DFCI and Silverberry Genomix form population health initiative for research and education

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Science Health Education Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute launched the SHE Biobank initiative, a large, long-term study that will investigate the impact of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to the development of disease

The SHE Center’s goal is to bring best practices, better health outcomes, and increased stability to developing countries including the Middle East and North Africa, a region urgently in need of all three.

Navid Madani, director of the SHE Center and a senior scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has led educational workshops and training programs in the region, which reinforced the understanding of the current lack of health data infrastructure and solidified the need for such platforms in the region.

“Biobanking is crucial to this research and helps researchers, healthcare providers and governments to health policies and assign resources properly. In recent years, due to advancements in healthcare technologies, data availability and decreasing DNA sequencing costs, various biobanks have been created around the world,” Madani said in a statement.

“However, the majority of such projects have been launched in developed countries, contributing to an increasing gap between developed and developing countries. This initiative aims to decrease that gap,” Madani said.

The SHE Biobank offers researchers to conduct studies and the infrastructure it provides so the data can be put into action for public good. It also helps increase readiness of the healthcare community to prevent or combat future disease outbreaks.

“The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of availability of digital health platforms to provide access to data and enable research and collaboration at scale for a large size of population,” Shayan Mashatian, founder of Silverberry Genomix, said in a statement. “By making the Silverberry platform available to this critical endeavor, we are facilitating a rapid launch of the project, connecting the researchers, healthcare institutions and other interested parties so more people can take advantage of scientific advancement, preventing disease or empower the emerging field of precision medicine.”

Researchers, universities, government agencies, companies, and foundations as well as individual participants, are invited to participate in the initiative.

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The University of California, San Francisco and global oncology communities mourn the death of Felix Y. Feng, MD, a radiation oncologist and a leading figure in genitourinary cancer research. A professor of radiation oncology, urology and medicine, and vice chair of translational research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feng died from cancer on Dec.10, 2024. He was 48.
The late Felix Feng, MD (center) with researchers Jonathan Chou, MD, PhD (left) and Lisa Chesner, PhD (right), in 2019.Photo by Noah BergerFelix Y. Feng, a genitourinary cancer research leader, died on Dec. 10, 2024. He was 48.This article is republished with permission by NRG Oncology.Dr. Feng was the former NRG Oncology Genitourinary Cancer Committee chair and an RTOG Foundation member. After years of dedicated and enthusiastic commitment to the NRG and previously the RTOG Genitourinary Cancer Committee, chairing or co-chairing 13 research protocols for NRG and RTOG, Dr. Feng was appointed committee chair in March 2018, following in the footsteps of Dr. Howard Sandler, his mentor. Dr. Feng was also a member of the RTOG Foundation Board of Directors.

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