In the spirit of President Elect Obama’s/HHS Secretary Designee Tom Daschle’s efforts to mobilize a grassroots “get out the health” series of house parties, I am re-posting my first Disruptive Women post:

My Top 10 Priorities for the Next HHS Secretary (NOTE: this was written prior to the selection of Tom Daschle–not surprisingly, I was holding out hope for a woman–no offense to Mr. Daschle):

The next Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will have a plate that is not only full, but is overflowing. While all the political rhetoric is focused around access—health insurance for all—there are a number of other critical areas that need immediate attention as well.

Clearly there are many more than 10 priority areas. However, if I just so happened to find myself sitting across from the next Secretary of HHS, I would remind her (just indulge me on that) that she is the Secretary of Health AND Human Services—that for her to make a dent on the health side of things, she must take into account whether people have: the support systems they need, heat, a home, transportation, enough to eat.

Here is my list of the top 10 priorities, in no particular order:

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Transforming health through genetics. That is the mission of the organization I lead - Genetic Alliance.  Almost 5 years ago I took on the leadership of this organization.  I had some strong inklings at the time, about transformation, about health.  While I was developing Genetic Alliance’s path to transformation, both internally and externally, with some phenomenal colleagues, the world around us was changing in similar fashion.

I sometimes see genetics as a leading edge, a knife that is cutting through the old, crusty, barriers.  It does this perhaps because it is new, but after leading with the novel edge, it has a great deal more punch.  I believe it will be an innovative disruption (a la Clay Christensen) because the health care system will not be able to adjust enough to fit its value inside the system (or lack thereof).

Starting with the power of understanding family history (still perhaps the most powerful genetics tool) to the sophistication of personalized medicine (using genetics and genomics to tailor diagnosis and treatment), genetics and genomics will both buoy and stress an overstressed healthcare system.  It is time for change.  It is in the works, on the drawing tables and in people’s hearts and minds. (more…)

So-called “medical homes” are finally receiving national attention from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and foundations after their purported inception over 30 years ago by pediatricians (home care nurses have been coordinating health care for people with chronic illnesses for more than a century). But we’re about to make the same mistake that we’ve made in developing other approaches to improving health care nationwide—we’re medicalizing it, instead of focusing on health.

Medical homes are proposed to be primary care practices where people can get help with coordinating their care, particularly for chronic illnesses. The U.S. health care system emphasizes specialty practice rather than primary care. It’s one of the reasons why we pay more than any other nation for health care but have outcomes that lag behind those of even moderately developed nations. If I have diabetes and heart failure, I go to one specialist for treatment of my diabetes, the cardiologist for my heart failure, the gynecologist to get my annual GYN exam, a podiatrist, a retinopathist or ophthamologist, a dentist who may prescribe medications before and after procedures, a shrink to help me cope with this mess, and possibly others to screen my various body parts for myriad diseases. Each is prescribing medications that may interact in adverse ways. In fact, I may end up with a costly hospitalization because of these adverse effects. No one knows all of me or focuses on my overall health—unless I have a primary care provider who can oversee all of these specialties, follow all of my treatments and medications, and coordinate my care. (more…)

Shortly after the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, in the 110th Congress, a reporter asked me why I thought the bill was so important. I pondered the question briefly and replied, perhaps in a way she was not expecting, that I felt we now were poised with an informed congress who better understands the potential importance of an individual’s genome information.

To take that thought one step further, I believe this landmark legislation and the thirteen years which led up to its passage have provided our country and our citizens with a renewed energy to guide our congress once again to build the next story – providing our citizens with the potential for better and more personalized healthcare.

Earlier this month, we once again saw the topic of genomics and medicine brought to the halls of the 111th Congress with Representative Kennedy’s introduction of the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2008 (H.R.6498). The bill originally proposed by Senator Obama in the 110th Congress once again brings new hope for patients and signals that scientific innovation is important in our country.

As a scientist who is passionate about the ability to use the knowledge of the genome to improve human health through better disease diagnosis and treatment, this legislation let the debate begin.

I am anxious to see once again how science and technology can disrupt the future of “health care as usual.”

I look forward to sharing our progress in this field of personalized medicine and sharing my experiences in both the pharmaceutical industry during my time at Pfizer and in my new role as the CSO at Helicos, an innovative single molecule DNA sequencing company poised to play a key role in our path to the future.