20/10/2025
UPCOMING HERC WEBINAR
From Crib to Clinic: The Economic and Ethical Trade-offs of Genomic Sequencing in Newborn Screening and Diagnosis
By Dr Hadley Stevens Smith
Tuesday 21 October, 10:30 hours UK BST
Location: LG1 Seminar Room, Big Data Institute, Old Road Campus, Headington, OX3 7LF and online via Zoom/Teams
Hadley is an Assistant Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and a Faculty Member of the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics.
Please register below (free event) https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/herc-webinar-hadley-stevens-smith-from-crib-to-clinic-the-econo
Over the past fifteen years, genomic sequencing has transformed the ability to diagnose rare disease in critically ill children. There is now a global interest in using genomic sequencing as a population-based screening tool, complementary to biochemical newborn screening, to identify genetic disease risk at birth. Advances in genomic technologies present promising opportunities to improve health outcomes and raise critical questions about clinical and personal utility, cost-effectiveness, and ethical responsibility. This talk will explore the economic and ethical implications of newborn genomic sequencing, distinguishing between screening and diagnostic contexts. Drawing on findings from multi-stakeholder interviews, microsimulation modeling, and a discrete choice experiment, the presentation will examine public health and clinical implementation models and their expected impact on health outcomes and costs, as well as public preferences for this technology. This work highlights the role of value and values in shaping policy decisions that guide integration of genomic tools into newborn care.
