About | PredictER
In 2006, with a three-year grant from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, the IUCB established Predictive Health Ethics Research (PredictER), a multidisciplinary research, policy and public education program. The goal of PredictER is to build strategic bioethics research capacity to support predictive health studies in Indianapolis and Central Indiana. Predictive health studies are research projects that combine health data from medical records with genetic data and other data from tissue samples to identify biological and environmental factors associated with health and disease and in an effort to predict the risks associated with disease onset.
The PredictER program has become a respected state-wide resource on the ethical, legal and social issues that arise from research using biobanks and other data repositories. PredictER’s three-pronged approach has been to: (1) offer public policy advice, (2) catalyze multidisciplinary research, and (3) implement public outreach and education. Since its inception, PredictER has provided public policy advice to a number of entities including the IU School of Medicine, the Indiana Legislature and Eli Lilly. Upon request, PredictER has commented extensively on draft policy documents, informed consent practices, and research design; and then identified possible impediments to the successful and ethical completion of the proposed projects. PredictER has also been successful in bringing together diverse teams to implement important studies on emerging topics in predictive health (i.e. a study regarding pregnant women’s attitudes about genetics research and DNA banking in community health clinics). PredictER is distinguished from other bioethics research platforms in the U.S. by its commitment to education. This education has taken many forms including point-of-need library services to the public; in-depth reference support to research collaborators; the maintenance of an innovative web portal providing bioethics information to an international audience; and the provision of public meetings, expert panels, lecture series and physician education programs.
In July 2009 PredictER will complete Phase I, having accomplished each of its established goals. PredictER II will begin in July 2009, and will be completed in July 2012. Our goal for Phase II is to extend and deepen our bioethics capacity in all three program areas by: (1) developing a more robust “anticipatory” policy analysis and consultation capacity; (2) pursuing a research agenda that expands our ability to address ethical issues in translating predictive health research into applications for patient care and policy in Indiana; and (3) broadening and deepening our public outreach/education capacity.
