September 2021 Update

MCGI Spotlight

MCGI works directly with Colby College and the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership to offer internship opportunities to undergraduate students. Their work helps to advance genomic medicine through data-driven projects that can transform health-related decisions. Knowledge acquired during the internships provides direct experience for the next generation of health care professionals, scientists and researchers, and ultimately better outcomes for the patients they will serve.

The MCGI team is pleased to share the achievements of the 2021 interns and highlight how they’ve participated in the implementation, management and advancement of various aspects of the MCGI study.

Joanna Yanqiqi Zeng – Colby College
Major: Biology: Neuroscience & Psychology

- Conducted a longitudinal analysis of the MCGI Genomic Tumor Board attendance data.
- Attended multiple GTB sessions and participated in data cleaning and structuring activities, followed by analysis and visualization of important GTB data trends.
- Prepared data analysis of MCGI practice engagement and virtually presented at the Colby Undergraduate Student Research Retreat.

Michaela Gervais – Daniel Hanley Center
Major: Psychology 

- Conducted a longitudinal analysis of the MCGI Forum attendance data. 
- Attended multiple Genomic Tumor Board sessions and participated in data cleaning and structuring activities, followed by analysis and visualization of important GTB data trends. 

Songtao Xu – Colby College
Major: Computational Biology, Math Sciences: Statistics
 
- Served as a medical informatics intern with the JAX Clinical Knowledge Base software development team, focusing on the development of clinical evidence reporting tools for genomic tumor board reviews.
- Developed a user interface in the JAX CKB and expanded export functionality of the clinical evidence reporting tool.
- Prepared updates regarding the analysis and visualization of the clinical evidence reporting tool’s integral results and virtually presented at the Colby Undergraduate Student Research Retreat.


Lusia Coakley – Colby College
Major: Computer Science 

- Wrote Python scripts, designed logic apps and designed Liquid templates in order to create a data pipeline that transforms patient data to HL7 FHIR format for MCGI 2.0.
- Worked with the DevOps team to clean and harmonize data for MCGI 1.0 using Azure logic apps, Cosmos db, Power BI, Liquid templates and Postman.
- Tested and researched a medical terminology detection API called Text Analytics for Health.
- Presented in collaboration with Phuong Nguyen Ngoc at the Colby Undergraduate Student Research Retreat. 


Phuong Nguyen Ngoc – Colby College
Major: Computer Science

- Harmonized MCGI 1.0 pipeline data using Azure logic apps, Cosmos db, Power BI, Liquid templates and Postman.
- Transformed and constructed MCGI 2.0 pipeline data by writing Python scripts, designing logic apps and creating Liquid templates to adhere to HL7 FHIR schema.
- Presented in her work in collaboration with Luisa Coakley at the Colby Undergraduate Student Research Retreat.

Educational Resources

The Clinical Education team has developed two new educational resources for oncologists and other cancer clinicians.

Liquid Biopsy FAQ: Describes the benefits, risks and limitations of liquid biopsies.

Indications for Germline Testing: Identifies genetic red flags to inform personal and family history risk assessment and considers genomic tumor test results that are suggestive of germline variants.

2021 MCGI Forum Recap

On March 26 – 27, 2021, the MCGI community came together for a virtual 4th Annual MCGI Forum. The MCGI team extends thanks to all who attended, and we are delighted to share a recap and post-event booklet.

The event summary provides an overview and detailed outline of speaker presentations, panel discussions, speaker bios and much more.

For more information on how to obtain a copy of the booklet, please contact us at mcgi@jax.org.

Save the Date for the 2021 JAX Healthcare Forum

Join us for a virtual discussion about the post-COVID world during the annual JAX Healthcare Forum on October 27 and 28. Experts will discuss new technologies, new structures and new ways to operate in the post-COVID world that will change healthcare delivery, improve patient experience and prepare us for future public health crises. With our expert presenters, we'll address critical questions facing the nation, such as: 

- What has COVID changed? 

- How can we optimize these changes for the future good?

- How can we prepare for the next pandemic?