The Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd) aims to engage and inform a worldwide audience about the benefits of knowing one's genome as well as the ethical, legal and social issues ( ELSI) and dimensions of personal genetics. pgEd was founded in 2006, is housed in the Department of Genetics at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and is directed by

Ting Wu Chao-ting Wu (; born January 24, 1954) is an American molecular biologist. After training at Harvard Medical School in genetics with William Gelbart, at Stanford Medical School with David Hogness, and in a fellowship at Massachusetts General Ho ...

, a professor in that department. It employs a variety of strategies for reaching general audiences, including generating online curricular materials, leading discussions in classrooms, workshops, and conferences, developing a mobile educational game (Map-Ed), holding an annual conference geared toward accelerating awareness (GETed), and working with the world of entertainment to improve accuracy and outreach.

Online curricular materials and professional development for teachers

pgEd develops tools for teachers and general audiences that examine the potential benefits and risks of personalized genome analysis. These include freely accessible, interactive lesson plans that tackle issues such as genetic testing of minors, reproductive genetics, complex human traits and genetics, and the history of eugenics. pgEd also engages educators at conferences as well as organizes professional development workshops. All of pgEd's materials are freely available online.

Map-Ed, a mobile quiz

In 2013, pgEd created a mobile educational quiz calle
Map-Ed
Map-Ed invites players to work their way through five questions that address key concepts in genetics and then pin themselves on a world map. Within weeks of its launch, Map-Ed gained over 1,000 pins around the world, spanning across all 7 continents. Translations and new maps linked to questions on topics broadly related to genetics are in development.

GETed conference

pgEd hosts the annual GETed conference, a meeting that brings together experts from across the United States and beyond in education, research, health, entertainment, and policy to develop strategies for accelerating public awareness. Topics covered during these conferences have included reproductive technologies, human behavior and cognition, microbiomes, the intersection of faith and genetics, interplanetary travel, the importance of engaging the political sphere, and the power of entertainment and gaming to reach millions.

Education and Entertainment Interface

pgEd is working with Sandra de Castro Buffington and Hollywood, Health & Society at the Norman Lear Center,

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC) Annenberg School for Communication, to advance awareness about personal genetics through television. They have also worked with the

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The institu ...

on outreach via fiction.

Advisory board

pgEd's advisory board includes Sandra de Castro Buffington, Director, Hollywood Health and Society, George M. Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Juan Enriquez, Managing Director at Excel Venture Management, and

Marc Hodosh Marc Hodosh ( ; born December 25, 1972) is an American entrepreneur who formerly owned, co-created and hosted the TEDMED conference. In September 2019, Marc Hodosh and Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent) announced ...

, Co-Creator of

TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED (conference), TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff oper ...

References