Bringing personalized medicine to the community through public engagement

There is growing expectation that advances in genomics herald the age of personalized medicine. Medicine has always been personal; however, the growing availability of genomic tools and technologies enable more precise risk stratification and disease management than ever before. Notably, a key aspect of the success of personalized medicine is related to public acceptance and engagement. For example, the public must be willing to collect and utilize family history and other genomic information, and individuals must be able to interpret and comprehend the significance of genomic information for their health and well-being. In this article, we review public engagement initiatives with personalized medicine, outline some of the challenges to engaging the public with personalized and genomic medicine and offer suggestions for future engagement initiatives. As genomic advances continue, the need for public input in the development of appropriate institutional practices and public policy about personalized medicine is ever important.