August 29, 2016
Next month residents of Marshall County have the unique opportunity to have breakfast with a leading expert in the world of genetics.
Dr. David Bick, MD, PhD, a clinical geneticist with more than 20 years’ experience diagnosing and treating children with genetic disorders, will speak at the Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce Annual Healthcare Breakfast on September 8. All residents of Marshall County are invited to attend the free event held at Gunter’s Landing in Guntersville and sponsored by Marshall Medical Centers.
Dr. Bick is the medical director of the Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine on the HudsonAlpha campus in Huntsville. The clinic, which opened last fall, is believed to be the first in the world designed solely for providing diagnoses to patients with undiagnosed disease through the exclusive use of whole genome sequencing data. That is a revolutionary development in the way doctors treat patients.
“Physicians know that establishing a diagnosis is essential to choosing or developing a treatment,” Dr. Bick says. “Our purpose is to bring whole genomics into the practice of medicine so physicians have more effective tools to identify and understand the underlying causes of disorders.”
Dr. Bick comes to HudsonAlpha from the Medical College of Wisconsin where he was professor in the department of pediatrics and the department of obstetrics and gynecology. While there, he also served as director of the Clinical Sequencing Laboratory, director of the Advanced Genomics Laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, medical director of the Genetics Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and chief of the division of genetics in the department of pediatrics.
Dr. Bick received his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1981 and completed his residency in pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn. At the Yale University School of Medicine, he completed a fellowship in human genetics and pediatrics in 1986, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in human genetics in 1987. Dr. Bick is board-certified in pediatrics, clinical genetics and clinical molecular genetics.
During Dr. Bick’s tenure, the laboratories at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin were the first in the world to offer whole genome sequencing as a clinical test.
Dr. Bick has made the list of Best Doctors in America five times.
While at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Dr. Bick was asked about what motivates him.
“The best part of my day is seeing kids and parents and helping them understand something about the genetics of their situation and, where we can, helping them change the outcome of what’s happening with their kids.”
HudsonAlph offers genetic testing through requests from physicians for their patients. The most common reasons for wanting genetic testing are cancer diagnosis and risk, investigation of diseases suspected to have a genetic link and investigation of risk when family members have diseases with genetic components.
Mapping a person's DNA now takes days rather than the traditional weeks or months. According to HudsonAlpha scientists, it will get even faster soon.
Since it was founded in 2008, HudsonAlpha’s research scientists have made advancements in the field of detection, progression, drug responses and new drugs.
“These advancements, I truly believe, will knock out these diseases in the next few years – certainly within the next 10 or 20 years,” said HudsonAlpha President Dr. Rick Myers during a luncheon last fall. “That’s our goal.”
To learn more about the world-class and world-changing research being done in the next county, make a reservation to hear Dr. Bick. This is truly a rare opportunity.
To reserve your seat at the breakfast, call the Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce at (256)582-3612. Deadline for reservations is Sept. 1. The breakfast will start at 7:30 am in the Gunter’s Landing Clubhouse at 1000 Gunter’s Landing Road.