Genomics on the Hill

Last week, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I had the pleasure of being asked to participate in the Genomics on the Hill event, organized by Genome Canada.

Roughly a month ago, I had an appointment with my geneticist, Dr. Kym Boycott, who told me about it and asked if I’d be interested in attending as her guest and a patient. Of course, I agreed.

The experience started with a dinner held Tuesday night, with my family in tow, where I met with people from Genome Canada, as well as other participants.

Very interesting group! In addition to health care, there were projects represented that involved growing better kinds of wheat and tomatoes, monitoring caribou herds, and identifying invasive species. While some may have found this a little dry, I was hanging on to quite a lot of it. I became positive that in a former life I must have been a scientist of some kind.

The end of the meal, I coordinated with Dr. Boycott and others about what I’d be doing the following day for the main event.

The next day, after taking a cab from work, I arrived at Parliament Hill, location for Canada’s federal government, for the Genomics on the Hill reception. Since I was early, I sat and waited in one of the building’s rotundas.

I went back to the room just as they were finishing setting up the room. I met people from the previous night, as well as some new people, found where I was supposed to be, and casually took a few photos of the room.

We were conveniently, and thankfully, right next to the bar!

Because science!

Shortly thereafter, people started coming in, including Parliamentarians and representatives from other genetics groups. Dr. Boycott was in a meeting, so I was CHEO/Care4Rare’s point of contact for the first half hour of the event! I thought I handled myself pretty well, speaking to people about CHEO’s Genetics clinic, Care4Rare Solve, a new initiative to provide better diagnoses for patients with rare disorders, Joubert syndrome, and the Joubert Foundation.

Care4Rare poster

Dr. Boycott arrived just as things got really busy. She was soon followed by others from CHEO, including the CEO of the CHEO Research Institute and other doctors and employees of the Genetics clinic. A great relief for me, since I was starting to get tongue-tied.

Halfway through the event, heads of Genome Canada spoke and briefly gave shout-outs to the presenters around the room. Then, ministers responsible for science, innovation, and other areas spoke about Canada’s current political climate, in relation to topics presented at the event. Not as fascinating to me as the science, but still pretty interesting.

What followed was more visits by people interested in Dr. Boycott and/or myself. Highlights included an older gentleman who had approached us earlier in the evening, had to leave in order to vote on an issue, then came back to hear more about Dr. Boycott’s research and my life experiences, as well as a young woman interested in genetics who was also very interested in reading my blog!

Before leaving, I got a photo taken in a photo booth set up for the event. Very fun!

Genomics on the Hill was an absolutely great event. Very glad to have been invited and given the opportunity to represent both CHEO and the Joubert Foundation, get the word out, and put a human face to what both organizations continue to do!

Cheers