Short Courses for Teaching Gene-Environment Interactions for Health Professionals and Science Educators

Environmental health and genomics are two academic subjects that receive little attention by institutions that train health professionals. Unfortunately, many health professionals remain unaware that an individual’s genetic makeup can influence their susceptibility to an environmental hazard. This MIT led program will address health professionals’ need for training in genomics and environmental health with a one-week Short Course on gene-environment interactions. MIT instructors working in collaboration with NYU and UNM, as well as with MBIRI, a NIH research hub in S. Dakota, will be hosted by local universities serving both rural and urban regions of the country for this Short Course. The program will recruit course participants who are science educators and as well as health professionals, as science educators offer a multiplier effect when sharing the course information in their classes. Overall, the Short Course faculty plans to partner with rural colleges in the mid-west, such as South Dakota Black Hills State University, as well with urban/suburban schools such as the Ramapo College of New Jersey with their nursing programs. The participants will start each day with a lecture/discussion on a pre-selected, community-relevant environmental health topic. Lectures will be followed by an engaging hands-on program using MIT-patented DNA and Protein models. Pre- and post- tests will be used to measure and record course participants’ learning gains from the hands-on activities. In summary, the Short Course participants will have learned about gene-environment interactions through specific examples. They will also have created an environmental health messaging product on a health topic of their own choosing and shared this in a presentation in class during the course. Additionally, three months after each Short Course a follow up study will be conducted via email to collect feedback on how our participants have utilized or shared their new knowledge about gene-environment interactions. The R25 Short Courses will fill a much-needed gap in health care professionals’ training, bringing an awareness of gene-environment interactions to improve public health delivery and enhance the public’s quality of life.