May 19, 2008
CAMDEN, NJ - United States Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) visited Coriell Institute on Monday, May 18 to learn more about and participate in the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative™ (CPMC™). The Senator, together with Coriell, extended an invitation to members of Camden's Latino community to learn about the project and consider becoming participants.
"It's a tremendous opportunity to have Coriell include us in this breakthrough of our own personal health, and in doing so, I think we can make some very significant gains in our community," Senator Menendez said.
 Coriell President and CEO, Michael Christman, Ph.D., opened the meeting with a discussion of how the CPMC™ works, providing an overview of how an individual's unique 0.1% of their genome determines factors such as disease risks. These factors, he explained, can be utilized to help ascertain what treatment options and lifestyle choices may work best for that individual.
Following Dr. Christman's presentation, Senator Menendez addressed attendees to discuss the importance of outreach to minority communities with regard to healthcare.
"When it comes to minority communities, we've often faced health disparities at the end of the day; I'm proud to see that Coriell is reaching out to different segments of our community - the African-American community, the Latino community - in our state and in the country," the Senator said. "Too often ... clinical trials of a variety of natures do not include members of our community, and yet we see an increasing part of America's overall population come from these two specific groups, as well as Asian/Pacific Islanders and others."
"The reality is, we want to see a greater participation in these opportunities, and I think that what Coriell is doing here is a great opportunity to ensure, on one of the most breakthrough issues, that we are able to have all of America reflected in the opportunity."
Senator Menendez applauded the efforts of Coriell with regard to the introduction of the CPMC™, heralding the research study as a positive step for future developments.
"Making risk assessments and treatment decisions based on genetic code, I think, is a tremendous opportunity for changing the course of events in the future and I applaud Coriell for it," he said.
The Senator also emphasized the need among members of the community to take control of their healthcare options. He encouraged those in attendance to participate in the CPMC™, hoping to set an example for other Latino leaders and community members by enrolling in the study himself.
"I am going to take the test by way of example and leading, in that respect, because I think it is an important opportunity that we as a community - and citizens at large – should not forego," Senator Menendez said. "I hope that some of the cultural barriers that we sometimes have are something that we, by our leadership, are going to overcome and show others in our community to be engaged in, as well."
About the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative™ (CPMC™)
 Launched in December 2007, the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative™ is a research study that seeks to discover presently unknown genes that elevate a person's risk of cancer and other complex diseases, to understand why people often respond differently to treatments, and to explore how the resulting information can best be viewed and utilized by participants and their physicians in a secure, user-friendly, web-based system. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about their risks for medically actionable conditions, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Participation is entirely voluntary and is as simple as listening to a 20 minute talk about the project, signing a short consent form, and donating a small amount of saliva. There is no cost to participate.
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