NIH funds studies to improve genomics risk analysis

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will provide US$75 million to fund the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Genomic Risk Assessment and Management Network. The eMERGE network establishes protocols and methodologies for improved genomic risk assessments and to implement their use in clinical care. Since its establishment in 2007, the eMerge network has conducted studies on how to effectively use electronic health records and large biorepositories for genomics research to enable the use of genomic information in clinical care settings. About US$61 million will be provided to four clinical and six ‘enhanced diversity clinical sites’ across the USA. The enhanced diversity clinical sites will recruit patients from diverse ancestries, including racial or ethnic minority populations, underserved population, etc.