What can your DNA tell you about your health or how you will respond to a particular prescription medication?

Genetic analysis is a valuable means to identify and predict the potential for disease. However, the cost, access, and understanding of its usefulness have been hurdles to implementation in the healthcare setting.

Over the past several years, genomic testing has become both more accessible as well as affordable. Thanks to a collaborative endeavor with HudsonAlpha’s Health Alliance, employees at Drake State Community and Technical College will soon have the key to unlocking their personal genetic mysteries.

This opportunity will give Drake State employees access to genetic screening that can help identify disease risk as well as medication response to certain drugs.

The program is voluntary and will be offered to Drake State faculty, staff, and employees as part of their employee wellness benefit package. Testing will be accessible through the Community Health Action Center on the Oakwood University Campus.

Dr. Patricia Sims, President of Drake State Community and Technical College

“HudsonAlpha’s Health Alliance program opens up new wellness options previously inaccessible by most of our employees,” said Dr. Patricia Sims, Drake State President. “We hope by providing this insight about their health risks, our employees can make more informed health care decisions.”

The genomic screening test will look for known changes in a set of genes that are associated with an increased risk for an “actionable” disease, findings that can potentially impact one’s health. These health conditions usually have well-established medical recommendations that health care providers can proactively act upon.

Along with health risks and potential for disease, Drake State employees can learn how specific areas of their DNA might predict whether certain medications will be effective or if they are likely to cause adverse drug reactions. Often, medications will prove effective for one person, while simultaneously ineffective or deleterious for another.

Once considered unique technology, there are long term benefits to integrating genetics into routine health care. Genetic tests are destined to shape the future of healthcare, where it will be commonplace to have genetic testing to determine the potential risk for disease later in life; long before ever being prescribed a medication.

HudsonAlpha’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Darrell Ezell

“The information we learn from genomic testing can provide insights into early disease risk detection and intervention, to help us make better health decisions, and even target health therapies that lead to better health outcomes,” said Dr. Darrell Ezell, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for HudsonAlpha. “Making these types of tests more accessible to

a broader section of our community is a focus of HudsonAlpha’s mission. Working with historically black colleges and universities such as Drake State is an important step to making genomic testing more accessible to all.”

The HudsonAlpha Health Alliance was developed to allow employers to advance their wellness programs through collaboration with HudsonAlpha Health Alliance’s team of scientists, clinicians, and educators. The Health Alliance has initiated similar programs with East Alabama Medical Center, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, as well as historically black universities, such as Miles College. Plans are currently in the works to add Oakwood College.

For more information about the HudsonAlpha Health Alliance, go to: https://hudsonalpha.org/alliance

For more information about Drake State, go to: www.drakestate.edu

Photos provided by Dr. Ezell of HudsonAlpha and Dr. Sims of Drake State