Debate: Are we ready to go with genomics?
An all-star professorial panel brought passionate viewpoints, brutal truths and more than a little snark to the final event at the summit.
When all’s said and done, are we ready to go with genomics?
The State of Genomic Care ended with a debate to help answer that very question.
Advocating for ‘Yes – go now’ were Prof Shelley Dolan, CEO of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Prof Grant McArthur, Executive Director of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Cautioning ‘No – wait a bit’ were ethicist A/Prof Danya Vears from Deakin University and Prof Brett Sutton, Director of Health and Biosecurity at CSIRO and formerly Victoria’s Chief Health Officer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the watchful eye of moderator Emily Rice, each speaker wrestled with the challenge of presenting a highly complex argument in less than a minute.
Prof Dolan was an enthusiastic advocate. “It will prevent human suffering on a large scale now. It will also help us save really important healthcare dollars that we can use to treat and save many more people.
“This is my worry, my real worry: if we wait, the time will never be perfect to do this. And we can do it now.”
The arguments on the opposing side focussed on equity, rather than cost, effort or value.
A/Prof Vears pointed out the under-representation of non-European ancestries in the DNA databases used to inform genomics diagnoses.
Prof Sutton echoed this sentiment. “While we can always talk about the wonderful clinical outcomes or this fantastic new and blossoming technology, are we hearing from the people who never accessed it in the first place, are we hearing from the people who fear accessing it because they don't have trust, because they don't feel the sovereignty, because they don't have control of the path that is being offered?”
What it came down to, however, was that genomics was already happening and the time was right to scale it up.
As Prof McArthur said: “We've got to move away from empirically trying one thing after another and use solid data and science to direct what is the best treatment for our patients.”
Who won the debate? Watch the video above to find out.
The panel begins 
Grant McArthur makes a point 
Shelley Dolan and Danya Vears debate their views
Are you ready to go with genomics? Then this toolkit is for you.