European Centre for Public Health Genomics (ECPHG)

Director:
Prof. Angela Brand, MD, PhD, MPH

The European Centre for Public Health Genomics (ECPHG) (www.ecphg.eu) is a European centre of excellence, well-known as a “think tank” in the field of Public Health Genomics (PHG) operating on national, European and international level.
As an umbrella institution it aims at the advancement of interdisciplinary translational research through various fields of science and the humanities (biomedicine, biotechnology, bioinformatics, biology, philosophy/social ethics & bioethics, social and political sciences, economics, biolaw, epidemiology/biostatistics, public health) interdisciplinary and inter-institutional long-term co-operation and exchange across the boundaries of established academic disciplines as well as between relevant stakeholders in the German healthcare system.
Integration into the School of Public Health and Primary Care (caphri) of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences of Maastricht University ensures excellent working conditions and provides ample opportunities for training and higher education in the field of public health genomics.

Rationale for the ECPHG:
In the realm of public policy making there is a need to come up with a clear strategy for assessing and translating genome-based knowledge and technologies into policies and health services right in time.
Policymakers now have the opportunity to take action. They must be aware of the opportunity to improve consumer protection, to monitor the implications of genome-based knowledge and technologies for health, social, and environmental policy goals, and to assure that these advances will be tailored not only to treat medical conditions, but also to prevent disease and improve public health.
Sound and well reflected policies and programs in the field of PHG require a timely and coordinated process for evidence-based policy making that relies on scientific research and ongoing community consultation. An acceptable and maybe delicate balance between providing strong protection of individuals’ interests and enabling society to benefit from the genomic innovations at the same time must be found. Precondition for immediate action is strategic planning across health programs, promoting genomics competencies among health professionals, enhancing surveillance and epidemiologic capacity to support evidence-based policy-making, building partnerships and seeking input from stakeholders. Here, integrating genomic information into health communication will be an essential tool to generate distributed knowledge.
Thus, likely benefits as well as potential risks of the integration of genome-based knowledge and technologies into public health interventions (assessment) have to be identified. The framework (corridors) for effective, efficient and socially acceptable policies (policy development) has to be described. Steps and ways have to be proposed to assure these policies in public health practise (assurance). At the same time, these three tasks (“public health trias”) describe the core functions of public health agencies at all levels of government.


Main objectives of the ECPHG:

• Translational research on the integration of genome-based knowledge and technologies into public health research, policy and practice (PHG) through national, European and international activities

• Systematic horizon scanning, monitoring and surveillance of challenges and tasks of PHG by applying methods such as HNA (Health Needs Assessment), HTA (Health Technology Assessment), HIA (Health Impact Assessment) and PIA (Policy Impact Assessment)

• Improvement of health care on the national, European and international level by establishing a knowledge base for evidence-based policy-making

• Interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research and training

• Holding meetings open to the scientific community, policy-makers, relevant stakeholders and the general public


Current European and international activities of the ECPHG:

• Associated partner in the EU-funded project PHGEN I (Public Health Genomics European Network) (EU Project No 2005313)

• Coordinator of PHGEN II

• Associated partner in the EU-funded project PIA-PHR (Policy Impact Assessment of Public Health Reporting)

• Associated partner in the EU-funded projects EUREGIO I and II (European Regions)

• Steering committee member as well as Co-chair of Working Group 4 (Research Needs and Priorities) in GraPH-Int (Genome-based Research and Population Health International Network), Toronto, Canada

• Collaborating Center of the EC-JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Sevilla, Spain

• Associated Partner in the international non-profit observatory P3G (Public Population Project in Genomics), McGill Montreal, Canada

• Member of the OECD Working Party on Biotechnology: Development of Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Molecular Genetic Testing, Paris, France

• Collaborating partner in the EU-funded project EUnetHTA (European Network of Health Technology Assessment), Kopenhagen, Denmark

• Collaborating partner in the EU-funded project PHOEBE (Promoting Harmonization of Epidemiological Biobanks in Europe), Oslo, Norway

• Collaborating partner of the EU-funded project EuroGentest, Leuven, Belgium

• WHO-Collaborating Center on Public Health Genomics (in negotiation)

• Collaborating Partner of Max Planck Institut (MPI) für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany

• Collaborating Partner of Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI), Braunschweig, Germany

• Collaborating Partner of ECDC (European Centers of Disease Control), Stockholm, Sweden

• Collaborating Partner of NOPHG (National Office of Public Health Genomics) at CDC, Atlanta, USA

• Collaborating partner of PHGF (Public Health Genetics Foundation), Cambridge, UK

• Collaborating Partner of GENAR Institute for Public Health Genomics, Ankara, Turkey

• Coordinator of the German ZiF - Task Force “Public Health Genetics” at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld, Germany

• Co-coordinator of the public health genetics platform within the NGFN (German National Genome Research Network), Mainz, Germany

• Speaker of the section “Public Health Genomics” of EUPHA (European Association of Public Health)