Sanford Children’s genomic medicine consortium grows to 10 hospitals

Nov. 5, 2019

A consortium from Sanford Children’s that aims to help set the standard for precision medicine in children’s health care has grown to 10 hospitals.

The three new hospitals to join are Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.; Seattle Children’s Hospital; and American Family Children’s Hospital, UW Health, in Madison, Wis.

The partners aim to rapidly integrate genetics and genomics into primary and specialty pediatric care.

The mission of the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium is to efficiently manage resources in genetics and genomics, perform cutting-edge research and education, and bring genomic medicine into pediatric practice.

The other member hospitals include Sanford Children’s in Sioux Falls and Fargo; Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis and St. Paul; Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine and Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego; Banner Children’s at Diamond Children’s Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz; and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

The consortium was inspired by the vision of Denny Sanford to extend precision medicine to children’s health, Sanford Children’s said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to welcome these three additional premier children’s hospitals to the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium. I am thankful to each member for their strong support of the spirit of working together to more precisely care for each child using the cutting-edge tools of genetics and genomics,” said Dr. Gene Hoyme medical director of the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium. “So much can be gained for the care of all children through the collaboration of these hospitals.”

Previous innovation projects funded by the consortium include a study of the outcomes of rapid whole genomic sequencing in critically ill newborn infants and a study evaluating the routine use of an extensive, pediatric-focused, next-generation sequencing panel in the diagnosis of childhood cancers.

Genetic diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. These children often undergo an extensive and expensive diagnostic process that may not lead to a final diagnosis.

Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, president and CEO of Rady Children’s Institute of Genomic Medicine, or RCIGM, is leading rapid whole genomic sequencing in critically ill newborn infants to determine the complete DNA sequence of a child’s genome at one time to identify the risk of genetic diseases.

Currently, the average turnaround time for sequencing to diagnosis by the RCIGM team is less than a week. That is significantly faster than the common timetable for this type of work, which can take weeks to complete.

“The future of pediatric medicine is being transformed by the ability to rapidly decode the genomes of the most fragile newborns to deliver exact diagnoses and targeted treatment,” Kingsmore said.

Pediatric cancers have different genetic origins compared with adult cancers. Current panels for detecting the genetic origins of a tumor primarily focus on adult cancers. OncoKids developed at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is specifically formulated to detect the genomic alterations of pediatric cancers including leukemias, lymphomas, bone, soft tissue and brain tumors.

“The ability to identify the precise underlying genomic alterations in individual tumors with OncoKids allows us to personalize care and innovate how we treat children with cancer,” said Dr. Alexander R. Judkins, pathologist-in-chief and executive director of the Center for Personalized Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Want to stay in the know?

Get our free business news delivered to your inbox.



Sanford Children’s genomic medicine consortium grows to 10 hospitals

A consortium from Sanford Children’s that aims to help set the standard for precision medicine in children’s health care has grown to 10 hospitals.

News Tip

Have a business news item to share with us?

Scroll to top