Most human disease results from a combination of inherited
genetic variations and environmental factors (such as lifestyle,
social conditions, chemical exposures, and infections).
Collecting and analyzing human genetic data in population-based
research helps us to know more about the causes and effects of
diseases for large groups of people. It can also help us to
understand why individuals vary in their susceptibility to
disease. This knowledge can help find those groups at highest
risk of disease in the larger U.S. population, as well as to
refine the public health response to disease and public health
emergencies. Thanks to the genome-based tools now available to
public health researchers, we can study how and where disease
occurs in populations and families using biological markers
(e.g., genes) that can help identify exposures,
susceptibilities, and effects. The basic science of public
health genomics is "human genome epidemiology," the set of
methods for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing data on t