Abstract

Muin J. Khoury, MD, PhD is the first and current director of the Office of Public Health Genomics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. The Office was formed in 1997 to assess the impact of advances in human genetics and the Human Genome Project on public health and disease prevention. As an internationally recognized institution, CDCs mission is to protect the health and safety of people, to provide credible information to enhance health decisions, and to promote health through strong national and international partnerships. For more than a decade, the CDCs Office of Public Health Genomics played an important role in development of a new hybrid field of investigation, ‘public health genomics’. In the September 2009 issue of the Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (CPPM), Dr. Khoury shares his thoughts and immediate and long term vision on public health genomics, and why this new field of investigation is important for personalized medicine and global health. He is interviewed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers and educators: Abdallah S. Daar (McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and School of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto), Serge Dubé (Department of Surgery and Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal) and Vural Ozdemir (Editor, CPPM, and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal). Dr. Khoury received his BS degree in biology/chemistry from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and his medical degree and pediatric training from the same institution. He received a PhD in human genetics/genetic epidemiology and training in medical genetics from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Khoury is board-certified in medical genetics.

Keywords: Global public health, international development and policy, personalized medicine, preventive medicine, public health genomics