Current Projects

Joondalup Family Health Study

The Joondalup Family Health Study (JFHS) will be a long-term health study of families and other members of the City of Joondalup community. Essentially, the study will be a contemporary, metropolitan version of the Busselton Health Study but with a focus on families, ie. the health of both adults and children. The Study's community engagement programme was launched in November 2005 and the Study's schools education programme, conducted in conjunction with Edith Cowan University, was launched in March 2006. Community engagement in the JFHS continues to be a major focus for the genREACH team.

General Practitioner Outreach

We are currently conducting a major program of professional education for General Practitioners (GPs) in Western Australia, to raise awareness about advances in genomic technologies and the benefits and concerns associated with them. By providing education programs and resources for GPs, we aim to promote wider participation by GPs in the future directions of genomics in relation to primary care.

In close collaboration with School of Medicine's Department of General Practice at the University of WA, genREACH conducted a survey of all rural and metropolitan GPs in WA about their attitudes on the uses of genetic information in clinical practice, and about population-based human genetic research in WA. The results are available here [0.3MB, PDF, 32 pages].

Future directions for GP Outreach include developing strategies to provide professional support in the area of complex disease genetics and pharmacogenetics (The study of how people's genetic make-up affects their response to medicines); and developing education programs to raise professional awareness of the benefits of genetic research to the Western Australian and broader communities.

Genomics, Society and Human Health Programme

The Genomics, Society and Human Health Programme (GSHH), was a highly successful professional and community education program sponsored through the University of Western Australia during 2001-2002, and involved senior academics together with community and consumer group representatives reviewing the implications of rapid advances in contemporary human genetics.

In early 2004, GSHH was re-established by a group of Western Australian medical researchers involved with the Western Australian Genetic Epidemiology Resource (WAGER) project. This GSHH group, also aiming at community and professional education, was Chaired and administered through the Centre for Genetic Epidemiology.

In 2006, the Office of Population Health Genomics (WA Health) took responsibility for GSHH, however genREACH team members continue to be involved with the program.