Implementation and evaluation of genetic testing seminars on lifestyle-related disease prevention for pharmacy students

Abstract

The field of pharmacotherapy has advanced to use molecular targeted agents, and pharmacists are now encouraged to focus on pharmacogenomics. A seminar titled "Implementation and evaluation of genetic testing of lifestyle-related disease genes'' was presented to students at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hiroshima University, describing the pharmacogenomic role of single nucleotide polymorphisms in obesity-related genes and alcohol metabolism-related genes. The seminar topic was selected irst because pharmaceutical students were already familiar with some of the content, and secondly because we believe that pharmacists should be informed about the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases using genetic testing. We evaluated the usefulness of this seminar by administering a questionnaire before and after the seminar to participating students. Several points requiring improvement were identified, although 82% of students stated that the seminar was "very useful'' or "useful". We conclude that this educational seminar was useful to students of pharmaceutical sciences.