Genomic Naïve – Complex Science Requires Simplistic Explanations
Healthcare innovation is at the forefront of medical evolution.
As innovators continue to push medicine into uncharted water, practices such as precision medicine gain traction. From diagnostics, treatment response, to disease progression prediction, genomics, one of the younger medical sciences, is a catalyst driving medical evolution.
Unfortunately, the typical clinician only has an above-average understanding of genetics in medicine. The clinician may have read a study a few years before your solution’s founding and not have kept up on the rapid changes happening in the field. These clinicians are genomic naïve.
Genomic naïve is not a bad thing; it is a realization that the innovator must have while discussing their solution or product.
Genomic naïve may lead to hesitation for adopting your solution because there is a feeling of not enough data, or uncertainty if your research is the ‘right’ research.
Stay confident in what you are doing, identify the right target audience, and proactively answer questions they may have.
You are the expert in the room. Remember, rambling off jargon is not impressive. The ability to take a complex idea and simplify it, so everyone understands it is.
When presenting your solution, idea, or product to a potential client, consider the following.
- Simplify. No one would describe a genetic mutation as the long (q) arm of chromosome 17 at position 21.31; they would simply call it BRCA1, which is more commonly known. You are not writing a dissertation. You are presenting your solution, use simple, powerful language.
- Inform. If significant changes in the industry have happened over the past two years, update the client on where the industry is today. This is an excellent opportunity to clear the cobwebs and take the clinician from genomic naïve to genomic aware.
- Be Aware. Watch the room; this has become more difficult in the virtual world. If someone appears lost or confused, check in with them, answer questions they have. For the genomic naïve, if you lose them early, it will be hard to get them back.
As a complex science, our understanding of genomics is rapidly changing. New genes are being discovered, the relationship between mutations on various disease states are better understood. This evolving science makes it next to impossible for the average person to keep up with the latest research.
It is up to you the innovator to present digestible information and be prepared to answer questions as your product is understood.