Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
http://obssr.od.nih.gov
National Coalition for Health Professional
Education in Genetics http://www.nchpeg.org
___________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: OBSSR Office of Communications
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Ann C. Benner
(301) 594-4574
annb@nih.gov
Kate Reed, NCHPEG
(410) 583-0600
kreed@nchpeg.org
NIH launches first online genetics course for social and behavioral scientists
A new genetics educational program will provide social and behavioral scientists
with sufficient genetics background to allow them to engage effectively in
interdisciplinary research with genetics researchers. The Office of Behavioral and Social
Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health, partnered with the
National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics to create the free, Webbased project.
Increasingly, scientific outcomes are not fully explained by genetic,
environmental, or social factors alone or as independent contributors. Instead, public
health advances and scientific breakthroughs tend to rely on transdisciplinary teams of
social scientists and genetic researchers. This creates a greater need among social and
behavioral scientists for an understanding of the complexity of the genetic contribution to
health, disease and behaviors.
The overarching goal of the course, Genetics and Social Science: Expanding
Transdisciplinary Research, is to improve these scientists’ genetics literacy in several key
areas, broadly grouped into conversation, imagination, evaluation and integration. The
course will provide sufficient knowledge to support the integration of genetics concepts
in the behavioral or social scientist’s own research and will allow for collaborative
studies with geneticists. The course will provide users with the ability to conceive of
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progressive but feasible studies. Scientists will develop the skills necessary to assess
genetics research for validity and utility.
Because behavioral and social scientists have a very large breadth of expertise,
the course focuses on core concepts that are applicable to most scientists, no matter
where they are in their careers or training. The course was developed by an advisory
committee with experts from a wide range of areas, including addiction, psychiatry,
anthropology, obesity, clinical genetics, and race and ethnicity. The core areas are:
variation (e.g., sources of genetic variation, biological pathways); gene-environment
interaction; population issues; clinical issues (e.g., family history) and research issues
(e.g., data sharing). The course was developed based on adult learning theory, which
focuses on active learning and self-direction, allowing for users to choose their own path
through the interactive content.
“We’re very pleased with the pilot program,’’ said Dr. Robert M. Kaplan, director
of OBSSR. “It’s the first of its kind, and it fills a need for this type of training and
education which has existed for some time in the research community.”
Scientists using the online course can choose to learn through four case studies-tobacco, obesity, major depression, and breast cancer. The interactive case studies build
the scientist’s knowledge and comfort with the concepts in a stepwise manner. The
general structure for each case study includes a statement of the problem, an interactive
review of the pertinent literature, a discussion of the approach to research in this area,
exercises to develop the next research question, opportunities for collaboration and a
discussion of the clinical implications. Each case study will link to specific core concepts
(variation, gene-environment interaction, population, clinical or research issues) to allow
the user to determine his or her learning style.
Please visit www.nchpeg.org/bssr to experience the online course, Genetics and
Social Science: Expanding Transdisciplinary Research.
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The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) opened officially on
July 1, 1995. The U.S. Congress established the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Research (OBSSR) in the Office of the Director, NIH, in recognition of the key role that
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behavioral and social factors often play in illness and health. The OBSSR mission is to
stimulate behavioral and social sciences research throughout NIH and to integrate these
areas of research more fully into others of the NIH health research enterprise, thereby
improving our understanding, treatment, and prevention of disease. For more
information, please visit http://obssr.od.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research
agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and
supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the
causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information
about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health