Ten Years On — The Human Genome and Medicine

Abstract

On a June day nearly 10 years ago, the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom, accompanied by the leaders of the public and private teams deciphering the human genome, announced that a draft sequence had been completed. That occasion was rich with promises of new and more powerful ways to understand, diagnose, prevent, and treat disease. Two years later, the Journal published a series of articles that reviewed the status of medical genetics and the prospects for a new era of “genomic medicine.” The tone was cautionary, if hopeful. An editorial (full disclosure: written by me) that . . .