UW-Eau Claire alumnus to present program on precision medicine

Hebbring, a senior research scientist at Marshfield Clinic Health System in Marshfield, will present “Pharmacogenomics: Genes Influence our Medication” from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall. The presentation also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.

Healthcare in Wisconsin and across the U.S. often utilizes a one-size-fits-all approach that can fail for many. This is because the healthcare system was developed to treat a portion of the population that does not reflect the diversity of our communities and rarely considers what makes every person unique.

Hebbring will discuss his genetics research that shows how nearly everyone can benefit from the promise of precision medicine. Precision medicine evaluates an individual’s genetics, environment, culture and lifestyle to provide optimized treatment. He also will describe how the All of Us Research Program is being developed as a national resource for promoting precision medicine so that future healthcare may work better for everyone.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UW-Eau Claire in 2000, Hebbring worked as a senior research technologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, from 2001-07. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Mayo Clinic in 2012 and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship with support from UW-Madison’s Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine training program. Hebbring has been a research scientist at Marshfield Clinic’s Center for Precision Medicine Research since 2013.

The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.

Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They also are archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.

The next lecture in the series will be Sept. 19, with Tim McRaith and Denise DeGidio presenting “Stout Island: Then & Now.”

For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.