The secret to health and long life: It’s in your genes – Rutland Herald

Lola Aiken, wife of the late Gov. George Aiken, is accompanied by then-Gov. Peter Shumlin as she waves to supporters during her 100th birthday celebration in June 2012. Aiken would live to age 102. STEFAN HARD / STAFF FILE PHOTO

Will it soon be possible for most of us to live to be 100?

Yes, experts told The Palm Beach Post last week, and genomic medicine will play a crucial role.

What is genomic medicine?

Its an emerging medical discipline that uses a persons gene map to make diagnostic decisions.

Its also the foundation for what former President Obama announced in his 2015 State of the Union address: the Precision Medicine Initiative.

Over the weekend, Dr. Georgia Dunston, founding director of the National Human Genome Center at Howard University and one of the nations leading genome experts, were in Palm Beach County. She spoke at different events connected to the West Palm Beach Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Founders Day Weekend.

The theme of the Friday Sunday gathering was Genomics: African ancestry and culture spirit, soul and body.

As Dunston explained of her work with the groundbreaking International Human Genome Project, The genome is the complete set of instructions for building and operating the human body. In 2003, scientists completed the sequence of the human genome, which shows the location of each of the 20,500 genes in the complete map of the human genome.

In lay terms, this means that we all have a vast, unique genetic map that doctors and researchers can now use to customize our health- related decisions.

Which medications work best with which genes.

Which gene sequences are more likely to develop which diseases.

Which environmental and lifestyle factors are most likely to affect given gene sequences.

Genomics is helping researchers discover why some people get sick from certain infections, environmental factors, and behaviors, while others do not. Because genes are inherited and shared among relatives, genomics is also helping researchers discover why certain diseases occur in some families and not others, and are more common in some ethnic groups and natural populations than others, said Dunston.

One of the events organizers, Dr. Eugenia Millender, president of the West Palm Beach Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, also has firsthand knowledge of the importance of genomics especially in African-American and other minority populations, as shes the director of the Florida Atlantic University Community Health Center, where genetic testing is available.

A psychiatric nurse practitioner and assistant professor at Florida Atlantic Universitys Lynn College of Nursing, Millender said, This is the most innovative development in the way we approach health care. We have to educate as many people as possible about the availability of this kind of testing.

She further explained that everything from our mental health to our pain threshold is dictated by our genomic map.

At Friday evenings free town hall meeting, the genetic testing company GeneSight was on hand to provide attendees information on how affordable the testing can be.

Millender noted that for those on Medicaid, GeneSight is offering the testing for free, and for those on insurance plans, the cost can be just a few hundred dollars, depending on their income.

Marian Stubbs, chairwoman for the 2017 Delta Sigma Theta Founders Day Weekend, cant wait for others to hear Dunston explain the potentially transformative benefits of genomic medicine.