Leading pathologists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School are among those advocating for making genomic and personalized medicine training part of all pathology residency training programs in North America over the next two years, according to “A Call to Action” published in the June issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

“No field of medicine has really taken this on, but there is a clear need for pathology to be out in front of this type of analysis in medical practice,” said Jeffrey Saffitz, M.D., Ph.D., BIDMC’s chief of pathology.

The suggested training curriculum would be modeled on that offered by the Genomic Medicine Initiative (GMI), which was launched by the BIDMC pathology department in 2009. “By July 2012, we want every pathology training program in the United States and Canada to have this program in place,” said Saffitz, adding that GMI officials have had discussions with CAP leaders about developing standards, as well as a funding model, for these programs. 

The curriculum includes lectures on current genomic testing technology, including next generation sequencing, as well as analyzing what the results mean—both for patients and other medical providers. Pathology residents also have the opportunity to analyze their own genome.

An important component of the training program is to understand what current genomic technology can offer in terms of information. “We want the residents to have a clear sense of what the current limits of this testing are, even though this is changing daily,” said Saffitz. “But overall, the goal of the training is to demystify personalized and genomic medicine to our residents.”