Integrating translational bioinformatics into the medical curriculum

With the arrival of genomic medicine, there is a growing consensus for a need to enhance the genomic literacy of healthcare professionals. 1-3 The increasing adoption of genomic and other high-throughput ‘omics technologies in clinical labs requires that healthcare professionals, in particular, physicians be equipped with the knowledge and skills to understand and interpret genomic and other highthroughput ‘omics data for patient care. Indeed, this critical need was articulated in a report by the Human Genomics Strategy Group 4 (established as part of the UK Government's response to the 2009 House of Lords Inquiry into genomic medicine) that recommended "urgent action" be taken by the Department of Health to "ensure that workforce developments do not lag behind service developments, and that an appropriately skilled workforce is available". In this opinion piece, we argue that enhancing the literacy of physicians in the understanding and interpretation of genomics and other ‘omics data should be integrated into the core medical curriculum, and we propose a set of foundational concepts/skills to be taught as a translational bioinformatics module.