Personalized Medicine? Not on ACPs radar screen at all!

I just received my Advance Program for the American College of Physicians(ACP) Meeting in Philadelphia this year. I am very excited about going to this one! This is billed as the annual "Scientific Meeting"

What is the ACP? With a tag phrase like "Doctors for Adults" I think it encompasses what they are well. This is the organization of Internists and Internal Medicine Subspecialists. In other words, most physicians who see only adults are members. Excluding the surgeons of course.

That is alot of physicians. They will all be camped out in Philadelphia during the week of April 21-25th. I see this meeting as a great way to get caught up on what is happening in the adult medicine world, to meet up with colleagues and to look toward the future of medicine. That future, at least in my mind involves personalized medicine or Patient-Centered Genomic Healthcare.

Well, this meeting has a pre-course and a set of scientific sessions. If you look closely at the brochure you can see that the meeting is jammed packed with information and events.....but unfortunately, you will see one huge thing missing..........

That's right, no where will you see the word genetics or personalized medicine......No Where.....

And that is a crying shame. Where the hell are these "Doctors for Adults" going to learn about the future of medicine. More importantly, why did the American College of Physicians fumble the ball by not including Personalized Medicine topics into the Scientific Sessions???

The blew it big time in my humble opinion.....Ok, I will try to give them some slack. They have alot of material to cover.....but if they think Teaching Power Point is more important than understanding how to interpret a genetic test they are freaking crazy!!!!!

Seriously, they have an entire set of sessions called "computers in practice"

They have five g-d Damn sessions a day on computer topics, when only 11-15% of practitioners have adopted EMRs why do we have 5 sessions a day of this and NOTHING about genetics or Personalized Medicine. What are the computer topics?

1. Microsoft PowerPoint for Beginners

2. PowerPoint 2003 for Advanced Users

3. Excel Spreadsheet for Beginners

4. Getting Started with PDAs

5. No- and Low-Cost Medical Web Sites
6. Useful Medical Applications Using Windows Mobile

I could go on, but I am just about ready to jump out a window!

Seriously, this may be what the doctors older than 50 want, but ALL, I repeat ALL doctors need an update on Genetics in Primary Care!

So I say to all physicians reading my site and to the leadership of the American College of Physicians

"With the push from HHS, FDA, CDC, NHGRI, and Barack Obama, How is the hell could you blow this one?"

This is a perfect example of why "Doctors for Adults" are slow to adopt genetics in their practices......Because the don't freakin' know it exists.....eve the leadership didn't acknowledge this.....

I guess that's why those "Doctors for Adults" have less than half that know BRCA1 or 2 can be passed through the father's side. But heck, at least they have a few sessions devoted to breast cancer......

No, I can hear the argument "It is integrated in the subspecialties" The answer there is "bullcrap" Where is the Family History for Beginners session? What about the Pharmacogenomics for Beginners? And the Interpreting a Genetic Test for Beginners session? It seems to me, those topic apply to everyone and should be covered as such.

The Sherpa Says: We need systemic change in the way we educate "Doctors for Adults" and we need an even bigger change in the Leadership. Especially if what they produced fails to introduce simple genetic concepts to their membership! ACP, you have failed.