Over the past few months, we’ve publicly announced that nine global companies are joining with us in the Alliance for Genomic Discovery (AGD) to whole genome sequence our DNA bank, BioVU, in its entirety. This landmark work will take over a year and is being done in Iceland by our partners.
It’s a momentous achievement for patients and for the future of our practice. When the work is completed, BioVU will be one of the largest resources of its kind in the world and will transform what is possible in health and medicine not only here at Vanderbilt, but worldwide through the reach of AGD members. In addition to the global DNA sequencing company Illumina, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Novo Nordisk have joined founding member organizations AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer and Merck.
The 20-year story behind the AGD started with an idea and flourished only through concerted commitment to patient engagement from the VUMC boardroom. BioVU was established in the early 2000s as one of the earliest demonstrations that the power of DNA could only be realized by linking it to electronic health records that are heavily processed to remove patient identity features such as names and birthdays — essentially creating a Rosetta Stone for deciphering how our genes impact health and disease.
Today BioVU is the largest single-site DNA repository in the country, with over 320,000 samples linked to deep, rich, longitudinal health records from our patients. VUMC’s wholly owned subsidiary, Nashville Biosciences, launched in 2018 and built a national reputation in the commercial use of DNA for drug discovery and led the two-year negotiations to establish the AGD.
Vanderbilt’s path to partnership — which is the start of an exciting new chapter — is a reminder that each day is an opportunity to contribute to a shared body of work that changes the world. When it comes to drug discovery, the AGD is taking breakthroughs from the Vanderbilt campus and making them real for people everywhere. It illustrates that our extraordinary research teams, working hand in glove with our around-the-clock health care delivery and training programs, are making it possible to deliver care that changes the world.
The Vanderbilt culture, as you know, seeks solutions. Our storied history is full of trailblazers who changed lives through changing the fundamentals of science and health care. Our mission to make health care personal builds on their successes, as their accomplishments nourish the careers of future generations of clinicians and scientists.
Thank you for being an ongoing part of our community and for helping us care for our patients and our world.
Jeff Balser, MD, PhD
President and CEO, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Dean, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine