead of individualized prevention or ‘one strategy for all’). Opportunities for immediate action include strategic planning across health programs, developing genomic competencies among health professionals, enhancing surveillance and epidemiologic capacity to aid evidence-based policy-making, building partnerships and seeking input from stakeholders and incorporating information about genomics into health communication. As initially mentioned, from February 19 to 21, 2004, this Task Force organized the First International Conference on PHG entitled ‘Public Health Genetics – Experiences and Challenges’ (http://www.public-health-genetics.org), thus establishing a national as well as an international interdisciplinary cooperation network for long-term All contributions to this special issue of Community Genetics are based on presentations given at the First International Symposium on Public Health Genetics (PHG) at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany, in February 2004. Each scientifi c discipline and each fi eld of research perceive reality in a specifi c way. Not only for its description scientists develop their own language, but also their research subjects and methods are highly specialized. Nevertheless, the principle of specialization requires interdisciplinary research as a complement in order to exploit the scientifi c potentials of innovation to the highest possible extent. The ZiF is an internationally operating Institute for Advanced Studies, well known as a ‘think tank’ for interdisciplinary research projects from all scientifi c fi elds. In 2003–2004 it hosted the PHG Task Force and thus offered a unique institutional frame for implementing the emerging fi eld of PHG in Germany (www. public-health-genetics.org). This Task Force consisted of three scientifi c organizers from various backgrounds, four resident fellows with different outstanding competencies as well as over 40 cooperating partners from research, politics and practice. It was supported by the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Health, Social Affairs, Women and Family, by the Stifterverband fur die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Endowment Association for German Research) and by the AOK Bundesverband (Federal Association of the AOK, a German health insur-