This Fall, the Econ-Omics SIG held our first ever annual Symposium, titled “Prioritising genomic medicine: reflections on the role of health economics for changing policy and clinical practice”. Thank you to everyone who helped make this inaugural event a success!
The focus of our annual Symposium series is to connect researchers, generate discussion, and promote collaboration, with an emphasis on ensuring diversity and highlighting presentations from ECRs and on work in LMIC settings. With over 90 registered attendees, our first Symposium brought together SIG members and non-members from around the world with a shared interest in the economics of genomics and precision medicine.
This year’s Symposium included an international panel of experts with industry, academic, and decision-making experience, who came together to discuss their experiences generating and using health economic evidence to change policy and practice related to genomic medicine. Panellists included: Dr. Li Yang from Peking University’s School of Public Health in Beijing, China; Dr. Brock Schroeder, the Vice President of Market Access at Illumina; and Dr. Scott Grosse, an Economist with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in the United States.
The discussion highlighted variation in decision-makers’ reliance on health economic evidence across jurisdictions; challenges and solutions for evidence generation unique to precision medicine; and next steps for engaging with decision-makers moving forward.
A recording of the panel discussion is available online and can be accessed on the SIG webpage (https://healtheconomics.org/sigs/egpm/) or directly on the iHEA YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/DtfeEiGmbZk).
The Symposium also included a workshop centred on engagement with early career researchers and researchers from low- and middle-income countries to help support research collaborations and shape future SIG activities. Key discussion points included the need for more guidance for these researchers on how to undertake health economic analyses of genomic interventions, in particular on how to access and use existing data sources such as biobanks. There was a clear appetite for more formal and informal networking events, to build a stronger community in this space. Participants highlighted the benefits of being able to present to their peers via a SIG webinar programme, and being able to access more senior mentors for support and guidance. We are currently reviewing all ideas to determine what to prioritize, and will be in touch with SIG members about future activities very soon.
We look forward to planning our next Symposium, which will align with the upcoming 2023 iHEA Congress. Abstract submissions are now open for this Congress (Deadline: 29 November 2022,https://healtheconomics.org/congress/). To assist with the submission of organized session proposals related the economics of genomics and precision medicine, we will be circulating a short survey to all SIG members in the coming weeks. The aim of this survey is to connect researchers interested in similar topics and facilitate collaborations on abstract submissions. Stay tuned!
Finally, the SIG currently has vacancies in Convener positions related to Communications and Networking and Organised Conference Sessions. If you are interested in volunteering for a Convenor role, please email us at iheagenomics@gmail.com.