A year and a half since the completed mapping of the human genome in April 2003, a Georgetown professor has been awarded an exploratory grant to examine how these recent genetic advances relate to public health policy.

Alexandra Shields, an assistant research professor at Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute, received a $560,000 grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, last week. With this grant, Shields will begin to develop a center for the study of genetics and its applications in addressing inequalities in the current healthcare system.

“The ultimate aim of genetic research is to improve human health and prevent disease,” Shields said in a university press release.

Shields’ research will focus on the intersection of genetics and genomic medicine with health disparities relating to tobacco dependence, asthma and diabetes. Shields said she plans to analyze how the advances in genetics can serve and assist populations that are often under-served in the current American healthcare system.

“One key measure of success in translating new genetic knowledge into improved health will be the extent to which genomic medicine reduces existing health disparities,” she said.

Shields added that the funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute will help the center develop and conduct similar in-depth research projects, which will include analysis of the cost and accessibility to new genetics-based medical services and treatments.

The center will also work to assess whether current healthcare disparities will hinder public access to new medical treatments utilizing from genetic research.

The nascent center will incorporate faculty from Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Law Center, as well as experts from other universities and institutes across the nation.

“Alexandra’s work is an important opportunity for Georgetown,” said Judith Feder, dean of public policy at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. “Georgetown has the capacity to play a special role on this key issue, given the combination of its scholarship and commitment to social justice.”

The new center will draw on previous work by the Georgetown Ethics Research Consortium on Smoking and Genetics, which Shields also directed.

“The development of genetics in medicine has enormous potential to narrow or broaden current social inequities. Alexandra’s work at Georgetown can promote it . to improve, rather than worsen, racial disparities in health,” Feder said.

Shields has also conducted research on the effectiveness of edicaid and the managed healthcare system, and currently serves as a principal investigator in a study analyzing the performance of healthcare providers serving Medicaid-enrolled children with asthma.

The National Human Genome Research Institute is a government-affiliated research organization established in 1989 to play a lead role in the International Human Genome Project, a research endeavor that mapped the entire human genetic sequence.