An International Beacon for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine

Precision oncology researchers at the Mellowes Center

MCW, together with health system partners Froedtert Health (now Froedtert ThedaCare Health) and Children’s Wisconsin, has a storied history in genomic and precision medicine dating back to the Human Genome Project and the 1999 founding of the MCW Human and Molecular Genetics Center.

MCW’s work in this area gained international prominence in 2010 when the institution became the first in the world to deploy genetic sequencing to diagnose and recommend a treatment for a rare pediatric disease.

Since then, MCW and the center – named the Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine in 2022 to honor a $10 million gift from the couple – has continued its groundbreaking work in these fields and is committed to raising awareness and understanding of their potential to improve diagnosis and treatment of disease.

“One of the biggest challenges we currently face is a lack of literacy about these fields, both locally and internationally,” says Raul A. Urrutia, MD, director of the Mellowes Center and the Warren P. Knowles Chair of Genomics and Precision Medicine (pictured right). “Many clinicians today do not consider genomics and precision medicine when diagnosing a disease and developing treatment plans, which leads to missed opportunities. We aim to change that.”

Originally focused on its strength as a sequencing core, in 2017 the Mellowes Center adopted a new mission reflected in a new slogan, “Beyond the Base Pairs.” The phrase heralds a new approach to research at the center, one which recognizes that fully understanding the genome requires not only sequencing it, but also uncovering its structure, function and evolution, as well as how it interacts with other organisms in the body.

Today, research at the center falls into one of four pillars: Inherited Diseases of Children and Adults; Community and Precision Public Health; Precision Oncology and Cancer Genomics; and Systems Biology Resources in ‘Omics and Bioinformatics.

This reorganization has led to accolades. In 2021, the Mellowes Center, in partnership with the MCW department of pediatrics and Children’s Wisconsin, was named a National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD) Center of Excellence, and in 2023, both entities were named to the National Institutes of Health’s Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN).

“The UDN designation is on par with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation for cancer centers,” says Dr. Urrutia. “It, coupled with the recognition from NORD, reflects our evolution into a modern center for the study of genomic sciences and precision medicine.”

Performers at the Narrative Medicine event in the fall of 2024

Under Dr. Urrutia’s seven years of leadership, the center has helped build a regional network of other US institutional partners and established collaborations with 15 institutions around the globe. It launched the annual Rare Diseases and Rare Cancers in the Era of Systems Biology Symposium in 2023 and regularly hosts Narrative Medicine seminars in partnership with the Milwaukee nonprofit Harmony 4 Hope. The seminars feature patients who share their stories and perspectives on their healthcare journeys, an important – but often overlooked – part of healthcare, notes Dr. Urrutia.

The center also helps train the next generation of practitioners through three graduate degree programs at MCW: a master of science (MS) in genetic counseling, an MS in precision medicine and an MS in bioinformatics (a joint program with Marquette University).

We’re taking the lead in educating a workforce with the knowledge and skillset to bring genomic sciences and precision medicine into everyday practice,” Dr. Urrutia says. “It’s another way in which we’re raising the profile of MCW and the Mellowes Center in these fields.”

– Devon McPhee